How to reduce bias in your sales hiring process?

Unconscious biases can creep into your sales hiring process in several ways. You may naturally be drawn to people who look and sound like you and have shared experiences. Maybe the person you’re interviewing also loves golf or went to the same university that you did. Perhaps they grew up in the same city. We feel comfortable with familiarity, and that’s a fact.

Stereotypes and confirmation biases may also influence your decision-making. For example, some studies show interviewers and hiring managers who don’t believe they are biased to have prejudices against different names that seem to speak to a certain ethnic origin or that are less common in our society. As a result, these people are less likely to be offered jobs versus people with culturally common names.

Consider the following seven steps to reduce bias in your sales hiring process and ‪build diverse and effective sales teams:

1. Establish precise job requirements and qualifications: Clearly define the job requirements and qualifications needed for the role, and make sure that these are objective and non-discriminatory.

• Use structured interviews: Structured interviews, where the same questions are asked of all candidates, can help to reduce bias by providing a consistent evaluation of each candidate.

• Blind resume reviews: Redacting information that could reveal a candidate’s identity, such as their name, age, and education, can help to reduce bias in the initial review process.

• Diversify your recruitment efforts: Make sure to reach out to a diverse pool of candidates and consider using employee resource groups or diversity recruitment agencies to expand your pool.

• Train hiring managers: Provide training to hiring managers on diversity, inclusion, and unconscious bias to help them recognize and mitigate their own biases.

• Consider using tools: There are tools available that can help to automate certain aspects of the hiring process, such as resume screening, and can help to reduce bias.

• Review your hiring process: Regularly review your hiring process to ensure that it is fair and unbiased. This can include collecting and analyzing data on the diversity of your applicant pool and hires.

How can Sciolytix help?

The Sciolytix Sales Performance Predictor (S2P2) is a next-generation talent assessment that quickly and accurately predicts quota attainment while delivering an engaging, differentiated experience for candidates. S2P2 gives your managers insight to avoid bad hiring decisions, improves hiring objectivity and consistency, and shows candidates you are a forward-thinking company that takes their development seriously. Among many benefits, reducing hiring bias is one.

Learn more about S2P2 at https://s2p2.sciolytix.com/