Cognitive and Unconscious Hiring Biases – how to avoid the dangers in your veterinary clinic

Diverse teams are strong teams

One of the “happening things” in the recruitment world in 2022 was the spotlight being shone on diversity.

I’m sure you don’t need me to explain why having a team full of people with different strengths makes for a stronger team and a more profitable clinic … so I’m not going to go into that here.

However, if this is something you’re not familiar with, please let me know and I’ll cover it in another episode.

Today, however, we’re going to look at five – of the 16 different unconscious biases I’ve identified we all have when it comes to interviewing – and how these can play out during the recruitment process and what you can do to mitigate these.

The end result of all of them is the same:  you may end up discounting and/or overlooking the best person for your clinic’s vacancy.

The danger of intuition when interviewing

You may be thinking you’ve got no unconscious biases and you can trust your intuition.

I respectfully challenge you on that.   I’m all for you ‘trusting your intuition’ as veterinary professionals – you have hundreds, and sometimes even, thousands of hours of training behind you to recognise when something isn’t ‘quite’ right – as a veterinarian or veterinary nurse or veterinary technician.

But please, I caution you to ignore any ‘intuitive feelings’ you might have when it comes to interviewing and recruiting.  Simply because you probably don’t have those same hundreds or thousands of hours of experience under your recruiting belt to trust the same way you can trust your intuition in surgery.

When it comes to recruitment you want to make your team stronger than it currently is or was before.  This means you need to make business decisions and business decisions aren’t so much about gut or intuitive feelings.

The reason we each have our own form of intuition is because it’s been built up over years and years of our own personal – conscious and – most importantly – unconscious biases.

If you’ve spent any time working remotely over the last 2-3 years – as some practice and HR managers have through our various lockdowns – then it’s quite possible your biases are stronger than before, or you may have developed a few more.

For example, whether your clinic had vaccine mandates in place – or didn’t – and/or any challenges that came about then – you may have developed a new bias because of, and from, those times.

The impact of Unconscious Biases remaining unchecked

How do you know whether your clinic has been historically affected from unconscious recruitment bias?

It doesn’t matter whether your clinic has set diversity goals, many clinics still unconsciously have and practice recruitment bias … especially because of the veterinary professional shortage we’re in right now.

Even though clinics tell themselves that good fit is what’s important, sometimes they’ll overlook not-so-good-fits – through an unconscious bias – in order to have someone extra on the team.

You’ve probably heard of the pale, stale, male syndrome – now, it’s highly likely this isn’t the case with veterinary professionals given around 75% – 80% of veterinary professionals are female, but it’s definitely something to be aware of – especially because of the tight professional market we’re in right now.

How recruiting biases are perpetuated

We all have our own unconscious biases – hiring managers – practice, HR, lead vets, and head nurses, everyone has their own unconscious biases.

Because they’re unconscious it means we don’t always recognise them ourselves.

Recruitment biases are perpetuated in clinic when someone resigns because straight away – especially if the person resigning is considered “ideal”- then everyone looks to replace that ideal person.

The mental picture has already been formed.

This is when using an external recruitment agency becomes an investment.   Why?   Because we’re able to challenge the “ideal candidate” bias.

There are many ways “ideal team member” plays out in unconscious biases and we’ll cover those – I think you may be surprised at how “ideal” manifests itself.

Now, apart from the fact that NZs Human Rights Act makes it unlawful to discriminate – which is, mildly, what an unconscious bias is, it also compromises your clinic’s ability to be the best it could possibly be.

At this point you’re probably saying “but Julie – I just need vets and nurses to be able to keep my clinic open!” – I hear you.   I absolutely hear you.

And, even with that, I want you to still consider how unconscious bias might play out.

I’m sure you don’t need me to remind you that diverse teams – and therefore clinics – are more successful.  BUT much depends and relies on the attitude of lead vets, head nurses, practice and HR managers when hiring and recruiting.

Diversity training is one way to help overcome personal biases.  Another way is when you’re recruiting.

The more people who can be involved in the recruitment process, the more likely it is – hopefully – that personal biases will be reduced and/or at least challenged.

First up is having the open mindedness to consider, and then accept, that you might be even the teeny-tiny-insy-weensy bit unconsciously biased.

Without that open mindedness you’re doomed.

If you’re unsure what having a growth – or open-minded – mindset looks like, then go back and listen to episode 11 of PCWN – how to grow your veterinary clinic – growth mindset vs fixed mindset 

It is possible to reduce cognitive bias – but it’s something you need to stay on top of.   Training is a good idea and accountability paramount.

Both of these, of course, won’t happen without having a reasonably high level of psychological safety with all team members in-clinic first.

Incidentally, recruiting for diversity starts with having a diverse recruitment team!  Having a recruitment team of one does not a diverse recruitment decision make.

In other words, you need to start with a collaborative recruitment process.

Blind Hiring

If you really want to go all out and truly put your diversity money where your mouth is, then blind hiring is the first step.

Blind hiring is better done through a neutral third party – like VetStaff – just saying 😉.

