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opportunity : Diversity Positive recruitment
:
Diversity-positive selection decisions
Guarding against assumptions, stereotypes
and prejudices
1 Selection is a particularly sensitive topic
in terms of gender and diversity issues. During the selection process,
assumptions, stereotypes and prejudices may inadvertently (and subconsciously)
play a role if not safeguarded against. Ensuring a level playing field
requires extra attention and awareness.
Commonly held assumptions about diversity-positive
recruitment
Diversity alert
Making hiring decisions requires the conscious
surrender of three commonly held assumptions about diversity-positive
recruitment:
• merit must be sacrificed to gain diversity
• any selection process should be gender- and culture-blind
• final selection is made from a pool of equally qualified candidates
What is merit?
2 It is common to hear organizations –
particularly science organizations - state “we appoint on merit”,
or “we appoint the candidate with the most outstanding merit”,
or “we promote on merit”. Just what does the term “merit”
mean in these statements?
3 Merit is not just about “hard”
skills such as who has the highest academic qualifications and who has
the longest experience. Merit involves assessment of the candidate against
all of the selection criteria, including competencies as well as academic
training. If the competencies were not relevant, they would not be included
in the selection criteria.
4 Some candidates will be stronger than other
candidates against some criteria and weaker than others against other
criteria. That is why the selection committee has to:
- evaluate the range of strengths and weaknesses in each candidate;
- compare these with other candidates’ strengths and weaknesses; and then
- decide which candidate has the highest merit in terms of meeting the totality of the selection criteria.
5 In other words, appointing
on merit essentially means identifying, from a pool of (short-listed)
candidates who meet all/most of the selection criteria to some degree,
the candidate who best meets the totality of selection criteria.
Strategic staffing considerations
6 Most recruitment decisions involve a balance
between meeting the immediate needs of the position (merit) and meeting
the longer-term staffing needs of the Center. Consequently the selection
committee also needs to consider what each candidate could bring to the
Center’s future by asking:
- who, among the candidates, best fits the Center’s vision and values, including its goals and objectives for work culture, organizational impact and international reputation?
- who would best represent the Center to the world?
- who would best reach out to the Center’s beneficiaries and partners?
- who would bring in change, creativity and innovation (versus who would bring in more of what the Center already knows)?
7 Although these questions may appear focused on scientist/leadership recruitments, they are also applicable in the context of support staff among professional, technical and administrative groups.
Conscious surrender of assumptions about diversity-positive
recruitment
8 Making hiring decisions requires the conscious
surrender of three commonly-held assumptions about diversity-positive
recruitment.
First assumption:
merit must be sacrificed to gain diversity
9 The issue of “positive discrimination”
is often raised in conversations about gender and diversity issues in
recruitment. Some believe that seeking diversity means giving preferential
treatment – recruiting candidates because they represent diversity
rather than for merit or for job suitability. This is not the case at
all. Diversity-positive recruitment means paying close attention to the
full range of competencies required for the job and the importance of
diversity to the Center’s effectiveness.
10 Making a final decision
is never ‘merit versus diversity’. For one thing, all candidates
on the shortlist must meet whatever minimum standard the Center established
for short-listing.
Second assumption:
any selection process should be gender- and culture-blind.
11 Organizational research repeatedly shows
that there is no such thing as a gender-blind selection process. It also
shows that we are highly biased toward hiring those most like ourselves
(“institutional temptation for self-reproduction in hiring”).
12 Recognizing that gender blindness is impossible,
the goal then is to be gender- and culture-aware, working consciously
to avoid assumptions, stereotypes or generalizations. It also means being
aware that, at first, “difference” may feel uncomfortable.
Third assumption:
final selection is made from a pool of equally qualified candidates
13 There is no such thing as “equally
qualified” – each candidate brings something different. A
better term is “fully qualified”. Once a pool of fully qualified
candidates emerges, the special attributes that each candidate has to
offer can be mapped against the original list of competencies sought.
Diversity alert
• The committee must remain conscious of the
need to surrender the three common assumptions about diversity-positive
recruitment.
• The committee must strive to be gender- and culture-aware, work
consciously to avoid assumptions, stereotypes or generalizations and recognize
that “difference” may feel uncomfortable.
• The committee must keep these issues in mind when seeking feedback
from “informal interviewers” and referees.
Minimizing the introduction
of bias between or after interviews
14 It is recommended that, once interviews
have commenced, selection committee members should not discuss individual
candidates until all candidates have been interviewed. Premature discussion
has the potential to introduce bias, particularly by putting emphasis
on some selection criteria over others.
15 Selection committee members also should
not discuss their perceptions at any time with people outside the selection
committee (other than senior management).
Diversity alert
It is preferable for selection committee members to
complete their individual assessments of each candidate against the selection
criteria, prior to commencement of group discussions.
Inputs from other parties
16 Following its own preliminary discussion
of the candidates, the committee should seek input from “informal
interviewers”, and feedback about each candidate’s seminar,
if these were part of the total selection process.
Diversity alert
• The selection committee needs to ensure that
input from other parties at the Center are considered in the context of
the total package of selection criteria for the position.
• The selection committee needs to be particularly conscious of
any apparent bias (either positive or negative) in the input from other
parties.
Input from referees
17 At some point in the interview process,
the selection committee will seek advice from referees nominated by the
candidates. More details about using referees appear in Tips and Tools.
Good practice
The most appropriate uses of referees’ comments
are:
• to confirm the committee’s perceptions of the candidate;
• to alert the committee to weaknesses that were not apparent at
interview; and
• to clarify any questions which may have arisen during the interview
process.
The most appropriate time to check references is after the interview.
Order of merit
18 At this point of the process, the selection
committee should decide on an order of merit of the candidates. It is
common practice to separate the interviewed candidates into two groups:
- those who are definitely appointable – they meet all the selection criteria to an acceptable degree or, if they fall marginally short against some criteria, these are not considered sufficient grounds for rejecting their candidacy; and
- those who are considered not appointable – they fall short against some criteria to a significant degree).
It is recommended that borderline candidates be placed
temporarily in the appointable group.
19 The next step is to attempt to list the
appointable group according to an order of merit: the most suitable candidate,
second most suitable, and so on. After all, there is no guarantee that
the most suitable candidate will necessarily accept an offer of appointment.
Deciding
for diversity
20 It is at this stage in the selection process
that diversity becomes most significant. As a guide, if it is a close
call deciding between two candidates of outstanding merit, decide in
the direction of diversity. Diversity is needed by the Center and brings
extra benefits to the organization as a whole.
Diversity alert
Decide in the direction of diversity whenever it’s
a close call – diversity is needed by the Center and brings extra
benefits to the organization as a whole.
© CGIAR Gender & Diversity
Program 2006