Unconscious bias: Stereotypical hiring practices. | Gail Tolstoi-Miller | TEDxLincolnSquare

Do you know the average time it takes a recruiter to review your resume six seconds? That's all. We spend 30 times as much time microwaving popcorn. I'm sure most of you haven't gotten a job and wondered why, well the real reason may surprise you. It may also surprise people who are making the decision now that research has suggested that we are actually bombarded with 11 million pieces of information at any given time, but we can only handle 40. Therefore, our brain creates shortcuts so that We can make decisions quickly without being overwhelmed, but this creates a

bias

that we are not aware of, known as

unconscious

bias

.

Now I think when most of us think about bias, we think about the typical race, age, gender, but what about the not-so-obvious things that we don't discuss? the kind of things that might surprise you the kind of things that will make the difference between your resume being in the yes or no pile. I'm a recruiter and career coach and a couple of years ago I interviewed an amazing candidate. Star and I thought I was sure I would get the job, but it didn't happen, so obviously I asked the

hiring

manager, do you know why you didn't hire this candidate?

And this is what she said. I can't identify it. It's just a feeling I have, oh boy, I knew there was trouble, so she said, did you notice her white heels? You don't wear white heels after Labor Day and then I said, oh, I never got the corporate memo about that, I'm sorry, but their beliefs and judgments were so strong about wearing white heels after Labor Day that it actually distracted her, believe it or not, from properly evaluating the candidate and his accomplishments. This was not a conscious decision, but a conscious one, so I have probably reviewed a million resumes in my career and let me tell you every detail of your resume, not including your skills, can be a deciding factor in whether you go to the pool. yes or no, so a mailing address indicates that a long trip or an undesirable location could put you If you know, an email address like Crazymom666 can let you know that I'm not one of those.

Even a reputable university like Indiana University can be perceived as a non-pedigree school. I guess some of you are guessing what I just put in Mark Cuban. the pile of no and that's not all recruiters some recruiters will do social media research on your twitter facebook linkedin whatever the list goes on and on and nothing is private any information they see can be used against you and put you in the no a drunk photo of you at a party on Facebook turns you on, a stay-at-home dad who is perceived as a slacker who wants to return to the workforce, or that political tweet that doesn't quite agree with the recruiter can easily put you in we know so we have the next step oh this is my favorite the phone interview there can't be any judgment with the phone interview it's like the show the voice for

hiring

there can't be any judgment because they can't see your body language or your appearance are incorrect, there may be

unconscious

bias based on your tone and accent, all of that can put you on the no list based on the recruiter's perception and then we are at the final step, in-person interview appearances count. tattoos would have informed fdr and thomas edison crazy hair informs albert einstein she is a dumb blonde sorry marissa mayer you inform yourself and then we have two great candidates bill and chang both looking for the same job but we know that asians are better with technology.

We just put a young Bill Gates in the not 20 year old pile. 20 years of this unconscious bias really wore me down, really made me feel like maybe he didn't belong in the draft anymore, so when he was 20 years old. Old man, believe it or not, a gaping Nyu student, misperceived and judged by my appearance and my attitude, I knew what it felt like to be misunderstood, maybe I needed to quit the draft and get out, but that wasn't the answer, so I needed to dig deeper and become aware of myself, so I did a recruiting audit and it took me a couple of months.

In fact, he had an unconscious bias and the brutal discovery that he had an unconscious bias. We all have unconscious bias all the time. Time is not just in corporate America, it is everywhere, it is in our schools, dating, politics, media, judicial system, why, because our fears help shape our decisions, fear of making a mistake, fear of not belonging , to lose our job or to change itself, so we make decisions that make us feel. Sure, but we make hiring mistakes every day because we don't see things as they are, but we are who we are. I knew there was no way out of this, there was no way out, but I needed to stay in a profession that I loved and that's what I did, so I needed to dig deep into unconscious bias and do everything I could to prevent it, so I dug deeper into my self-awareness. and let me tell you, that's a little scary.

I wrote down my assumptions, judgments, perceptions and I had a great discovery. I don't like bright red polka dot dresses. I unconsciously put a candidate in the don't use them pile and that's embarrassing. I also took Harvard's online implicit association test to measure my level of bias, but I had an incredible discovery. discovery I started challenging myself and hiring managers with two simple words, two words that had the most impact in unraveling unconscious bias, two words I used a lot when I was a Jersey Goth girl and what and what and what if the candidate has an hour to travel and is more than willing to do so just because the former employee quit doesn't mean the next candidate will.

So what if the candidate was drunk at a party? A Facebook photo doesn't mean you'll be drinking at work. And what if they've been out of work for six months? There could be a very good reason for you to ask yourself: What is a pause? It is a self-assessment. It helps you eliminate your emotional disorder. It helps you return to consciousness. It also helps you focus on what's important by questioning the facts and judgments you use to make decisions. Look, it's inevitable, it's inevitable that we're all judged and misperceived because of someone else's unconscious bias, and sometimes it's worth standing up for and other times it's worth it.

In the same way, we will judge and misperceive others based on our own unconscious biases and we now know how to keep it in check by asking ourselves what, after all, our individual differences and similarities help build our collective strength. Well, now imagine when I first walked on stage. Now I'm wearing a bright red dress with white polka dots. Purple hair. I wear those beautiful white shoes and tattoos. Then, thank you.