How to Conduct an Unbiased Interview?

Conducting an unbiased interview is critical in ensuring fairness, inclusivity, and equal opportunities for all candidates. In this article, we will discuss an unbiased interview,  tips covering the steps needed to prepare for the interview, conduct the interview, and avoid biases.

What is an unbiased interview?

An unbiased interview is a hiring process that is conducted without any form of prejudice, discrimination, or favoritism. It is a process that provides equal opportunities to all candidates, regardless of their gender, race, religion, age, or any other personal characteristic.

In an unbiased interview, the focus is on the candidate’s qualifications, experience, and skills that are relevant to the job position. It is conducted in a manner that is fair, consistent, and objective, without any influence from the interviewer’s personal biases, beliefs, or assumptions.

Why are unbiased interviews important?

The importance of conducting an unbiased interview cannot be overstated. It helps to attract the best talent for the job and creates a fair work environment for all employees. With diversity and inclusivity becoming critical aspects of the workplace, it is essential to ensure that hiring processes are unbiased to eliminate any form of discrimination and promote equal opportunities for everyone.

Preparing for an Unbiased Interview

Developing a clear job description

Developing a clear job description is crucial in ensuring that the interview process is unbiased. It helps to identify the specific job requirements, qualifications, and skills necessary for the job position. This makes it easier for the interviewer to evaluate all candidates based on the same criteria, without any personal biases or assumptions.

A clear job description should be detailed and specific about the essential job duties and responsibilities, educational and experience requirements, and any necessary certifications or licenses. It should also be written in a neutral tone, avoiding any language that could be interpreted as discriminatory. Know more about writing inclusive job descriptions.

Creating structured interview questions

Creating structured interview questions is another critical aspect of preparing for an unbiased interview. Structured interview questions are designed to ask all candidates the same questions in the same way, allowing for a fair and consistent evaluation process.

Structured interview questions should be directly related to the job requirements and focus on specific skills, experiences, or competencies necessary for the job position. They should also be worded in a way that avoids any discriminatory language or assumptions.

BarRaiser extensively uses structured interviews to enable unbiased and objective hiring decisions. Read more about structured interviews and why BarRaiser is the best structured interview platform.

Avoiding any discriminatory language

It is crucial to avoid any discriminatory language during the interview process to ensure an unbiased interview. Discriminatory language includes any words, phrases, or questions that could be interpreted as discriminatory or biased against a candidate based on their characteristics.

Interviewers should avoid any questions related to an individual’s race, gender, age, religion, or any other personal characteristics that are not relevant to the job position. They should also avoid making any assumptions or judgments based on a candidate’s appearance, accent, or other non-job-related factors.

Short Unbiased and Biased example

An example of a biased interview is one where the interviewer only asks questions that favor a certain candidate, while an example of an unbiased interview is one where all candidates are asked the same set of questions.

BarRaiser interview assistant helps in conducting inclusive interviews.

Conducting an Unbiased Interview

Ensuring a comfortable and safe environment

To conduct an unbiased interview, it is essential to ensure that the interview environment is comfortable and safe for all candidates. This includes ensuring that the interview room is quiet, private, and free from any distractions that may interfere with the interview process.

It is also crucial to ensure that the interview process is conducted in a non-threatening and non-intimidating manner. The interviewer should be welcoming, friendly, and professional, and make sure that the candidate feels comfortable and at ease throughout the interview process.

Being objective and impartial

Being objective and impartial is another critical aspect of conducting an unbiased interview. The interviewer should focus solely on the candidate’s qualifications, skills, and experience that are relevant to the job position, without any influence from personal biases, beliefs, or assumptions.

The interviewer should also avoid making any assumptions or judgments based on a candidate’s personal characteristics such as their gender, race, age, religion, or any other factors that are not related to the job position. This ensures that all candidates are evaluated fairly and objectively.

Read more about how BarRaiser helps in mitigating the bias from your interviews.

