My most recent job application experience set me off. There I was, a recruiting professional, applying online for a recruiting leadership role in the greater Seattle area. My experience, line for line was exactly what the organization had listed as their required experience. Not to mention, I checked every single box on their "preferred" experience list. I remember thinking to myself, BOOM! Slam dunk, this role was written for me. The stars have aligned.
And then I began the application process.
Picture this...
I think I was mid to ¾ of the way through the application and right around 12-15 minutes into it, when a requirement of sharing my full home address, SSN, DOB, whether I had a criminal background, and a required 'check the box' to authorized the employer to run a credit and background check to complete my application for the role. There was also smaller fine print stating by completing this form and checking that box, I was agreeing that the employer may run those "...checks before I am contacted by a hiring representative".
The job I was applying for was with an employer in Washington state only. The Washington Fair Chance Act (WFCA) went into effect in June 2018. Some may still call it or remember it by, The Ban the Box Ordinance (there are several U.S. states with this law - but not enough!). While some organizations in Washington state can get around WFCA, the organization I was completing an application for did not fall into the exempt from the law category for this role. I remember thinking, "Wow they are so wrong in their practices and did not fall into the category of being excluded from WFCA - do they now that?".
Not only did this employer's application require me to disclose whether I had a criminal background, I realized at this point in the applicant process that they were requiring me to fill out an entire FCRA to continue with my application plus additional person information. The application gave me two options. I could fill out all of the information it asked for or I could click on a box that said, "Decline FCRA". When I hit the option to decline filling out the FCRA, I received an immediate pop up screen that stated, "Dear blah blah blah...you do not meet the basic hiring requirements for the role and can apply again in 6 months”.
I can speculate on the intentions of the employer with this specific application process:
- This organization is ill informed and just wants to collect information upfront to make on-boarding easier (and dare I say lazy or understaffed with professional subject matter experts in this field?).
- This organization is riddled with discriminatory practices (unconscious bias is probably something that the organization has not embraced or heard of) and is profiling candidates before they review the candidate's qualifications for the actual job applied for or other roles in the organization. This organization is purposefully practicing discriminating recruitment/hiring processes.
For the sake of this candidate experience example, I am going to go with the latter and guess that this organization does not embrace diversity and inclusion, nor does it value the recruiting and sourcing craft in general. I'm magic but I'm no mind reader. No need for arms in the air over my speculations or conspiracy theories yet.
Regardless of the law, requiring a candidate to complete an entire FCRA or any forms where a candidate is required to share DOB, Full Address, & SSN to apply for a job is a villainous move and practiced form of discrimination.
How is this problematic and potentially villainous you ask?
I can think of countless reasons. Off the top of my head …
EXAMPLE: A forty-nine year old candidate has filled out the ENTIRE application and shared everything the employer's application required in order to be considered for the job. They have listed an address with a unit or apartment #:
A recruiter or hiring team may profile this candidate as someone who isn’t a reliable leader by profiling the candidate as an 'irresponsible non-homeowner' due to a bias of what success or leadership looks like by or at a certain age. Keep in mind that this has nothing to do with actually ability to do the role or experience of the candidate. There is no evidence at this point in the application evaluation of this candidate that they do or do not own an entire apartment building. Would this ever cross the mind of this hypothetical villainous profiler? I will guess, the answer could be no - because I want to believe that even villains have good within them. The truth is, without inclusive and non-discriminatory hiring practices, we have no idea where the biases of that hiring team fall. Will it be age, will it be type of housing, will it be distance for travel to work, will it criminal background disclosure...the list goes on and on. And don't forget - we have not even reviewed the candidate's credentials/experience.
At this point, you may be thinking to yourself, wow Rachel, this is a deep dive down a long rabbit hole of hypotheticals. You may even be rolling your eyes wondering when this blog will be over or saying to yourself, "I know I know, this isn't new information. People profile. People have biases. Discrimination happens daily but not by everyone." Here is the reality of it, until everyone in seats of hiring authority and recruiting are practicing with integrity, diversity, equity and inclusion as their 'North' - it's ALL broken.
You cannot convince me otherwise. Recruiters and HR Professionals in the past have challenged me and said things like, "... not all recruiters or hiring teams put this much time or kind of thought into applicant selection. Let me assure you, you're most likely correct. In these split second moments, hiring teams like these, have already developed their preconceived notions and biases and are lightning quick when it's decision making time while "reviewing an applicant".
EXAMPLE: A candidate filled out ALL OF of the application in order to be considered for the job and disclosed that they are 61 years old (soon to be 62):
The recruiter and hiring team are looking for a hire to build-out an entire team from scratch. Ask yourself, do you think the recruiting or hiring team would consider this candidate?
My guess for this scenario/situation, NOPE! They’d most likely look at the candidate’s age and mentally pass on the candidate before they reviewed the credentials/experience (because discrimination is a real thing that happens daily and just because it is despicable, doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen). I’d guess they’d rationalize passing on this candidate with the assumption that the candidate is too close to retirement when they need someone to "build out a team" that they are projecting to take years to build-out. Or they may pass because the candidate "may not be up to date with the times” (i.e.: technology, terminology, management style, and so on).
...and don't get me started on how an organization with villainous profilers could potentially profile candidates with the added layers of information that can be collect with self-disclosed items: previous military experience, gender, race, disability, did the candidate's cover letter share they are wanting to start a family, did they go into detail on personal items in resume or cover letter to humanize themselves, etc etc etc!
