Recruitment Essentials:Appointing the Best Candidate

Please refer to the University Recruitment Guidance and use support of your HR team www.hr.admin.cam.ac.uk/recruitment-guidance

University of Cambridge PPD - Recruitment Essentials June 2019

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University of Cambridge

Recruitment Essentials:Appointing the Best Candidate

Table of Contents

Recruitment Essentials........................................................................................................3

The importance of using a process......................................................................................4

Recruitment – it’s a risky business...................................................................................4

University 10 key recruitment principles...............................................................................5

Recruiting within the law - The Equality Act 2010................................................................6

The Protected Characteristics: Key Points......................................................................6

Types of Discrimination in Recruitment: Definitions.........................................................8

Positive Action..................................................................................................................8

Common Interviewing Biases – the impact of Implicit Bias on decision-making..................9

Taking the guesswork out of recruitment...........................................................................11

Shared responsibility for decision making..........................................................................12

Continuing Professional Development Plan.......................................................................13

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Recruitment EssentialsAppointing the Best Candidate

Who is it for?All those involved in selection processes, with priority given to those with responsibility for co-ordinating recruitment procedures and/or making selection decisions.

OverviewThis workshop provides an opportunity to understand the recruitment and selection process to ensure you select the right candidate, avoiding common pitfalls.

Aims & ObjectivesThis workshop will cover the following areas:

To enable you to create the conditions where you can recruit the best candidate To understand the importance of using a fair and transparent recruitment and

selection process To recognise the impact of implicit bias and ensure it does not affect selection

decisions To understand the shared responsibility of the selection committee to ensure a

fair process is followed

Pre-course workIt is recommended participants complete the following before attending the session:

'Equality and Diversity Essentials' online module on Moodle (if not previously completed) https://www.vle.cam.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=116231

Optional: ‘Understanding Unconscious/Implicit Bias’ online module https://www.vle.cam.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=131162

Optional: the ‘Gender-Career’ Harvard University Implicit Association Test https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html

FormatThe session is interactive and encourages discussion about current practice with others who have similar responsibilities. There will be opportunities to consider both personal and broader actions to take back to the institution.

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The importance of using a process

Recruiting is time consuming and expensive, so if you approach every vacancy as a blank sheet you are only adding time and expense to the process.

By taking a consistent approach to recruitment you will have more chance of selecting the best people at the time.

When you select the best person for the job, train them well and treat them appropriately, they will produce good results and will stay loyal to the University for longer, ensuring your initial and ongoing investment in them is well rewarded.

The current job market can be highly competitive, with many organisations vying for the same people. The way that you advertise vacancies and follow your recruitment process can impact how people view you as an employer, especially the way you handle internal applicants.

By following a process for your vacancies you will: Have a common approach and ensure best practice Recruit the best person for the job Ensure you are recruiting within the law (Equality Act 2010) Be able to defend against employment tribunal claims Be able to identify areas of concern

Recruitment – it’s a risky business

During the recruitment and selection process you open yourself, your colleagues and the University up to many risks, including the risk to:

! Personal reputation! College / Department / University reputation! Colleagues reputation! Getting the wrong person – cost in terms of time, money

and the impact of a poor decision on co-workers! Avoid Subject access requests ! Claims of discrimination under the Equality Act 2010

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University 10 key recruitment principles

1. The recruitment and selection process should seek to attract and recruit talented people to the role and the University.

2. Recruitment should take place in a timely, flexible and efficient manner.

3. There should be equality of opportunity in all recruitment processes to ensure the right candidate is appointed based on merit. Selection processes must be based on objective criteria that prevent implicit bias, that are impartial and are applied consistently.

4. All candidates should be treated fairly using a transparent process. This includes documenting objective selection criteria, reasons for selection decisions and providing feedback to unsuccessful candidates invited to interview.

5. The recruitment process is one of open competition that should attract a diversity of talented applicants. Potential candidates should be provided with access to information about the job, the required knowledge, skills, and experience, and about the selection process.

6. All candidates should have a positive experience of the University, whether they are successful or not. The recruitment process should ensure that the University is presented in a positive manner that enhances its reputation and attracts talented candidates.

7. All staff involved in recruitment should complete appropriate training including training in Equality and Diversity principles.

