“Hiring people with diverse backgrounds brings in a flexibility of thought and openness to new ways of doing things, as opposed to hiring clones from business schools who have been taught a codified way of doing business.”

The hiring industry worldwide is chanting about introducing diversity and inclusion in the workplace. The industry is constantly evolving and is equally aware of the repercussions bias hiring approach carries with it. Hence, the need for companies to focus on diversity and inclusion becomes paramount to stay at the top of the competition and seize the attention of potential candidates.

Diverse companies outperform their contemporaries and have better profitable numbers on their balance sheets. However, the hiring processes of most companies are marred by the misconception that revolves around the idea of becoming diverse.

Nonetheless, to create a diverse culture and make people feel included, you need to begin from the start.

Prefer Diversity Hiring Instead of Hiring for Diversity

Diversity hiring is often misconstrued as simply cherry-picking candidates who appear diverse compared to the existing employee pool. However, true diversity hiring should result from a fair and unbiased recruitment process that prioritizes fairness and selects future colleagues based on their competencies.

It is crucial to eliminate unconscious biases that can influence the early stages of recruitment to assess job seekers fairly. This approach contributes to sustainable results within an organization and ensures that candidates are the right fit for the role rather than being hired due to forced decisions.

Instead of imposing diversity as a forced decision, adopting unbiased recruitment methods that align and involve all individuals in the hiring process is more beneficial. Adopting diversity hiring in its true sense means embracing the practices that assist companies in attracting a much wider range of candidates. The ones who are selected based on merit while taking special care to minimize biases associated with age, gender, skin color, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic background, and other personal characteristics that are irrelevant to job performance.

Here's an infographic on the types of bias impacting the recruiting industry.

What Makes Diversity Recruitment Crucial?

Diversity within the company enhances the skills range, talent, and experiences to perform the job with a more professional approach. In fact, a diversified workforce increases your ability to better cater to the customers’ needs.

According to the Diversity Wins report published by McKinsey & Company, companies with better diversity levels are said to be financially much better. Also, not to forget the increased levels of creativity and innovation to perform the job better. This should motivate peers, regardless of the industry or the company size, to substantiate their hiring processes. 

Other facts that support hiring diversity for better results in the company include the following:

• According to a Forbes report, racially diverse companies perform better by 35% than their counterparts.

• According to a McKinsey study, companies that are ethnically and gender diverse are more profitable.

• A Gartner study reveals that employee performance enhances by 12%, and the employee retention rate increases by 20% in companies with diverse workflows. 

Surprisingly, along with the companies, the candidates and job seekers also value diversity & inclusion.

To support the theory, approximately 76% of job seekers accept or assess an organization for diversity. 

Bias AI- Case Study

Amazon. Between 2014 and 2017 tried to design an algorithmic system to screen resumes and hire the best-in-class candidates. In fact, an anonymous Amazon employee went on to name it as recruitment’s ‘Holy Grail’ if it proved a success.

However, it didn’t. After Amazon trained its algorithm to study and screen the decade-old candidate data, it apparently became biased towards female job applicants. The term ‘women’ would make the algorithm rank the candidates low regardless of the qualification or caliber. Even when the engineers tried to fix the bug, the problem persisted, and the project never saw the light of day. 

Amazon’s case can be a wake-up call about the possible bias complications caused by AI when not engineered and managed correctly. Does this mean all AI-powered tools can jeopardize hiring?

Why IS AI Still Important?

AI has emerged as a talent acquisition professional’s most robust tool designed to automate and streamline recruiting workflow. Intelligently designed solutions, unlike Amazon's algorithm, have stimulated a shift from manual to automation across diverse HR functionalities.  

Is RChilli Multilingual Parsing Solution for Oracle Recruiting Different?

The parsing solution for Oracle recruiting is a blend of pre-screening and predictive algorithms that offers detailed insights to recruiting managers so that they make informed hiring decisions and prioritize quality hiring over quantity.  

If you’re wondering how RChilli’s parsing solution for Oracle assists in diverse hiring, read on:

• Blind Resume Screening

Picture this: resumes and applications stripped of all identifiers like names, genders, and races. With this transformative approach, hiring managers must evaluate candidates solely based on their qualifications and skills, completely sidelining demographic characteristics. And who's leading the charge? AI, of course!

This cutting-edge technology swoops in, automatically cleansing resumes of personal details while highlighting the most pertinent qualifications and experience. Let's revolutionize the game and make diversity shine in the hiring process via blind resume screening!

• Data-driven Candidate Selection

AI isn't just about casting a wider net—it's about making smarter & data-driven hiring decisions. By harnessing the incredible capabilities of machine learning and a top-notch algorithm, AI can be trained to analyze various candidate factors like work experience, education, and skills. It identifies patterns that predict job success, helping recruiters focus on objective qualifications rather than subjective biases. It's like having an unbiased hiring guru in your corner.

Summing up

No, humans will continue to play a vital role in the recruitment process despite the rapid evolution of AI. It is essential to recognize that AI is a valuable tool to enhance human judgment rather than replace it entirely. While AI-driven recruitment tools can effectively mitigate bias, foster diversity, and promote inclusion, they still require human oversight to ensure ethical and fair usage.

The collaboration between human recruiters and AI-powered tools is crucial to maintain a transparent, ethical, and inclusive recruitment process. Human involvement guarantees the responsible application of AI systems by monitoring their performance, providing valuable feedback to enhance accuracy and fairness, and ensuring that AI complements human judgment rather than substitutes it.

Organizations can establish a recruitment process that fosters equity and inclusivity by strategically integrating AI capabilities and human expertise, benefiting all stakeholders involved.