Rethink your next big hire: Black people face very real bias and unfair standards
As Black people look to find new employment, research has identified multiple barriers they must confront that non-racialized applicants do not face.
Networks: Compared with non-racialized job seekers, Black job seekers are 30 per cent less likely to be in a candidate pool via networking – a primary way that people get noticed and get hired.
Unfair standards: A study by the Harvard Business School showed that 65 per cent of employers admit to (unnecessary) credentialism, which disproportionately affects Black job seekers.
Bias: One study, by a graduate student at the University of Toronto, used the same résumé with two differences: whether the applicant had a white-sounding or Black-sounding name, and whether the applicant referred to having a criminal record in their cover letter. “White” applicants with a criminal record still got nearly twice as many calls back as the “Black” applicants with no record.
Leadership matters
There is no single solution that can undo hundreds of years of racism, and solutions will need to come from a wide range of organizations and leaders. Not sure where to start? An inclusive workplace should meet two core human drives: the desire to be unique and the desire to belong. Leaders need to recognize that to create high-performing teams, they must value and support difference. This is an important first step for sustaining inclusive hiring practices.