8. Declarations of interest must be made at the appropriate stages of the recruitment process.

9. All documentation must be treated confidentially and in accordance with the data protection principles.

10. Recruitment processes should be conducted in a cost-effective manner.

People Strategy: Recruitment of Academic OfficersRecommendations and Guidelines from the Recruitment Working Group

“The RWG considered each stage of the recruitment process to provide a set of underlying principles, whilst retaining flexibility for the separate requirements of the individual Schools and role/office.”

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Recruiting within the law - The Equality Act 2010

It is essential that you are aware of and comply with, the legal aspects of recruiting staff. To fail to do would mean that you are not treating applicants fairly, may not get the best person for the job and could end up in front of a tribunal.

The Protected Characteristics: Key Points

Age Disability Gender Reassignment Marriage and Civil Partnership Pregnancy and Maternity Race Religion or Belief Sex Sexual Orientation

Age: The Act protects people of all ages. However, different treatment because of age is not unlawful direct or indirect discrimination if you can justify it, i.e. if you can demonstrate that it is a proportionate means of meeting a legitimate aim.

Disability: The Act has made it easier for a person to show that they are disabled and protected from disability discrimination. Under the Act, a person is disabled if they have a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long- term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities, which would include things like using a telephone, reading a book or using public transport.

There are additional provisions relating to people with progressive conditions. People with HIV, cancer or multiple sclerosis are protected by the Act from the point of diagnosis. People with some visual impairments are automatically deemed to be disabled.

The Act puts a duty on you as an employer to make reasonable adjustments for your staff to help them overcome disadvantage resulting from an impairment (e.g. by providing assistive technologies to help visually impaired staff use computers effectively).

The Act includes a new protection from discrimination arising from disability. This states that it is discrimination to treat a disabled person unfavourably because of something connected with their disability (e.g. a tendency to make spelling mistakes arising from dyslexia). This type of discrimination is unlawful where the employer or other person acting for the employer knows, or could reasonably be expected to know, that the person has a disability. This type of discrimination is only justifiable if an employer can show that it is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.

Indirect discrimination also covers people with a disability. This means that a job applicant or employee could claim that a particular rule or requirement you have in place disadvantages people with a disability. Unless you could justify this, it would be unlawful.

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The Act also includes a provision which makes it unlawful, except in certain circumstances, for employers to ask about a candidate’s health before offering them work.

Gender Reassignment: The Act provides protection for transsexual people. A transsexual person is someone who proposes to, starts or has completed a process to change his or her gender. The Act no longer requires a person to be under medical supervision to be protected – so a woman who decides to live permanently as a man but does not undergo any medical procedures would be covered. Transgender people such as cross dressers, who are not transsexual because they do not intend to live permanently in the gender opposite to their birth sex, are not protected by the Act.

It is discrimination to treat transsexual people less favourably for being absent from work because they propose to undergo, are undergoing or have undergone gender reassignment than they would be treated if they were absent because they were ill or injured. Medical procedures for gender reassignment such as hormone treatment should not be treated as a ‘lifestyle’ choice.

Marriage and Civil Partnerships: The Act protects employees who are married or in a civil partnership against discrimination. Single people are not protected.

Pregnancy and Maternity: A woman is protected against discrimination on the grounds of pregnancy and maternity during the period of her pregnancy and any statutory maternity leave to which she is entitled. During this period, pregnancy and maternity discrimination cannot be treated as sex discrimination.

You must not take into account an employee’s period of absence due to pregnancy-related illness when making a decision about her employment.

Race: For the purposes of the Act ‘race’ includes colour, nationality and ethnic or national origins. A racial group can be made up of two or more different racial groups (e.g. Black Britons).

Religion or Belief: In the Equality Act, religion includes any religion. It also includes a lack of religion, in other words employees or jobseekers are protected if they do not follow a certain religion or have no religion at all. Additionally, a religion must have a clear structure and belief system.

Belief means any religious or philosophical belief or a lack of such belief. To be protected, a belief must satisfy various criteria, including that it is a weighty and substantial aspect of human life and behaviour. Denominations or sects within a religion can be considered a protected religion or religious belief. Humanism is a protected philosophical belief but political beliefs would not be protected.

Discrimination because of religion or belief can occur even where both the discriminator and recipient are of the same religion or belief.

