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Welcome!

Thank you for your efforts to build a movement for a fair shot at wellbeing. We hope this resource is helpful to you. Before you dive in, please review the information on these first few slides about how you can use this resource.

Why does this matter?

We encourage you to adapt and share this resource, making it more relevant to your issue area, field or context. By doing so, you are playing an important role in building a movement for a fair shot at wellbeing.

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We really want you to:

Use this resource to support your work and practice.
Share this resource with your network.
Make unaltered copies to distribute for non-commercial use.
Link to or re-post this resource on your website.
Adapt, remix or evolve this content provided that you:

Attribute original work to Full Frame Initiative (and other co-authors if applicable) and indicate what changes were made.
License the evolved work using the same Creative Commons license.

You may not:

Sell access to this resource or build a business based primarily on using or exploiting this resource.

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Important reminders, continued:

Updated domains. FFI’s Five Domains of Wellbeing framework was updated in April 2025.

For the most up-to-date version, please visit fullframeinitiative.org/wellbeing.

Outdated contact information. Email addresses, phone numbers and websites referenced in this document are likely outdated.
Try it on. Every time you try to bring wellbeing into your system, you make it more likely that change will stick. Systems transformation can start from changing a single policy, approach or element of culture.
Do no harm. Our resources are designed to support individuals, families and communities in identifying what matters most to them and co-creating a path to make it possible for everyone to have a fair shot at wellbeing. Our materials should never be used to tell people what should matter to them or to gather information to use against them.

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FFI Hiring Team Training�August 2020

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Training Goals�

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Learn about implicit bias in hiring�
Identify the biases you are most susceptible to �
Better understand the processes FFI has put in place to reduce implicit bias and improve candidate experience�
Learn about illegal interview question topics

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Implicit Bias in Hiring

Resumes are riddled with information that trigger bias...

Infographic by: Applied

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Implicit Bias in Hiring

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In addition to triggering bias, information garnered from a resume has been shown to be the least successful in predicting how well candidates perform once hired.

Source: Schmidt/Hunter 1998, 2016�Infographic by: Applied

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Implicit Bias in Hiring

Bias can lead to some shocking inequities...

��Infographic by: Applied

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Anti-bias learning

�Why is understanding bias important?

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Everyone possesses biases.

Biases are imprinted at a young age.
They encourage overgeneralizations in order to create shortcuts in decision making.
Biases may be conscious or unconscious.
Some biases are neutral, like a preference for chocolate ice cream or vanilla ice cream.
Other biases are harmful, utilizing limited data to reach decisions that may be incorrect or discriminatory.

Self-awareness around your biases is the first step in being able to purposefully limit their influence on your judgements, decision making, and actions.

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Anti-Bias Learning

Infographic by: Applied

Prior to beginning candidate assessment as part of an FFI hiring team we are asking you to do some further independent learning:

1- Visit the Harvard Implicit Association Tests (IAT) page and complete the Race (‘Black-White’ IAT), the Gender-Career IAT, and one other association test of your choosing. � -anticipated completion time, 35 minutes

2- Then Read, 13 Common Hiring Biases To Watch Out For� -anticipated reading time, 15 minutes

As you are completing these assessments and reading about common types of bias, make note of specific biases you are prone to.

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Infographics by: EEOC International

Congratulations! By acknowledging your bias and learning a bit about it you’ve completed the first steps in reducing the impact of bias on your decision making. However, this is an ongoing journey. Tests like the Implicit Association Tests don’t actually predict individual behavior, but rather outcomes across larger populations, and while the article on 13 common hiring biases was hopefully informative, there are many other types of bias not even mentioned. So now, you are ready to move on to next steps, putting this information into conscious practice as part of an FFI hiring team. There will be moments of discomfort, there will be times bias still creeps in, but these are opportunities to make the unconscious conscious, to tap into your “Higher Brain” too short circuit the biases that have been negatively influencing your decisions. An example of how to put this into action may be to recognize that after analyzing 15 candidate writing samples your neck and jaw are tight, this would be a good time to stop what you are doing, and focus on a task you can complete with your eyes closed. This will help shift your thinking from your lower brain back to your higher brain before moving on to evaluate that 16th writing sample.

