Essay on Overcoming Biases in Interviewing and Assessment

Interviewing is a significant part of the recruitment process in order to get the right candidate to fill a given job post. When carried out properly, it can ensure that the organization gets the right personnel who will be assets to the facility. However, when managers are biased, they can miss out an opportunity to get the right candidate. That is why it is imperious that any manager in the healthcare sector be equipped with necessary skills that will ensure that interviews and assessment are carried out objectively.

Increased accountability can be instrumental in eliminating confirmation bias that is prevalent during the application process. When managers receive the application letters of potential employees, there is a tendency to form preconceived notion about the attributes of the candidate (Derous, Buijsrogge, Roulin, Duyck, 2016). Thus, when the candidate appears for the interview, they are supposed to confirm this pre-conceived notion. Apparently, when the interviewee is unable to confirm this notion, evaluation works against them. However, when what the managers assumed about them is true, then the assessment favors them. To avoid this scenario, managers should aim at carrying out the interviews with other head of departments since the input of others will minimize the prevalence of this bias. Each interviewer in the panel should record their evaluations such that after that there will be time to compare the assessments and adopt that which is unbiased and justified.

Additionally, managers should adopt structured criteria when carrying out assessments of potential candidates. The criteria should be related to the job post and should have quantifiable values that can be objectively measured. The objective criteria eliminate the possibility of the managers to use external and quick evaluations (Levashina, Hartwell, Morgeson, and Campion, 2014). For instance, some candidates are attractive, great public speakers and confident when engaging in a conversation but may not be qualified for a post. As such, when the manager uses a subjective evaluation, it is possible to offer them jobs and deny that opportunity to a qualified candidate who is not outspoken. Also, structured criteria eliminate gender biases or biases attributed to intuitions. Managers ought not to believe what the intuitions dictate since appearance and reality of the potential candidate may vary significantly.

Additionally, the interview and assessment process should be structured and not done in a haphazard manner. This means that recording of the process and the organization of the process is of paramount importance. The panelists should record observation and possible inferences for comparison. The avoidance of one mans opinion increases the probability of attaining an objective evaluation. The presence of people from various departments and both gender representation enhances the possibility of accurate assessment. It is also important that interviews are scheduled in a way that there is ample time for the process. Otherwise, when the interviews are carried out hurriedly, it is possible to make wrong conclusions.

In conclusion, objective assessment and interview demand that managers possess various skills and utilize different approaches to ensure the success of the process. Managers should provide ample room for accountability by making sure that the panel consists of both genders and people from different departments. Also, there is a need for well-thought-out criteria and a structured process. The structured mode of the process reduces subjectivity as values used can be measured, and the long run increases the accuracy of the results. Finally, managers should schedule interviews when the organization can afford enough time also to enhance the accuracy of the assessment exercise.

References

Derous, E., Buijsrogge, A., Roulin, N., & Duyck, W. (2016). Why your stigma isn't hired: A dual-process framework of interview bias. Human Resource Management Review, 26(2), 90-111.

Levashina, J., Hartwell, C. J., Morgeson, F. P., & Campion, M. A. (2014). The structured employment interview: Narrative and quantitative review of the research literature. Personnel Psychology, 67(1), 241-293.