Sex: Both men and women are protected under the Act.

Sexual Orientation: The Act protects bisexual, gay, heterosexual and lesbian people.

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Types of Discrimination in Recruitment: Definitions

Direct Discrimination: Direct discrimination occurs when someone is treated less favourably than another person because of a protected characteristic they have or are thought to have or because they associate with someone who has a protected characteristic.

Associative Discrimination: This applies to sex, race, religion or belief and sexual orientation, age, disability and gender reassignment. This is direct discrimination against someone because they associate with another person who possesses a protected characteristic.

Perceptive Discrimination: This applies to sex, race, religion or belief and sexual orientation, age, disability and gender reassignment. This is direct discrimination against an individual because others think they possess a particular protected characteristic. It applies even if the person does not actually possess that characteristic.

Indirect Discrimination: Indirect discrimination can occur when you have a condition, rule, policy or a practice in your company that applies to everyone but particularly disadvantages people who share a protected characteristic.

Indirect discrimination can be justified if you can show that you acted reasonably in managing your business, i.e. that it is ‘a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim’. A legitimate aim might be any lawful decision you make in running your business or organisation, but if there is a discriminatory effect, the sole aim of reducing costs is likely to be unlawful.

Being proportionate really means being fair and reasonable, including showing that you’ve looked at ‘less discriminatory’ alternatives to any decision you make.

Positive Action

As with previous equality legislation, the Equality Act allows you to take positive action if you think that employees or job applicants who share a particular protected characteristic suffer a disadvantage connected to that characteristic, or if their participation in an activity is disproportionately low.

However, you will only be able to take such positive action where it is a proportionate way of addressing the underrepresentation or disadvantage; you cannot choose a less suitable candidate just because they have a protected characteristic that is underrepresented or disadvantaged, they must have equal merit to other candidates.

www.hr.admin.cam.ac.uk/recruitment/equality-law-and-recruitment/exceptions-equality-law/positive-action

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Common Interviewing Biases – the impact of Implicit Bias on decision-making

By reducing bias from the recruitment process we can reduce the potential for ineffective and discriminatory decision making.

Assessors need to understand potential sources of biases; we can then consciously prevent them from influencing our decision making. As a result, we will make fairer and more effective selection decisions.

“Biases are the stories we make up about people before we know who they are.”Vernā Myers, TED talks: ‘How to overcome our biases? Walk boldly towards them’

First Impressions: We tend to make judgements about people we meet very quickly. This is a product of our evolution where we needed to make quick judgements about situations. In an interview situation our natural tendency to form first impressions is unhelpful.

First impressions are often inaccurate and can influence the way we assess candidates. An interviewer might make a snap judgement about someone based on their first impression - positive or negative - that clouds the entire interview. For example, letting the fact that the candidate is wearing out-of-the-ordinary clothing or has a heavy regional accent take precedence over the applicant's knowledge, skills, or abilities.

You might try less hard to probe for evidence if your first impression of a candidate is not favourable.

Halo and Horns Effect: This occurs when our overall impression of a candidate is significantly influenced by just one detail. This detail could be positive (Halo) or negative (Horns), and means that we disregard or minimise other evidence.

For instance, knowing someone went to a particular university might be looked upon favorably. Everything the applicant says during the interview is seen in this light. ("Well, she left out an important part of the answer to that question, but, she must know it, she went to XYZ University).

The "horns" effect is just the opposite - allowing one weak point to influence everything else.

The effect is that our view of the candidate is unrealistic and inaccurate. In an interview, this can mean that we fail to take into account information which contradicts our positive or negative view of the candidate, or that we make assumptions about the candidate. For example, candidates that we perceive to be verbally fluent can sometimes lead us to think their evidence is of a higher calibre than may actually be the case.

Stereotyping: Forming an opinion about how people of a given sex, religion, race, appearance, or other characteristic think, act, respond, or would perform in the job - without any evidence that this is the case.

Inconsistency in questioning: Asking different questions of each candidate leads to a skewed assessment of who would best perform the job. Questions designed to

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get particular information about a specific candidate are only appropriate in the context of a core set of questions asked of all candidates.

Negative emphasis: This involves rejection of a candidate based on a small amount of negative information - a common occurrence. Research indicates that interviewers give unfavorable information about twice the weight of favorable information.

