Using Technology To Reduce Unconscious Bias

November 1, 2017 at 8:00 AM by Elena Sigacheva

AnonymizingSearch.pngDiversity hiring should not be controversial. Beyond being the right thing to do, McKinsey research indicates there are strong business reasons to focus on hiring candidates from different backgrounds and building diverse teams. People from different backgrounds bring unique perspectives and contribute to enhancing team creativity and balance, which can reduce groupthink and enhance problem solving. For the most part, many organizations are bought in on this and have deployed resources toward diversity hiring initiatives. So, the question remains, why aren’t workforces more diverse?

There’s plenty of research to support the idea that unconscious biases around things like socioeconomic status or even a candidate’s name remain a strong force in hiring today. Even if a company and its recruiters have the best intentions, unconscious bias can creep in, giving some candidates a better chance than others for reasons other than merit. At Entelo, we are working to change that by removing factors that contribute to the prevalence of unconscious bias during the candidate sourcing process. How did we do it? In short, when employers are using Entelo Search to source candidates, they now have the option to anonymize candidate profiles by turning their names into initials and removing any photos that could influence the hiring process.

Search Anonymization.jpgFor a more technical breakdown of the engineering work behind this, check out Entelo Software Engineer Kelly Hale’s post, It’s the Little Things: Battling Unconscious Bias in Recruiting Through Surprisingly Small Features.

Anonymized search results are the next step in our evolution to help companies hire the right candidates via diverse candidate pools. Now, Entelo doesn’t just help employers identify diverse candidates but also helps ensure all candidates get a fair evaluation at the sourcing stage. By giving them this option, we are enabling employers to remove unconscious bias from their sourcing so that they can fairly find, evaluate, and hire the best candidates for every job.

For more on what Entelo Engineers are up to, check out our Engineering blog and let us know what you think in the comments.

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