Hiring Process

RECRUITING AND HIRING CONSIDERATIONS FOR COMPANIES WITH 0-5 EMPLOYEES

If you’re reading this, then you are probably considering how best to develop a diverse and inclusive workplace. You probably know that the best way to drive innovative problem solving is to have a diverse group of people tackling the problem. You might not know that diverse and inclusive hiring also leads to better employee retention and productivity and even returns. You might just instinctively know that people who feel included and valued are great contributors.

But regardless of the data and our instincts, developing a diverse and inclusive team can be hard. Our biases, whether conscious or subconscious, implicit or explicit, can often get in the way. Our own lived experiences inform how we approach everything, including hiring. Sometimes, it’s helpful to think about new ways to approach things we’ve done a million times in order to get a different result.

It is never too early to start to be intentional and introduce a clearly defined inclusive interview process. This portion of the Toolkit is meant to serve as a simple guide that anyone can follow every time there is a new opening on the team within the first year of launching. Following this guide will greatly reduce implicit and explicit bias in the interview and hiring process and will lead to creating and fostering a more diverse workforce.

#BIIGideas #BIIGimpact

It’s never too early to be intentional about D&I!

Job Descriptions

  1. Make sure job descriptions are deliberate, concise and inclusive. Carefully assess whether a four-year degree is required to expand your applicant pool.​​​​​​​

  2. Run job descriptions through a gender word decoder.

  3. Make job descriptions available by posting them on website and /or relevant job boards.

  4. Add diversity or values statement to all job descriptions (separate from disclaimer/EEO statement; this will help your company get more search hits as applicants are increasingly aware of/looking for the diversity footprint of companies they are targeting).

Interview Process

  1. Have a clearly defined and consistent interview process to ensure all candidates are assessed fairly.

  2. As the team grows, create balanced interview panels of diverse employees.

  3. Assign interview focus areas (see sample Competency Matrix) for each interviewer and provide interview guides with sample questions and questions to avoid.

    • 1-2 technical questions per interviewer.

    • 1-2 cultural addition questions per interviewer.

  4. In year one, provide interview training with an emphasis on identifying and combating bias in the interview process, legal do’s and don’ts, as well as how to appropriately structure questions and assess candidates.

  5. Provide interviewers with a score card to assess candidates.

  6. Interview more than 2 candidates per job opening.

  7. Hold candidate debrief huddles so experienced recruiter, HR Partner or assigned Diversity Champion, can facilitate feedback sharing, ensure competency-based feedback, help organization shift focus from “culture fit” to “culture add” (e.g. what this shift will sound like… “I liked candidate…they would be a good fit” becomes “Candidate will be a great hire because they add to…our culture, our team, our science, etc., in the following ways…”).

  8. Dismantle back-door reference practices.

INTERVIEW PROCESS EXAMPLE

  1. Screening (hiring manager & recruiter or HR)

  2. Round 1

  3. Scientific Roundtable or Seminar

  4. Round 2/Final Round

  5. References

  6. Offer

INTERVIEW PROCESS RESOURCES

Sourcing

Invite candidates to interview who are "unknowns" outside of the core team’s immediate network.

Find more information on our Resources Tab.

RECRUITING AND HIRING CONSIDERATIONS AS YOU GROW

As your company grows beyond 10 employees, you will need to make additional adjustments to your process as you enhance your interview and hiring process. Below you will find additional considerations and resources to bolster your efforts even further and to take things to the next level.

JOB DESCRIPTIONS

Circulate draft job descriptions to underrepresented groups to get feedback.

INTERVIEW PROCESS

Consider avoiding panel interviews unless sessions are facilitated by an expert recruiter or HR professional who can push back on biased feedback that is irrelevant. 

SOURCING

  1. Expand beyond typical networks to build diverse talent pools:

    • Go beyond academic institutions you typically recruit at and explore HBCUs, programs at your typical schools that support underrepresented students, reach out to diversity chapters of relevant industry organizations, etc.

    • Automatic postings to diverse sites (see list under ‘SOURCING & PARITY’ on our Resources Page).

  2. Encourage recruiter(s) to become certified in diversity recruiting (AIRS one-day” Certified Diversity Recruiter” training via ADP, LinkedIn Recruiter offerings).

  3. Customize search strings in LinkedIn Recruiter to broaden your sourcing to include graduates of HBCUs.

  • Learn how to foster an inclusive culture by anchoring D&I through three post-hire workstreams: onboarding, performance management, and ongoing training.

    Culture

  • Learn about the importance of capturing simple metrics at the earliest stages of your company’s growth and how you can get started!

    Metrics

  • Check out our downloadable and customizable BIIG tools and informative external resources.

    Resources

  • Learn about the importance of being intentional about D&I from Day 1, and how to establish stage appropriate goals that will set the stage for current and future growth.

    Values & Norms

  • Learn about our other Working Group Products.

    Our Products