Blind hiring is where any and all information that could identify a job applicant is completely stripped from their CV.  For example:

• Age / experience – eg, jobs with start – finish dates showing. How many different jobs are truly relevant?
• Ethnicity – university / country of university – you just need to know that the applicant is eligible to be registered – either as a veterinarian or veterinary nurse.
• Ethnicity / gender – from someone’s name – research on racial and gender bias found:
  • White sounding names on CVs are 75% more likely to be invited to an interview than Asian sounding names;
  • White sounding names on CVs are 50% more likely to be invited for an interview than black-sounding names;
  • Masculine names are 40% more likely to be invited for an interview than feminine sounding names.
  • As an aside, there aren’t many blind hiring stats available as it’s a relatively new concept. However, a pilot project pioneered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1952 was what kicked off blind hiring.  Concerned by the low representation of women in their orchestras they had musicians audition behind a screen. This system spread across orchestras in the USA and saw an increase in female musicians appointed increase from less than 5% in the 1970s to more than 25% in the 1990s.

Another way to reduce bias is to ensure every candidate is asked the same interview questions and that the interview process is structured.  This ensures everyone is (hopefully!) measured to the same standard.

Writing unbiased job advertisements is also part of the procedure as well – but that’s a whole ‘nother skillset and topic in itself.

#1 – Confirmation Bias

Everyone is quick to pass judgement, we’re all guilty of it.

We all make snap decisions based on perceived truths and then spend the rest of the time, consciously or unconsciously, trying to justify our biased decision.

You’ll know your guilty of confirmation bias when you find yourself asking irrelevant questions.  This is confirmation bias playing out because you’re trying to elicit answers that support your initial assumption about the vet or nurse you’re interviewing.

You’re doing this because you want to prove to yourself – and then someone else who might be involved in the hiring process at your clinic – that your initial assessment is correct.

It could be that they’re a great fit or they won’t fit.

Confirmation bias goes both ways – wanting someone on your team or proving they’re not a good fit for your team.

If you’re interested in some research – undertaken by the British Psychological Society

The research demonstrated 60% of interviewers will make a decision about a candidate’s suitability within 15 minutes of meeting them. Some will have done it before the interview even happens.

The original research is entitled:  How quickly do interviewers reach decisions? An examination of interviewers’ decision-making time across applicants  By Rachel Frieder, Chad Van Iddekinge and Patrick Raymark first published in April 2015.

They collected data from 166 interviewers who interviewed 691 applicants at a university career centre.

2. Affect Heuristics Bias

If you’re not familiar with the term “heuristic”, heuristics from a psychology perspective – are rules-of-thumb that can be applied to guide decision-making based on a more limited subset of the available information.

Heuristics rely on less information and are therefore assumed to facilitate faster decision-making than strategies that require more information.

Affect heuristics come into play with personal biases around appearance.  An interviewer might see something physical about a candidate and they’ve immediately judged them – consciously or unconsciously – that they’re suitable or unsuitable for the job.

It’s a virtually instantaneous judgement that then clouds and affects every other aspect of the interview process.

For example, a vet or a nurse might have all the skills and experience required to do the job – they know how to find veins, can do a large bitch spay almost blindfolded, they know how to stay calm when everything around them is falling apart – but they have a visible tattoo (or have NO tattoos when everyone else in your clinic does), or they’re overweight – or super healthy – or have body piercings or dreadlocks, or be big bearded or the opposite – completely shaven … anything!   Maybe their first name is spelt in an unusual way….

Whatever it is, the interviewer overlooks all the positives and focuses only on their first and initial perception: for better or worse.

What plays out is that the interviewer – this could be the practice or HR manager, the lead vet or head nurse – mentally takes shortcuts to reach a conclusion about the job applicant’s ability to do the job, without carefully examining all the evidence first.

Quite simply the applicant is being judged as suitable or unsuitable for a position based on superficial factors that have no relevance whatsoever in how they’d be able to perform.

#3 – Expectation Anchor Bias or Anchoring Bias

Expectation anchor or anchoring bias is when we allow ourselves to anchor – to focus – on one certain piece of information about a job applicant and then use that factor to help us make decisions.

In a vet clinic this could manifest as wanting to replace a departing veterinarian or veterinary nurse with an exact carbon copy of them.

There a couple of hiring biases that support this – not just anchoring – so beware.

 #4 – Halo Effect Bias

The halo effect bias is similar to the anchoring bias as it plays out when the interviewer focuses on one aspect they’re impressed with, to the extent red flags are overlooked and/or someone who might be equally suitable is discounted.

The halo effect could apply to any number of insignificant factors – for example, similar sporting interests, growing up in the same neighbourhood or going to the same school or university.

When the halo effect results in other – perhaps lack of competencies – being overlooked, the interviewer may attempt to short circuit the interview process because they believe they’ve found the ideal person for the job.

If / when you start to see an applicant as glowing and/or are head and shoulders above other applicants, double-check you haven’t assigned a golden halo to them that’s undeserving.

#5 – Horn Effect Bias

Just like it sounds, the horn bias or horn effect is the absolute opposite of the halo effect.

This plays out when you get stuck on something negative, or bad, about the applicant which you can’t (or won’t) move beyond it.

It casts a shadow over everything else.