Finding the perfect candidate for your business requires more than just writing a great job brief; it’s about expanding your search parameters and your considerations, and looking beyond the CV.

One of the steps in finding the right candidates is by expanding your approach beyond just standard job boards – especially if they are sector specific. Broadening the boundaries of where you are advertising and looking for emerging talent will mean that you may find a range of candidates outside of your sector with lived experiences mirroring the skills and approaches you are looking to add into your organization.

An important action in finding the right candidate is ensuring that you’re not only looking beyond the CV, but that you’re also selecting candidates free of bias.

What is bias?

To simplify the world around you, your brain categorizes things based on your experiences and creates images of what’s familiar to you in the subconscious level of your brain. It’s here that mental shortcuts are made to enable you to make everyday decisions. 90% of what you think, how you behave and react happen at this level of your brain.

Biases are found in the subconscious level of our brain, and they don’t just influence our thoughts; they influence what we say and how we behave. Therefore, it’s important you understand your biases, reprogramming your subconscious thoughts, reactions, and decisions by being less reactive, more mindful and considered.

Here are some common types of biases we usually come across when presenting candidates to clients:

• Affinity bias: preferring candidates with similar qualities to you.
• Similarity bias: preferring candidates with similar physical or personality appearance.
• Halo bias: one positive quality affecting the overall perception of a candidate.
• Horns bias: one negative quality affecting the overall perception of a candidate.

This article is part of our Inclusive Recruitment Guide. To read more, download it here.