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In a 2020 study by McKinsey, 4 out of 10 respondents said they’ve rejected a job offer or decided not to continue working at an organization because of a lack of inclusion. And, research shows that companies with diverse employees are more profitable. So, people are expecting companies to have more inclusion and diversity in hiring.
Yet, making workplaces more diverse remains a big challenge for many organizations. Fortunately, using AI in recruitment can help you reduce the likelihood of unconscious bias. And this is what prevents diverse candidates from getting hired.
Source: Photo by Mapbox on Unsplash
In this article, we’ll share 7 ways AI can improve diversity in your recruitment process.
1. Minimizes Unconscious Bias During Screening to Promote Diversity in Hiring
Anyone can have unconscious bias, even your hiring team. Let’s take an example: there’s a hiring manager named Joseph who is looking at resumes for backend engineering jobs. But without realizing it, he prefers candidates from his old school and those who worked at big tech companies before. So, this happens without Joseph being aware of it.
Sometimes, unfair preferences can sneak into the hiring process. And this can harm how resumes are reviewed. As a result, good candidates from smaller schools or companies might be ignored. So, this narrows down the variety of people considered for the job.
How Can AI Help?
AI screening tools help hiring managers reduce human bias. These systems help you to look past personal details like gender, age, or where candidates went to school. These tools evaluate candidates based on data, focusing on their skills and qualifications. So, this fair approach helps pick the right person for the job based on their skills.
2. Sourcing Candidates from Underrepresented Groups for Diversity in Hiring
It’s really important to invite people from different backgrounds to apply for jobs at your company. Sometimes, not many underrepresented candidates apply because they don’t see the job ads. So, to fix this, you need to put the ads where everyone can see them. This way, more people from diverse backgrounds can apply.
Traditional hiring methods usually look in familiar networks, but these networks often lack diverse candidates.
How Can AI Help?
AI recruitment tools can make sure you find a diverse group of job seekers. These systems look in places that are sometimes missed. So, they go through lots of data sources like personal and company websites, social networks, and special job boards. And by checking these places, AI can help you to discover a wide range of candidates for your jobs.
And, you can program the AI system to search for the type of diverse candidates you’re looking for. For example, if you want to reach more female candidates, you can program the system to search for female candidates.
3. Eliminating Biased Language in Job Descriptions to Promote Diversity in Hiring
When you write a job description, it’s important to use words that include everyone. Some words can make candidates feel unsure or it might even intimidate them. So, using clear and welcoming language helps people feel more confident about applying for the job.
For instance, words like ‘fast-paced’ and ‘energetic’ might make older employees think the job is for younger people. So, even if you try to be careful, the language you use could show bias without you meaning to. And as a result, this discourages certain candidates from applying to your job.
How Can AI Help?
Text analyzing tools powered by AI can help with the job description process. These tools can change words in job ads to make them neutral, avoiding gender bias. They find and replace words that suggest gender, making the descriptions fair for everyone.
And, the tools can help you review other unconscious biases in your job descriptions such as age, race, disability, affinity bias, sexual, religious, and biased job titles.
There are various AI-powered text analyzing platforms you can use to help you write inclusive job descriptions. For example, Ongig’s Text Analyzer helps employers recognize and review unconscious biases in job descriptions at scale.
Since inclusive job descriptions can help you hire diverse top talent, it’s important to get rid of biased language. Ongig’s technology reviews your job descriptions for biases such as ageism, racism, ableism, gender, and more.
4. Improve Inclusivity and Accessibility to Promote Diversity in Hiring
People with special needs often find it hard to apply for jobs. The way things are set up doesn’t include everyone. So, this means companies might not see talented candidates with special needs.
How Can AI Help?
AI can improve inclusivity in the recruitment process for candidates with special needs by:
- Creating an accessible application method: AI can make it easier for employees with special needs. It can offer things like sign language interpretation, work with screen readers, and describe images using alt text for those who can’t see them.
- Integration with assistive technology: AI can work with helpful tools like speech recognition software and apps that convert text to speech. These tools assist candidates with disabilities, making the hiring process more accessible.
- Alternative assessment tools: AI technology can provide new ways to assess candidates with disabilities or special needs.
By prioritizing inclusivity, your organization will ensure all employees feel included.
5. Conduct a Fair Structured Interview Process for Diversity in Hiring
Interviews are prone to bias, and this affects the outcome of the process. And this is common in unstructured interview processes where there’s inconsistent questioning. For example, in a 2018 LinkedIn survey, 42% of respondents agreed that interviewer bias was a reason for interviews failing.
How Can AI Help?
AI can help in conducting structured interviews, a situation where all candidates get asked the same questions. For example, an AI hiring platform can give you a standard list of questions that you can ask your candidates.
In addition, AI algorithms assess interview responses fairly, without personal biases. They concentrate on what you say, not how you say it, making the process more objective.
Also, AI can create guidelines to rate candidates’ interview answers. It can even spot biases during live interviews and give feedback to recruiters right away. So, this helps recruiters make fair decisions and avoid biases.
6. Monitoring and Reporting Diversity Analytics
Companies need to track their diversity data to see where they can improve. But, this can be tricky. Luckily, AI tools can go through lots of HR data and show you why you might not be getting diverse candidates.
How Can AI Help?
AI systems can provide you with:
- Updated DEI dashboards
The real-time DEI dashboard shows your diversity metrics during the hiring process. The dashboards can show you how diverse your hires are. And they can also show you how diverse your pool of candidates is. You can use these tools to help find gaps, so you can make things more equal and inlcusive.
- Demographic data collection
AI tools can also gather data from candidates in a fair way. Candidates can share this info willingly. And it helps your organization see how many diverse hires you’ve made.
This helps you find out where bias comes from and fix it. For instance, the data might show that your job ads favor men, which is why you aren’t hiring many women.
7. Promotes Skills and Competency-Based Assessments
In traditional hiring, judgments about candidates can be influenced by people’s hidden biases. But AI platforms use technology to assess applicants based on their skills and qualifications related to the job. So, this way, it’s a more objective way to find the right person for the job.
This process completely removes room for any type of human biases. Moreover, these tools are also designed to evaluate the cultural and behavioral fit of the applicants.
WHY I WROTE THIS:
Ongig’s mission is to support your commitment to creating inclusive workplaces. Our Text Analyzer Software can help write non-biased job descriptions. Book a demo today to learn how we can help you improve diversity.
SHOUT-OUTS:
- Understanding Organizational Barriers to a More Inclusive Workplace by (Mckinsey)
- Diversity Wins: How Inclusion Matters by (Mckinsey)
- What is a Structured Interview? With Definition and Examples by (Indeed)
- The 4 Trends Changing How You Hire in 2018 and Beyond by (Linkedin)
