Developing an Equitable Recruiting Process

Sep 20, 2023

Developing an Equitable Recruiting Process

Developing an equitable recruiting and evaluation process is essential for startups to attract and retain a diverse and talented workforce. An equitable process can help to ensure that all candidates have an equal opportunity to be considered for a position, regardless of their background or experiences. Implementing the following practices can help your organization eliminate outdated and biased hiring practices. Developing an equitable recruiting process starts with making Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) a fundamental aspect of their hiring and retention strategies, rather than treating it as a mere formality or a core value for optics. EDI is a deliberate effort to increase diversity within the company and create a more equitable and inclusive environment.

By having a more diverse workforce can bring different perspectives, ideas, and experiences, which can lead to better decision-making and problem-solving. Secondly, an equitable recruiting process can help to reduce biases and discrimination in the hiring process, which can ensure that all qualified candidates have an equal opportunity to be considered for a role. This can help to create a more fair and just workplace, and can help to prevent legal issues related to discrimination. Lastly, an equitable recruiting process can help to improve the organization's reputation and can help to attract top talent and customers from diverse backgrounds.

Here are some ways that startups can develop an equitable recruiting and evaluation process:

1. Establish clear and objective criteria: Startups should establish clear and objective criteria for evaluating candidates. This can help to reduce bias and ensure that all candidates are evaluated based on the same standards.

2. Use blind screenings: Startups can use blind screenings to remove any bias related to a candidate's name, age, race, gender, Linkedin profile or any other demographic information. I have been met with a lot of resistance on this in various organizations. It takes a lot of patience and coaching and understanding because this goes against all natural instincts when evaluating talent.

3. Diversify the candidate pool: Startups should diversify the candidate pool by actively seeking out candidates from different backgrounds and experiences. This can help to ensure that all candidates have an equal opportunity to be considered for a position.

4. Train hiring managers on bias recognition and elimination: Startups should train hiring managers on how to recognize and remove bias in the recruiting and evaluation process. This can help to ensure that all candidates are evaluated fairly and objectively. Additionally, help the interview team focus not only on culture fits but look for culture adds.

5. Encourage referrals: Startups can encourage employee referrals, as they have a better understanding of the company culture and can help to identify candidates who align with company values. However, if your company lacks diversity chances the employee referrals pool will too. An additional way to encourage diversify referrals is to reach out to universities,

Asking for leads or loose connections rather than a referrals this takes the pressure off the employee who is referring. Additionally, it helps combat unconscious bias that might play into referrals, and allows you to get a broader, more diverse set of candidates at the top of the funnel. You can even have fun and create a contest or host a sourcing luncheon with employees to generate diverse leads for your talent/recruiting team.

6. Tap into your community (family, friends, customers, social media followers, investors and so on..) for leads. You may even extend your referral program out to the community for candidates placed who pass a particular threshold (30, 60 or 90 days).

7. Connect with Recruiting agencies from underrepresented groups to help diversify your talent at the top of the funnel.

8. Develop partners: Partner with schools, groups, meetups, communities, conferences etc... that focus their efforts on attracting underrepresented groups.

9. Use behavioral-based interviewing: Startups can use behavioral-based interviewing, this approach allows the interviewer to focus on the candidate's past behavior, skills and experiences, instead of relying on stereotypes or assumptions.

10. Review and audit the process: Startups should regularly review and audit the recruiting and evaluation process to ensure that it is equitable and unbiased. Additionally, creating and reviewing candidate feedback survey's and implementing actionable steps to improve the recruiting process and coaching interviewers along the way.

11. Create an inclusive culture: Startups should create an inclusive culture that values and respects diversity, this will attract diverse candidates and retain them in the long run.

In final thoughts, it is crucial for startups to establish a fair and unbiased recruiting and evaluation process in order to attract and retain a diverse and skilled workforce. This can be achieved by setting clear and unbiased standards, implementing blind screenings, expanding the pool of candidates, educating hiring managers on recognizing and eliminating biases, seeking employee referrals, conducting behavioral-based interviews, evaluating and monitoring the process, and fostering an inclusive culture. By taking these steps, startups can ensure that all candidates are given equal consideration for a position, regardless of their background or experiences.