Using standardized evaluation criteria

Using standardized evaluation criteria is essential in ensuring that the interview process is fair and consistent for all candidates. The interviewer should develop a set of evaluation criteria based on the job description and structured interview questions that are relevant to the job position.

The interviewer should use these standardized evaluation criteria to evaluate all candidates and ensure that each candidate is evaluated based on the same criteria. This helps to eliminate any personal biases or assumptions and ensures that the evaluation process is objective and impartial.

Avoiding Biases in the Interview Process

Overcoming first impression biases

One common bias in the interview process is first impression bias. This occurs when an interviewer forms an initial opinion about a candidate based on their appearance, body language, or other non-job-related factors. To overcome first impression biases, interviewers should focus on asking structured interview questions that are directly related to the job position, and evaluate candidates based on their answers and qualifications, rather than their appearance or other non-job related factors.

Avoiding stereotyping and assumptions

Another bias in the interview process is stereotyping and assumptions. This occurs when an interviewer makes assumptions about a candidate based on their characteristics such as their race, gender, age, or religion. To avoid stereotyping and assumptions, interviewers should focus solely on evaluating candidates based on their qualifications, skills, and experience that are relevant to the job position, and avoid asking any questions that are not related to the job.

Eliminating personal biases

Personal biases can also affect the interview process, as interviewers may have unconscious biases based on their personal experiences, beliefs, or preferences. To eliminate personal biases, interviewers should undergo diversity and unconscious bias training, and be aware of their own biases and how they can affect the interview process. They should focus on evaluating candidates based on objective criteria, and avoid any judgments or assumptions based on personal biases.

Conclusion

To promote diversity, inclusivity, and equal opportunities for all candidates, conducting an unbiased interview is crucial. This can be achieved through preparing for the interview, ensuring a comfortable and safe environment, being objective and impartial, using standardized processes, and avoiding bias in interviews such as first impression biases, stereotyping, and personal biases. By following these steps, interviewers can promote fairness, objectivity, and inclusivity in the interview process, leading to a diverse and inclusive workforce. AI tools like GPT can also help in removing the bias. 

People Also Asked

What are unbiased recruitment methods?

Unbiased recruitment methods are techniques used in the hiring process to eliminate any potential biases that may occur, such as gender, race, age, or other characteristics unrelated to job performance. These methods may include blind resume reviews, structured interviews with standardized questions, and the use of objective assessment tools. The goal is to create a fair and objective hiring process that results in selecting the best candidate based on their qualifications and abilities.

What are the three 3 different recruiting methods?

The three different recruiting methods are:

1. Traditional recruiting: This method involves advertising job openings through traditional channels such as newspapers, job fairs, and recruitment agencies.
2. Online recruiting: This method involves using online platforms such as social media, job search engines, and company websites to advertise job openings and attract candidates.
3. Referral recruiting: This method involves relying on employee referrals to find suitable candidates for job names and openings. Employers offer incentives or bonuses to employees who refer successful candidates.

What is the biased and unbiased types?

In technology, biased and unbiased algorithms are used in machine learning and artificial intelligence. Biased algorithms produce results that are skewed towards certain groups or outcomes due to biased training data or inherent biases. Unbiased algorithms produce results that are not skewed towards any particular group or outcome and can be achieved through careful data selection and preprocessing or algorithm design.

How Can I Conduct Unbiased Interviews?

Structure your interviews consistently, use scorecards for objective evaluation, and involve a diverse interview panel. Create a comfortable environment for candidates and assess them in various contexts beyond just the interview.

What Defines an Unbiased Interview?

An unbiased interview evaluates candidates based solely on their qualifications and skills relevant to the job, without influence from personal biases or assumptions.

What Are Effective Strategies to Prevent Bias in Interviews?

Use a structured guide and standardized questions, take detailed notes, grade candidates with a rubric, involve multiple interviewers, and keep personal topics and politics out of the discussion.

How Can I Frame Interview Questions to Minimise Bias?

Ask both behavioural questions about past experiences and situational questions about hypothetical scenarios. This helps evaluate candidates based on their skills and responses, rather than personal biases.