A bias is :

• a mechanism of thought, which causes a deviation from judgment
• a shortcut to thinking
• a recurring misjudgment

Here are some example of bias :

"This candidate only does team sports, they are necessarily very sociable and will not like to work alone."

"This candidate attended HEC, they will be more serious than this one who went to college."

Research shows that during first encounters we make snap, unconscious judgments heavily influenced by our existing unconscious biases and beliefs. For example, in an interview context, without realizing it, we shift from assessing the complexities of a candidate’s competencies to hunting for evidence that confirms our initial impression. [Source]

Bias can take different form : conscious bias, unconscious bias, confirmation or projection bias. Whatever the type of bias, they all refer to our personal beliefs and led us to make unconscious judgments.

How to reduce bias when interviewing ?

• be well aware of bias.
• acknowledge that reducing bias is a continuous process. 💡As a team where everyone is involved in hiring we can help each other in reducing bias by providing genuine feedback. Reducing bias isn't about pointing finger it's about being self-aware and taking accountability.
• design a hiring process focusing on reducing bias.

Using structured interview is a great way to reduce bias as it use the same interviewing methods to assess candidates for the same role (using the same interview questions, grading candidate responses on the same scale, and making hiring decisions based on consistent, predetermined qualifications). [Source]

What is a structured interview ?

It's a process where candidates are asked a consistent set of questions and clear criteria are used to assess the quality of responses. [Source]

A structured interview is composed of 2 essentials:

1. a shared set of standardized questions that will be the same for all candidates to a same role.