Unconscious bias explained

Short clip illustrating why unconscious bias invariably creeps into any recruitment process and how it can, unless acknowledged, undermine interviewer objectivity. Reference is made to Douglas Mackenzie Davey who famously asked a number of experienced and highly skilled professional interviewers, (interviewing for senior roles on a daily basis), to complete a simple form for each candidate. "Within the first two minutes, tick 'Yes' or 'No'; halfway through, tick 'Yes' or 'No'; when you review after the interview, tick 'Yes' or 'No'." Their results were then correlated against selection decisions. He discovered that if the interviewer ticked had 'Yes' in the first two minutes, this had no predictive value for the final decision. But if the interviewer had ticked 'No' when he or she had only 'gut reaction to the candidate in front of them, and no evidence yet from any answers to their questions, then the final decision was overwhelmingly likely to be 'No'. Mackenzie Davey ‘s advice was therefore to always ‘Postpone judgement until you collected both positive and negative evidence.’