On an individual level, Funke Abimbola a high-flying Nigerian lawyer and businesswomen spoke to the BBC recently about D&I and stated that she refused to change her African name despite believing that she missed job opportunities because of it. Simply a candidateвЂ™s name can unknowingly put them at a disadvantage. The applicants who had вЂwhite-sounding namesвЂ™ were far more likely to receive a positive response over people with вЂBME sounding names.вЂ™ The applicants who appeared to be white typically received a positive response after sending nine applications with a 10.7% success rate, whilst applicants who appeared to be from BME backgrounds (who were equally qualified with the same amount of experience), only had a 6.2% success rate from 16 applications.

For example, an in-depth study conducted by the UK Government examined applicant data from a group of candidates applying to a job. Unconscious bias is arguably the most dangerous form of bias as it often goes undetected. Or can be deep-rooted in gender and racial stereotypes that negatively label and group people based on assumption, rather than treating them like individuals.

Unconscious bias happens as a result of prolonged exposure to negative portrayals of specific individuals in the media. To put this term unconscious bias into more context, research has found that when interview questions are not standardised the questions can be favourable to one specific group of people, which paves the way for inequality in hiring. What is Unconscious Bias in the Workplace? Whilst there are multiple forms of bias, arguably the most damaging biases to the hiring process are unconscious bias and affinity bias. Interview and candidate screening processes are extremely vulnerable to different forms of bias that can prevent from hiring certain candidates based on their race, appearance, background, or gender. The first and potentially most critical phase that needs an injection of diversity inclusivity is the hiring process itself.

Affinity bias