1. Tips to support inclusive recruitment

2. Remember…
Don’t assume your expertise & experience allows you to jump procedural steps
The purpose of recruitment techniques is to i) appoint the best person ii) ensure fairness and equality.
Don’t dismiss robust, structured methods as overly-bureaucratic – you risk a bad appointment and inequality

3. Be aware of bias The ‘Halo Effect’ Stereotyping Priming
Confirmation bias
Homophily 3

4. Positive Action Positive action is lawful under the Equality Act 2010
A candidate from an underrepresented group may be appointed when they are of ‘equally merit’ as the other best candidate(s)
UCL Council has approved use of it for:
Women in Grades 9 and 10 roles
BME candidates

5. Short-listing
Operate on principle of inclusion rather than exclusion – look for strengths not short-comings
Use only original agreed criteria on person spec – do not allow the introduction of new criteria
Only consider facts – avoid assumptions, to minimise risk of stereotyping
Score each candidate using a pre-agreed scoring system and matrix – if done properly should be a high degree of consensus
Aim to short-list horizontally – not vertically – this limits influence from previous responses impacting your view of next for each applicant

6. Good interview questions
Keep it simple – just ask one question at a time
Quantity is not a proxy for quality
Aim it to probe thought-processes

7. Model answers
It is crucial to have model answers ready against which you can assess the given answers
The model answers can be flexible and allow for originality – but must be measurable
What answer to a skills-specific question constitutes a “5” instead of a “4?”
The closer you can get to objective metrics here, the better
You can weight attributes, according to their importance

8. Assessing interview candidates
Rating candidates against each other, rather than against the objective job criteria could lead to:
A distorting effect of how strong or weak the candidates are
You are likely relying on whether a candidate ‘looks the part’
You are more likely to decide on who we ‘like’ best
Don’t do it!
BOB

9. Objective scoring neutralises bias
Each interviewer should always score each answer immediately
Waiting until end to score each question risks forgetting an early or less-vivid but high- quality answer
It also favours candidates whose speaking style favours storytelling (can have cultural implications)
Never discuss candidates between interviews and be careful of body language (priming)

10. Objective scoring
Compare and score candidates horizontally, not vertically
Compare each candidates answer to question 1, then each answer to question 2, etc
Avoid ‘overspill’ – do not be unduly influenced by a very good or poor answer to question 1
Do not discuss your impressions of the candidates until you have added up the final scores
Do not be unduly influenced by the chair (or most dominant member) of the panel

11. No bias commitment Instruct yourself to be fair with a pledge card:
“ I will make sure that when I interview candidates, I will treat them all fairly and objectively. I will not stereotype or make assumptions about them. I will treat them as an individual.”
Undertake a pre-mortem – what could go wrong – then less likely to happen
Look to disconfirm stereotypes
Challenge other panel members/debate decisions