Are you fired up? I am still upset over this application and organization's application process days later. If you’re not fired up that this type of thing is happening or that the potential for this to be happening in 2020 is even possible - I will need you to brace yourself for my directness! If you're a hiring team member or recruiter, you’re in the wrong line of work and should have nothing to do with recruitment, hiring, or leadership if diversity, equity, and inclusion (D.E.I.) are not on your radar as a MUST. This isn't just for hiring and recruiters. This is for business practices in general.
A few questions to ask yourself and colleagues:
What is going on in the organization you work for?
How do your trusted connections and friend's run their organizations from a recruitment/hiring processes perspective?
When is the last time you applied for a job at your organization or ran a test application?
How can you be more involved? Have you asked your HR/Recruiting team or hiring managers?
What is your employer doing about D.E.I. best practices? Is D.E.I. valued at your organization?
What are you personally and professionally doing to be an advocate for D.E.I.?
What more can be done? Who can you work with inside your organization to build allyship, start tough conversations, etc? (Do not run to your African America co-worker that you've never spoken to an are pretty sure they are gay and ask them to help you. Go to your work besties and your leadership and start there.)
I am challenging recruiters, hiring teams, those in seats of perceived authority, and all leadership at your organization and every organization that hires people:
I challenge you to take a look at or ask about your organization’s hiring processes from start to finish. Your organization is potentially missing out on qualified, best in class candidates. They are doing so by not paying attention to who is profiling what, what is being profiled in your automation, and how this is all being measured - the output. Ask yourself, other than the basic credentials & experience requirements for the jobs your employer has posted, why would you or anyone in your organization want to initially pass on reviewing resumes and/or applications for qualified candidates due to broken processes/practices that have been created by your organization?
Don't you dare blame this on automation...
At the end of the day, I hear recruiters & hiring teams blame these villainous application processes on automation. NEWS FLASH, no one is falling for that garbage.
An ATS or automation does not exclude humans from creating the experience (more to unpack on this topic down the road). There is always a “Wizard of ATS" behind the curtain telling the automation what to accept and what to decline. Do not lose sight of the fact that the, Wizard who tells the automation how to profile candidates is a human that has made the automation decisions for the processes and criteria in place.
Do you know who the ATS "Wizard" behind the curtain at your organization is? Are they someone with a high level of emotional intelligence or are they just really tech and systems savvy?
My experience with this junk application experience shows us that a human told the ATS to decline my application for a role that I was line for line qualified for. I was declined because I would not share my SSN #, DOB, and other personal data. The ATS did exactly what it was supposed to do as assigned by the employer's "Wizard of ATS". If you’re a recruiter or hiring team member, I encourage you to be on the Hero/THEYro/SHEro side of hiring practice at your organization. If you aren’t sure what that means, there is a contact form on the home page of this blog where you can contact me to schedule a 30 minute call to walk through your program/practices and/or ideate on the best way to start a new program for that half hour. It's a start and I'd be honored to be part of the journey with you.
The strength of an incredible organization and recruiting/hiring team starts with the adoption and actual implementation (DOING the work - day in and day out) of diverse and inclusive hiring practices. Notice I said, "THE START". There is more work beyond this. For the sake of this blog post, we sticking with this one example of a bad application and candidate experience.
I’d love to partner with organizations looking to improve upon their recruitment/hiring program or looking to build a recruiting/hiring program with a focus on diversity and inclusion from the ground up. I am open to exploring full time and contract consulting opportunities with your organization.
For recruiters, hiring teams, and those in seats of decision/policy/best practices making authority:
- Don’t let your hiring process punk you out of the promise of hiring the best candidate for your open role(s).
- Check your ATS’s, automated templates, and applications. Profiling candidates before you review their credentials/experience is discrimination and is not supporting or providing your organization with the top talent organizations need to be successful.
- If you’re working for an organization that practices discriminatory profiling, ask yourself what that says about you and what are you planning to do about it?
- An exceptional recruiting professional is continually walking that fine line between serving as an advocate for the organization and an advocate for the candidate. Walk this line with integrity.
- The candidate experience that you're providing is your reputation as much as your employer's or customer's reputation. The application is part of candidate experience.
- Stop letting your processes punk you out of the promises of better days and filled requisitions.
For job seekers:
- Applications are sometimes a pain and rarely inclusive. I know this and I agree with you in most cases. I can make this promise, I will continue to address topics like this with HR and Recruiting professionals (there are countless others in our community that will as well).
- This application experience I've provided today - is an extreme example and is not the rule - it is an example of bad practices by an employer and my experience.
- Keep your chin up – job seeking is tough and then add a pandemic - it’s a lot to tackle.
- Know your rights as a job seeker. Ask yourself, if you were in my shoes, would you really want to work for an organization that does not respect your basic rights as an applicant or from the get-go?
- At the end of the day, networking is your best bet coupled with submitting applications/resume for the role you’re interested.
- The more recruiters and employers who adopt non-discriminatory practices the better. Rest assured, for every bad organization or recruiter or hiring manager there is another one or two that are superheroes at this.
- If you’re just starting out your career or looking for a career change - have you thought about going into HR or Recruiting? Ask me about it. I am happy to discuss with you my experience and how I came to be @recruitingSHEro as well as the current job market and outlook for these roles. There is always room for those that want to make a positive impact in the world (follow & reach out to me) through HR.
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Your knowledge and experience along with your passion jumps off of the page.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your kind words.
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