Are you “unconsciously biased”…?

This morning Pete and I were invited to a round-table discussion hosted by Seek where the topic focused largely on “unconscious bias” within recruitment.

I look at CVs for a living and I’ll be the first to admit that I have certain biases when it comes to reviewing a lot of these. While my bias is often on the type of firm or company the job-seeker works at or the layout or formatting of the CV itself, I never fully appreciated how many other “unconscious biases” there are out there.  You’ve got conformity bias, similarity bias, attribution bias, confirmation bias, affinity bias, halo effect bias….the list goes on.

It’s certainly given me food for thought, and to perhaps be aware of the “unconscious bias” that may affect my judgement in my job as a recruiter.

Pushing this theme home – and very effectively too – was an advert we were shown from a Danish TV station. Certainly worth the three minute view…!