Cultural noise: Since the candidate wants the job, she or he will provide the words the interviewer wants to hear, even if those words are not entirely truthful. For example, an applicant might say that he has no problem working in a team setting, when this is not the case. Interviewers should prepare questions that probe for specific examples and stay away from questions that elicit "yes" or "no" answers.

Nonverbal bias: Undue emphasis might be placed on nonverbal cues that have nothing to do with the job, such as loudness or softness of voice, or the type of handshake given.

Contrast effect: Stronger candidates who interview after weaker ones may appear more qualified than they are because of the contrast between the two. Note taking during the interview and a reasonable period of time between interviews may alleviate this.

So, become aware of your habits and what you notice: At each step in the recruitment process make sure you are not relying on unconscious or implicit bias, this includes advertising a vacancy, sifting through applications and CVs, when writing interview questions, making decisions or taking up references.

“Implicit bias is part of human nature, not an unusual moral failing – blame is not appropriate just for having implicit biases. Bias becomes blameworthy if people learn about implicit bias and don’t try to do anything to change” Professor Jenny Saul

Mitigating the impact of biases on decision making

Individually:o Notice your habitso Challenge stereotypeso Check assumptions – gather broader evidence/POVo Look after conscious brain – be well fed and wateredo Lead by exampleo Challenge assertively – collective responsibility

Collectively:o Measure & monitor – stages of recruitment, promotion, assessment…o Design and use polices well – check for implicit biaso Share good practiceo Standardise, anonymise where possibleo Reduce stereotype threat o Support development for otherso Have diverse decision making groups

University of Cambridge PPD - Recruitment Essentials

HABITS

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o Record and retain reasons for decisions

Taking the guesswork out of recruitment

When recruiting the ultimate aim is to find the best person to fill the vacancy within a reasonable timeframe. The Role Profile and Further Information are key to accomplishing this goal.

Writing effective job description and further information documents take time. Once written they are used to inform the rest of the recruitment and selection activities, so putting in time and effort when a vacancy is created is crucial.

The Role Profile and Further Information documents enable recruitment panel members and candidates to clearly understand what is expected in the role, the essential competences needed to do a good job, and the key roles and responsibilities in the role.

This information is then used to inform the advertisement, to create effective selection criteria, this enables quick processing of applications and supports the writing of interview questions and selection exercises, and informs the final decision making process.

By reviewing the Role Profile and Further Information documents every time a vacancy is created you will ensure that the changing needs of the department are being considered whenever you recruit.

For the full recruitment and selection guidelines visit: http://www.hr.admin.cam.ac.uk/recruitment-guidance

University of Cambridge PPD - Recruitment Essentials

Role Profile & Further

Information

Adverts

Application sifting

Interview Questions

Selection exercises

Decision Making

Probation & ongoing

management

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Shared responsibility for decision making

There is a shared responsibility for ensuring a fair and effective recruitment process.

What if…

…another selector says something inappropriate in the interview or some other time during the selection process?

…someone goes off the agreed question?

…someone says “That’s our guy!” after an interview?

…someone comments how well the candidate came across at dinner

… someone says “I see they worked with x who is excellent.”

Possible responses

Depending on the situation, you may choose to challenge at the time of concern, or have a word to the individual and/or Chair after the event.

“I’d like to reassure you that the answer to that question won’t be used to inform our decision making.”

“Just to clarify, what we’re asking is…”

“We need to wait and see everyone to be fair.”

Reminder that dinner is not a formal part of the process (and reminder about the selection criteria)

Remember the Halo effect

Good practice is to remind everyone of the shared responsibility at the start of the process. Individually it can help to build assertive behaviour and consider learning more about ‘active bystander’ strategies.

More at http://web.mit.edu/bystanders/strategies/ (wider context). Communicating Assertively online www.training.cam.ac.uk/cppd/course/cppd-selfassert

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Continuing Professional Development Plan

Recruitment Essentials:Appointing the Best Candidate

Makes notes in the space below on any points that you wish to remember or work on after today.

University of Cambridge PPD - Recruitment Essentials

Think itInk itDo it

Review it

Start – what you are not doing but think you should or could try

Stop – what is not working (for you and/or others)

Continue – things that are working well