Hiring for Diversity

CHAPTER 7Minimizing Selection Bias

A few years ago, the management team of a well-known global bank    met to review the company's latest diversity data. Many leaders around the room took notice of the significant lack of representation among the disability community, and there was consensus that people with disabilities should be front and center in the company's hiring priorities. Soon after, the bank embarked on a large-scale effort to hire more people with disabilities. It worked through disability partner networks and employee referrals to successfully identify and source more than 600 individuals with disabilities across a wide variety of roles.

Yet in spite of the bank's honest intentions and hard work, it ended up hiring not a single one of those 600 people.

What went wrong? When the bank (which has requested to remain anonymous) went back to assess its missteps, it discovered that nearly every recruiter and hiring manager had decided early in the hiring process not to move forward with these candidates. Despite being aware of the bank's laudable goals, many of them decided these candidates were either unqualified or would not be successful in their preferred roles because of their disabilities. Others passed over candidates with disabilities early in the process or chose to advance other candidates they felt were more qualified later on. Despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of these candidates would have been able to perform the job duties as stated and ...