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Recruitment practices may stifle diversity

When recruiters identify top performing profiles, they earmark certain traits, creating a biased cycle of employing the same type of individual, stopping diversity dead in its tracks, says Juan Swartz, CEO of Pivotal Talent.


Johannesburg, 22 Jun 2017

Whether organisations are using a recruitment consultancy or an internal HR department to recruit, the role of the recruiter is critical when hiring the most applicable and capable candidates. Yet, recruiters are overlooking an indispensable element, diversity, in favour of the X-factor.

This is the view of Juan Swartz, CEO of Pivotal Talent, a groundbreaking company that developed the world's first multidisciplinary artificial intelligence (AI) solution in the talent management space.

When recruiters and HR professionals identify the top performing profiles in an organisation, they earmark certain traits as the X-factor they are after. This creates a biased cycle of only employing individuals that exhibit these particular traits, stopping diversity dead in its tracks.

The X-factor is a "noteworthy special talent, quality or qualities" that a candidate possesses. It will, of course, vary depending on the role, company and other factors. Organisations generally refer to X-factors as something that they cannot identify, articulate or describe. This is highly problematic because instead of recruiting based on the key predicators of performance and the key skills that ensure the candidate will be successful, hiring practices become less accurate and difficult to measure. Often, hiring based on X-factors is hiring based on something that is undefined and therefore subjective.

We know that diversity in the workforce is fundamental to success and innovation in an organisation.

Why is diversity being destroyed at the recruitment level?

Recruiters may hire based on personal preference or seek out commonality using their own perception of what the X-factor is for a particular position. This happens because X-factor traits are not properly defined, which allows an element of personal bias to enter the recruitment process.

During the screening process, diverse candidates may be screened out due to cultural misunderstandings, prejudice, or a lack of interviewing skills on the part of the interviewer or the candidate. It is essential to educate recruiters to screen for key predicators of performance and key competency skills and to ignore personal preferences.

Another area where diversity is being reduced is when organisations continuously recruit from the same stables. This will ultimately provide profiles that match previous hiring trends, but it will prevent diverse skills and competencies from entering the workforce.

To attract a diverse range of candidates, priority also needs to be shifted from minimum requirements, like degrees and work experience, to assessing the core skills, performance criteria and proficiencies of the individual against the job tasks pertaining to the role.

The only viable path to success is to use a scientific approach to match candidates to positions based on the actual predictors of performance, such as Pivotal Talent's AI solution. Not only will Pivotal Talent help to increase diversity, it will also lead to better hiring decisions. By using an unbiased and accurate means of identifying candidates that is holistically appropriate for each specific role within the organisation, diversity is encouraged without compromising on performance.

For more information, visit www.pivotaltalent.co.za.

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Pivotal Talent

Pivotal Talent is a global leader in multidisciplinary artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for talent management. Pivotal Talent is part of the Pivotal Group, a South African-based holding company for a range of innovative tech businesses. Leading companies, including multinationals, are using Pivotal Talent to make better decisions by forecasting or predicting behaviour to improve their hiring, development and retention of best-fit talent.

Pivotal Talent has an expert team of scientists, developers and sales/support staff located in centres of operations in the UK, Germany, Spain, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Pivotal Talent's clients come from multiple industries, including telecommunications, financial services, transportation, pharmaceutical and manufacturing sectors.

Editorial contacts

Taryn O'Brien
PR Expert
taryn@prexpert.co.za