Recruitment without bias does not exist
“I don’t recognize myself at all in what you say about my “soft skills,” the candidate replied. I just told her she came in second. I justified this with the support of my client’s feedback. Because these are serious processes, motivation is certainly a key part of the recruitment process. (See the art of rejection in Dutch.)
Alarm bells went off when she said she didn’t recognise herself at all in the feedback on soft skills. She wasn’t concerned about the evaluation of a few hard skills. She had less proven experience overall. She could understand the motivation in that regard.
Recruitment without bias does not exist
After this conversation, I started thinking about how I, as a man (and the client also consisted of men), view a woman who shows equal “soft skills” compared to a man. Are we more likely to consider a woman who is alert, to the point, and direct in her communication to be someone who is less warm and therefore lacks the necessary social security to lead an organization? While we believe these soft skills in a man make him capable of leading an organization while exhibiting the same behavior?
The next day I called her and told her that I was aware of my “bias” regarding the soft skills that were part of the motivation why she didn’t get the job. We then discussed how culture fit is crucial for hiring. She sent me an interesting article about this by Doug Hanna: “The Failproof Matrix for Evaluating Fit vs. Performance.”
My conclusion is that recruiting without bias is an illusion. The trick is to be aware of it and try to eliminate it as much as possible. Thanks to this candidate who spoke out about how she didn’t recognize things in my feedback, I’ve gained a better understanding. This candidate has a better understanding of the evaluation with the disappointing outcome.