1. Inclusion Advocate Role in the Search & Hiring Process Thursday, January 10, 2019 3:00-5:00pm
Betty Williams
Welcome!

2. Outcomes Participants will:
increase their understanding of cognitive bias and how it impacts the hiring process
develop skills using Inclusion Advocate resources and apply to job description development
Introductory Activity – introduce yourself and share your thoughts relating to the position you are working with – What qualities or characteristics would allow a person to do this job superbly?

3. Diversity, Equity, Equality and Inclusion – Concepts and Practices
Review of terms
Prompt: Consider how these definitions apply to the position that we are working on now; how do they inform our work with students and colleagues
Discuss with person next to you

4. Cognitive bias Structural bias
Cognitive bias – unconscious patterns of thought which have the unintended effect of conferring advantage to some and disadvantage to others
(Krieger 1995; Reskin 2000)
Structural bias – institutional patterns and practices that confer advantage to some and disadvantage to others based on identity.
(McIntosh 1988; Rosette 2006)
© Oregon State University Office of Equity and Inclusion 2013 All Rights Reserved

5. How does cognitive bias occur?
In Social Systems
• Identity is socially constructed
• We learn social and cultural values
• May be influenced by past/hidden prejudices
Humans develop cognitive schemas
• Mental “file-folders” of information about categories of persons, places, things,
• These serve as mental models/prototypes/expectancies

6. How does cognitive bias occur?
As we encounter individuals…
• All humans use a pre-conscious shortcut called STEREOTYPING
• We select the schema that most closely matches the individual
• We use it to interpret/predict their behavior and tell us how to react
Predicting individual characteristics based on group membership can lead to unintended discrimination
 © Oregon State University Office of Equity and Inclusion 2013 All Rights Reserved

7. Cognitive Bias Concepts
Categorization
In group/Out group preferences
Stereotypes
Descriptive
Prescriptive
Attribution Bias

8. More Cognitive Biases (sample)
Just-world – tendency to believe the world is just and that people “get what they deserve”
Confirmation bias – tendency to interpret information to confirm preconceptions
Essentialism – categorizing people and things according to their “essential nature” regardless of variations
Hostile attribution – tendency to interpret others’ ambiguous behaviors as hostile rather than neutral
Halo effect – tendency for one’s positive or negative traits to “spill over” from one area of personality to another in others’ perceptions

9. More Cognitive Biases (sample)
Negativity bias – tendency to pay more attention/give more weight to negative than positive experiences/ information
Selective perception – tendency for expectations to affect
perception
Bias blind spot – tendency to see one’s self as less biased than others
False consensus – tendency to overestimate how much other people agree with one
Status quo bias – tendency to like things to remain the same
© Oregon State University Office of Equity and Inclusion 2013 All Rights Reserved

10. Prompt: Think about a hiring committee experience or an experience you have had as an applicant for a job. How may unconscious bias have been in operation in your experience?
Discuss with person next to you

11. Structural Bias is an aspect of privilege in which:
Positions of power tend to be
…held by members of a dominant group
Excellence tends to be
…identified with that group
Attention tends to be
…centered on members of that group (the “norm”)
See Privilege, Power, and Difference, Allen Johnson, 2001 (Chapter 8)
© Oregon State University Office of Equity and Inclusion 2013 All Rights Reserved

12. EARNED < co-exists with > UNEARNED
Privilege
EARNED < co-exists with > UNEARNED
*Accrues to people *Bestowed due to
with achieved status ascribed status
*Merit based (related *Not merit-based
to dominant norms) 
*Seen by beneficiaries *Often not apparent
and community to beneficiaries
Everyone has privileged and disadvantaged identities
© Oregon State University Office of Equity and Inclusion 2013 All Rights Reserved

13. Structural Bias Unexamined norms: Unearned privileges:
Standards, expectations, assumptions, beliefs
Define key aspects of organizational culture
Mostly based on/invisible to the dominant group
Unearned privileges:
Advantages/benefits/rewards not available to all
Degree of similarity to normative/dominant group
Not merit-based
Not within the beneficiary’s control
Related to social context
© Oregon State University Office of Equity and Inclusion 2013 All Rights Reserved

14. Creating and Maintaining Structural Biases

15. Seattle Colleges and AFT Seattle MOU Signed January 2015
We are jointly committed to ensure that there are no internal barriers in our collective bargaining agreement, hiring practices and systems, bias or lack of cultural sensitivity by search committees, etc.

16. Job Descriptions Small group discussion:
Reference the old job description for the current position that will be hired this academic year
Refer back to the definitions of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion
What unmet unit needs outside the immediate position duties might hiring a new colleague allow the unit to address (depending on the candidate’s abilities/skills/life experiences)?
How are gaps in the existing diversity, cultural competencies, and student relations represented by the staff of a particular department factored into the assessment of needs and job description for the position?

17. Job Descriptions
In your small group, respond to the following questions:
What are anticipated, emerging, or unmet needs which the new person in this position might address?
Who will see themselves in this position as it is presently described?
How can the description or even the position be changed or broadened to engage the interest of a more diverse group of qualified people?
Come up with language for the job description with qualifications that are specific, measurable, and quantifiable. For example: Demonstrated commitment to equity, inclusion, and diversity. Demonstrated successful teaching experience reflecting ability to adapt and support diverse student population.

18. Qualifications Same small group, consider the position’s:
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
OTHER REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
Avoid or limit arbitrary numeric measures such as a specific number of years
Use words like “should” instead of “must”
Keep basic and other required qualifications as open as possible
Treat basic and other required qualifications as the first steps in screening, not the last…limiting these qualifications does not lessen the quality or rigor of the search

19. Qualifications
PREFERRED/SPECIAL QUALIFICATIONS
Identify both key “technical” skills—what they must do—and crucial “performance” skills—how they will do it. Performance skills consist of characteristics such as teamwork, perception, persistence, organization, creativity, versatility, problem-solving, conflict management, consensus-building, leadership, understanding formal and informal systems, multi-tasking, inter-cultural communications, navigating complex organizations, and others.
Ensure that each qualification relates to essential job functions
Open the door to non-traditional career paths and transferable skill sets as you design the qualifications;
Feature qualifications related to the diversity responsibilities and needs of the position.

20. Cultural competence is a journey, not an event.