How Employers are Using AI To Stop Bias in Hiring

Humans have a natural tendency to lean towards what they know best or to a safe decision based on the experiences they’ve undergone, this can inherently form what is known as unconscious bias. A common occurrence that is not spared even from human resource and hiring.

What’s a responsible manager to do? People tend to stick with what they already know and so, they often hire the only way they know how to. However, the advancement of technology is now helping managers and recruiters overcome these unfair tendencies and incompetencies through artificial intelligence (AI). 

AI has a lot of capabilities and it may surprise you at how adept AI can be at detecting different types of bias across company hiring processes. Take a look at a few of the things AI can do:‍

1. AI tracks unintentional bias throughout company files

Simply put, people don’t know what they don’t know and they may not even realise it when they’re being biased. This may include indirect inclinations towards hiring people with only a certain type of degree, age group, background or more. Whatever patterns you’ve been projecting across your hiring, AI can detect it and generate reports.

2. AI detects gender-biased language

Here, AI can work on analysing actual job applications identifying gender-biased language or lingual descriptions. Although these gender-biased language terms may be unintended or go unnoticed, AI technology can conduct quick scans and identify where unnecessary biases have come into play.

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This ability in itself saves time and helps produce results for workplaces that are looking to diversify or implement more gender-equal policies.  

3. AI can give bias-proof assessments

AI Programs such as Wonderlic provide assessment based on capabilities that are intentionally free of human assessment bias. These tests help potential star players stand out, no matter how different or unique they may be.

You can test for all kinds of skills without relying on human evaluation to grade them. This can ensure that candidates are the right fit in terms of work culture and skill sets before they get on the job.

4. AI assesses the nature of bias 

If you suspect your hiring decisions to portray biasness but you’re unsure of its extent, AI can find out for you! Assessing the nature of bias and defining what changes need to be made to counteract it are crucial in forming a fair hiring culture.

5. AI tracks changes in hiring strategy

You can set AI programs to track and analyse your anti-bias strategy to see if it is producing more diversified results in hiring. This applies to whether the objective was to target a 1:1 ratio across genders or to prioritise skill-based assessments before making a decision. AI programs will check to see if the intended changes are being implemented. 

6. AI uses privacy settings to remove certain types of information from applications

Applicant tracking systems enlist AI to hide certain types of classified information, such as location, identity or ethnicity from recruiters. This helps them make decisions based on relevant criteria including work experience and skills rather than other unimportant facts that don’t contribute to workplace success.

Bias in hiring presents serious challenges to a healthy workplace. If you’ve never employed AI technology in your hiring process before, give it a try! You might be surprised at what these unbiased assessments can do to create a fair and open hiring environment.

AI is a very powerful tool, so if you have an idea for AI that isn’t listed here, it may be in development. AI works for large and small companies alike. Don’t hesitate to ask how your business may benefit from AI whether you are making 12 hires or 12,000.

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