How and Why Diverse Candidates Are Eliminated During the Hiring Process:
In the era of the Great Resignation, effective recruiting of diverse and underrepresented talent is imperative for the growth and prosperity of organizations. We all know that unconscious bias can negatively impact the ability to identify and hire diverse and underrepresented talent, but have we evaluated the granular steps within our hiring process to determine why applicants are eliminated. This article series will look at diversity talent acquisition elimination points and how organizations can assess the leaky diversity hiring funnel.
Evaluating Diversity Talent Acquisition Elimination Point
The hiring funnel may have up to seven steps within most organizations, starting with the job posting and ending with the candidate offer and ultimate acceptance. Additionally, most organizations have hiring funnels that start with an Ai-driven applicant tracking software (ATS). Although some of these ATS software systems are more advanced than others, we are not singling out any technology platforms for the purposes of this article. Instead, we are looking at the human interactions that cause diverse candidates to be eliminated from the hiring funnel.
Evaluating the application process does not mean that this is the first place that bias starts. LinkedIn has shown that bias starts from the writing of the job post. We could even dive into the mental model of the ideal candidate and the psychology behind how we describe ideal candidates or utilize the fallback perception of the “best candidate for the role.” We will evaluate all off-ramps that prevent diverse hiring as we navigate this article series.
Top of Funnel:
The Applicant Submits Their Resume Via the ATS
When an applicant submits their response to your job posting via your Applicant Tracking System (ATS), have you evaluated the bias in your preselected criteria? Most ATS is designed to filter out applicants based on a set of preselected criteria – what determined the filter? For example, do your preselection criteria indicate that the candidate must have a certain amount of experience? Does the job require that level of experience, or is the experience category used as a biased elimination filter? One of the studies done by LinkedIn found that women will self-eliminate themselves based solely on the list of experience or skills required. Most of the time, the job description doesn’t depict the job itself.
Beyond the ATS:
Evaluating the Screening Criteria Used to Eliminate Diverse Talent
If the applicant advances out of the ATS, they are generally screened by a Talent Acquisition Specialist or Recruiter. Have you evaluated the number of minority or women candidates that make it from the application entry point, through the Ai-driven ATS screening, to the initial recruiter review?
Critical Questions:
- Why do some applications make it to the first step and others don’t?
- For example, who makes it through the ATS and who doesn’t?
- Do you have a leak in your initial talent application process?
- Are your elimination criteria inclusive?
- Is there a second look built into the application elimination process?
My Name Is Non-Traditional:
Valid Concerns Raised By Diverse Candidates With Non-Traditional Names
One area that has been heavily researched and documented is the elimination of diverse candidates based on their names. Or the inclusion of Latino candidates because their name provides an organization with immediate access to translation services. Discrimination doesn’t have a boundary. The cultural taxation of diverse candidates is not limited to eliminating them, sometimes, the method of including candidates is self-serving and biased.
The first thought for every diverse candidate with a non-traditional name is, was I eliminated because I have a Black or Latino or Asian sounding name? Unfortunately, when evaluating diversity talent acquisition elimination points, we don’t thoroughly evaluate the root cause of why a diverse candidate is eliminated during the first steps of the application process. Ninety percent of non-traditional names are eliminated before they ever get a phone screening. Have you looked at an applicant’s name as an elimination point?
What would we find if I asked you to scour through the last 500 applicants eliminated after they made it through the ATS system and only categorize them by their name? How many candidates were eliminated because they had a diverse-sounding name?
In a recent article in Forbes, the question was posed, “Does my “Ghetto” sounding name stop me from getting a job?” Unfortunately, we are still asking this question and it confirms the perception that your name can be an elimination point for diverse candidates.
One answer to the question, “Is my name an elimination point?” is utilizing Blind Resume Review, meaning the individual’s name and identifiers are removed from the resume to prevent unconscious bias. Unfortunately, while this works at the first step it does nothing after the person is identified as a minority during the phone screening.
One of the first studies done on racial discrimination based on names was conducted in 2003, almost twenty years ago. That study found that job applicants with white names needed to send about 10 resumes to get one callback; those with African American names needed to send around 15 resumes to get one callback. Almost twenty years later, name bias is still a problem today.
Several months ago, I had the pleasure of coaching a young gentleman of African descent who was applying for an internship program to meet the requirements for his Master’s in Sports Management – his last name reflected his heritage and national origin. After applying to multiple Graduate Internship programs without much success and watching his roommate in the same program get multiple job offers, he asked me if he should shorten his African last name to make it sound less ethnic. I told him no. We cannot continue to contort ourselves to reassimilate into a world that doesn’t value talent if they are eliminating you based on your last name.
The same sage advice was given in the Forbes article and interview with Demisha Jennings, Certified Professional Resume Writer and founder and CEO of She Assists LLC, a company designed to help clients craft competitive resumes that will help them land their dream jobs. She said employees should not modify their names to assimilate. Job opportunities are plentiful; therefore, candidates should strive to find an organization where they can be their full and authentic selves and not settle for anything less.
What can employers do to address first-level bias in application submission funnels?
- Clearly define your application steps.
- For example, how many steps are applicants completing before being interviewed for the first time?
- What are the inherent biases within the first steps?
- When an applicant is eliminated, why are they eliminated?
- What inherent biases are built into the application process?
- Don’t just ask why a candidate is eliminated; ask what system have we created to define applicant success?
- Are we going granular enough in our evaluation of the elimination points?
- What is a successful application journey for diverse candidates?
- When applicants make it to the initial interview, what was the secret sauce that you required, and was the sauce built to select the same type of candidate?
A simple question, where are your diversity talent acquisition elimination points and how do you correct the leaky hiring funnel?
About Margaret Spence
Margaret has spent over two decades as a transformational keynote speaker, author, business strategist, and visionary. She is known for her ability to help businesses achieve their goals and create sustainable change. Her business-advisory firm specializes in human resources compliance, talent development, diversity and inclusion, and women’s leadership development. Driven by a belief that inclusion is the key to solving the greatest challenge of our time, Margaret founded The Inclusion Learning Lab to help organizations create more inclusive work environments. Learn More About The Inclusion Learning Lab – visit https://inclusionlearninglab.com