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Radical Recruitment: ��Work Samples & Structured Interviews

FFI is striving to turn the standard process on its head by:

Doing away with resumes and cover letters
Utilizing targeted work samples as a first evaluation point
Removing all identifying candidate information
Integrating skills based assessments
Standardizing interviews
Utilizing standardized rubrics for candidate evaluation
Analyzing hiring team discrepancies in rubric rankings

FFI has four overarching goals with this hiring process, to remove bias, improve candidate experience, ensure a diverse candidate pool, and to better assess a candidate's likelihood for success in the role. In posting a position the hiring team will ensure the job description is inclusive and accessible, for example, removing gendered words and industry acronyms. Additionally, all position requirements will be evaluated to allow as much variety of experience as possible to be considered. A recruitment timeline will be established for each step of the process from posting the job to making a hire, and a marketing strategy will be created to ensure the position is advertised in a way that prioritizes a diverse candidate pool in as short a time as possible. Instead of beginning our evaluation of candidates based on a resume, we will instead identify the top position hard skills (such as prior experience in Salesforce) and soft skills (such as the ability to work autonomously), and based on those priority skills create 3-5 targeted short response questions for candidates complete. These short answer responses will have any identifying, and potentially bias triggering, information removed and will be "chunked and randomized" prior to being sent to assessors. The assessors will then use a rubric created to measure and rate candidates based on the previously identified priority skills to rank candidates. Once all candidates have been assessed, the assessors will meet to compare candidate scores and discuss who should move to the next round of consideration. This meeting is an opportunity for differences in ranking styles, as well as potential evaluator bias, to be uncovered. Once invited to an interview candidates will all experience a standardized interview process, ensuring the hiring team is able to evaluate each individual based on the same set of questions and interview format. Everyone on the hiring team will take notes throughout the interview, and after the interview concludes the hiring team will immediately, and independently, complete their candidate evaluation utilizing another standardized rubric. Then as a group, the hiring team will reveal their candidate ranking all at once. An all at once reveal can help to reduce groupthink and disrupt power dynamics that can cause individuals to question or shift their original assessment to be more aligned with someone else in the group (often a person with a higher level of power or decision making). After the all at once candidate ranking reveal, the hiring team will discuss discrepancies in candidate rankings and reach a consensus on candidate next steps. Depending on the position additional work samples, online skills assessments, second round interviews, or other steps may be added to the process to provide further evidence of how a candidate may perform in the job. These additional steps should be established prior to beginning interviews in order to share full process details with interviewing candidates, additionally all of these steps should be assessed utilizing rubrics or other standardized measurements. In the final step candidates will have references checked, again, utilizing a standardized reference form. From the candidate perspective, all applications will be submitted and tracked in a standardized database, all applicants will receive an automatic email indicating that their application was received, communication goals should be set at each phase of consideration to ensure candidates receive regular updates, candidates will receive standardized information via email and will experience a standardized interview process (as much as possible). Work blocks for each stage of hiring should be pre-scheduled on hiring team member calendars to ensure progress in alignment with recruitment timeline goals. After a position has been filled the hiring team will analyze the process, to include input from candidates not hired, candidate diversity from different posting sites or network outreach, and timeline expectations vs. realities, to be able to continue improving the process with each FFI hire.

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Process to reduce bias…

Telling yourself to not be biased does not work. Therefore, we are utilizing a de-biasing methodology designed to remove bias wherever possible.

