Do you take each of your daily decisions consciously?

Do you know there are a lot of professional decisions which you undertake based on Unconscious Biases and not on proper logic and facts ?

In fact, even while you are working as a recruiter in an employment agency in the USA or anywhere else in the world, some of your decisions are taken by your unconscious biasess and that affects your recruitment efforts?

Unconscious Bias? What is it?

You may wonder what exactly is this unconscious bias that even impacts your recruiting process and efforts?

Well, our daily decisions are  based upon a number of ‘Unconscious Biases’ that we undertake even without our knowledge. These decisions are although minute that doesn’t demand a lot of thinking and therefore taken without our consciousness. Hence, they are termed as the Unconscious Bias.

Bias refers to the prejudice that a person holds against another person or a community. Unconscious Bias refers to judgement made unconsciously about other community or people. Bias works in various parts of our lives from personal life to professional. However, workplace witnesses the most of the Biasess and includes gender Biasess as one of the wide factors acting upon the employees. The Biasness or the stereotypes that we tend to carry mostly steps out from our personal experiences and socialization experiences at large. The exposure to other social communities and identities along with the major influences from the society, media and people in our lives have contributed in shaping up the prejudice. From gender biases to class and status issues and even racial discrimination, the workplaces have a tendency to offer these experiences at large.

What ways does Biases Affect us?

Biases affect our behavior and actions accordingly and at times, even without our knowledge. Overall, it also affects the way we make our decisions both for our personal and professional lives.

But what are the different ways that biases can affect us?

• Attitude: Biases affect our attitude and shapes how we react to specific people.
• Perception: Biases affect the way we look people and the reality.
• Behavior: Biases also influences our behavior and how friendly or cold we are towards certain people.
• Attention: With Biases our attention also shifts and focuses on certain aspects of specific people. This also influences the listening skills and how actively we listen to such people.

The Common types of Biases that Affects us Unknowingly and thereby Affects the Recruitment Process are as Follows:

1. Conformity Bias:

Conformity Bias refers to the type of Bias where people have to behave as per the people around them without using their own personal judgement. They tend to conform to the views and norms of the other people around them so as to being accepted by them.

This Biases can affect recruitment process at times without even the recruiter knowing about it. For example, the panel during selection process may not be supportive about a candidate while one of the is of the opinion to support the candidate. But he would rather tend to go along with the rest of the panel members and would not voice his opinion.

2. Affinity Bias:

Affinity Bias is another type of Bias that is often found during the recruitment process not only by some Organizations but also at times by top recruitment agencies in the USA.

Affinity Bias refers to the type of bias which takes place so as to get along with the people who are like us in appearances and beliefs.

Affinity Bias also affects recruitment process at times unknowingly. For example, the recruiter may get to know that one of the selected candidates went to the same school as his and therefore may show affinity towards him. Therefore, with affinity Bias if the candidate who is not very skillful shows some nervousness during the interview, the recruiter might be linient towards him and assist him to cool down. On the other hand, if another candidate who was not from the recruiter’s school but skillful and is in the same situation being nervous, the recruiter does not relate to him and hence, he might not help him to relax and totally reject him for the job. As a result, the skilled candidate did not land the job and the Organization lose a deserving candidate.

3. Attribution Bias:

Attribution Bias refers to the type of bias where an individual attributes it explains their own behavior and the behavior of others. In this bias, a person systematically overuse or under uses the information available and kind of justifies the behavior of the biased group.

Attribution Bias is also common in recruitment process. In this kind of bias, you tend to think just the opposite. For example, when a person gets a thing like getting placed in an organization, you feel they are lucky. While, if the person could not make into that job, you would have thought it to be their shortcomings and incapability.

4. Similarity Bias:

Similarity Bias refers to the tendency of bias that makes a person to be with the similar and like-minded people. This kind of biases also affects recruitment and are found in the various recruitment consultants of the USA. It makes recruiters hire individuals who tend to be similar with them.

5. Horns Effect of Biases:

This biases refers to the type of biases which are formed by an individual when they find a negative thing about a person and let that one negative thing dominate and cloud the rest of the views of their other attributes.

Horns Effect of Biases are one of the biases to affect the recruitment process. For example, during an interview, a recruiter may find that the candidate interviewed tends to stammer a lot. With unconscious bias, the recruiter assumes that stammering indicates how unconfident the candidate is and since he does not want to recruit an unconfident employee, he therefore refrains from hiring him.

These Biases stepping up unconsciously often creates a negative impact on the recruitment process and that in fact affects the Organization.

NodHawk Staffing, a USA based staffing agency offers its clients with the best possible services and help in the growth of the business. It provides staffing solutions to its clients and help the organization find its suitable candidates as employee.