Informed by: Applied

1- Anonymize Candidates�Identifying information is removed from candidate application (reduces affinity & stereotype bias)

2- Candidate Chunking�Don’t review a full candidate application/work assessment at once, instead review one piece of the application or one work assessment for multiple candidates (reduces confirmation & halo bias)

3- Candidate Randomization �Don’t review candidates in the same order, randomize who you are assessing first, last, etc… (reduces ordering affect bias, ex. Rating someone when you are tired or hungry, or rating someone after you just assessed a nobel laureate)

4- Process Standardization�Ensuring candidates are evaluated on the same things from initial work samples, to interviews, to reference (reduces confirmation, affinity, affect heuristics, & halo/horn bias)

5- Reviewer Blind/All At Once Reveal �Reviewers reveal candidate assessment/rating all at once rather than one by one (reduces groupthink/conformity bias & power holders from swaying initial assessment)

6- Wisdom of the Crowd�Creating a subjectivity average through well defined rubrics and multiple assessors, provides a truer evaluation of candidate merit (ideal # of reviewers is 3, with diminishing returns as you increase reviewers)

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Removing Unconscious Bias�Next Steps...

Infographic by: Promise54, graph results from June 2020

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Evaluate & Understand Your Assessment Style…

Think about assessments you’ve completed in the past, some examples might be, a customer service survey for your last doctor’s appointment, a survey about your experience with an app or software, or an employer survey. ��A recent survey that FFI staff completed was the Promise 54 Team Experience survey. When answering the questions shown on the infographic, how would you respond on a 1-5 scale (1 indicating strongly disagree & 5 indicating strongly agree).

Action: �Identify for yourself, are you a hard, moderate, or an easy grader/assessor?

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Removing Unconscious Bias�Next Steps...

Evaluate Your Bias Triggers

Common Hiring Biases�1- Confirmation Bias�2- Affect Heuristics�3- Expectation Anchor�4- Halo Effect�5- Horn Effect�6-Overconfidence Bias�7-Similarity Attraction Bias�8-Illusory Correlation�9- Affinity Bias�10-Beauty Bias�11- Conformity Bias�12- Intuition�13-Contrast Effect/Judgement Bias

Action: �Use this worksheet to help identify your top 2-4 biases (note, they can also be biases not listed here)

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Illegal Interview Questions�

Illegal question topics include: �-Race, Color, or National Origin�-Religion�-Sex, Gender Identity, or Sexual Orientation�-Pregnancy status�-Disability�-Age or Genetic Information�-Citizenship�-Marital Status or Number of Children

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Asking questions (or even making casual conversation before or after an interview) about race, religion, gender, or other personal candidate information could be illegal and leave FFI vulnerable to charges of discrimination or lawsuits.

Prior to participating in an FFI interview as part of a hiring team, please take 10 minutes to review this summary of illegal interview questions. ��If a candidate offers up this type information voluntarily, do not follow-up or probe, and do not take that information into consideration when making next step decisions about the candidate. ��Anticipated reading time, 10 minutes ��Source- Betterteam, July 16, 2020�https://www.betterteam.com/illegal-interview-questions

Now that you’ve had a chance to learn more about bias in the hiring process, we also wanted to ensure that all members of hiring teams are aware of illegal interview topics or questions. When communicating with candidates asking questions about, or even casually bringing up any of the listed illegal topics, can leave a candidate feeling vulnerable or confused, and opens FFI up to discrimination charges or lawsuits. The linked article provides great examples of how you can ask necessary questions without venturing into protected or illegal territory. For example, rather than asking a candidate if they are available to work on weekends, which could be viewed as a question about religious observances, you can ask, “are there any conflicts that would keep you from working the days required for this position?”. Additionally, if any of this type of information is voluntarily provided by a candidate, be sure not to probe, and do not take that information into consideration when making next step decisions.

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Removing Unconscious Bias�Next Steps...

Informing your team…��Now that you’ve identified your assessment style and top bias triggers, send that information to everyone on your hiring team for their awareness, and so they can help hold you accountable throughout the hiring process. �

Additional Independent Learning...

If you are interested in learning more, there are an abundance of resources, here are just a few : �-Microsoft self-paced eLesson on Unconscious Bias�-Google Unconscious Bias @ Work�-Facebook Managing Unconscious Bias