Fundamental to every organization’s ability to fulfill its mission is hiring talented individuals who are capable of understanding, embracing, and exercising their inherent and learned talents to fulfill that mission. Historically, employers hired those they knew. Simply knowing someone would often be enough to affirm their qualifications for a job and employment would be granted accordingly. Such actions contributed to generations of implicit bias-based decision making.
In time, communities grew such that everyone didn’t know everybody, and a more formal meeting between an applicant and their prospective employer would occur. These meetings, or interviews, provided for more informed decisions to support the organization’s mission. Still, implicit bias impacts the hiring process. As evidence-based selection is gaining in popularity, libraries can explore how the Kent District Library (KDL) efforts might be applied elsewhere.
BACKGROUND
In 2019, KDL human resources set out to strengthen its approach to staffing the organization with the following goals:
- creating greater equity in the selection process through reduction of implicit bias;
- improving the viability of candidates through competency testing; and
- ensuring the quality of hires to help reduce first-year turnover, improving the diversity of the workforce, and ensuring competency on the job.
Organizations such as Trinity Health Grand Rapids, Gordon Foods, the City of Grand Rapids, Grand Rapids Community College, and dozens more shared the goal of strengthening hiring and related outcomes buy adopting the science of evidence-based selection in conjunction with HireReach,1 a program that recruits, trains, and advises businesses in 13 West Michigan counties as they implement evidence-based hiring. Participating institutions, including KDL, were also guided through an examination of entry-level and mid-level positions to identify relevant skills and revamp its assessment and evaluation process.
As part of this initiative, KDL did the following:
- mapped all position competencies to the U.S. Department of Labor O*Net databases to ensure the skills we seek are accurately and consistently defined;
- coordinated sessions in which KDL staff, serving as subject matter experts, collaborated with consultants to review position competencies, which further ensured accuracy of skill sets deemed critical for selection and validated the testing criteria to be used; and
- identified and began utilizing several assessment tools. Job candidates with the highest scores across all assessments were presented to the hiring supervisor, who selects the top three candidates for interviews.
Although testing procedures have added considerably to the HR department workload, hiring supervisors have repeatedly commented on the strength of candidates and the fact that they feel confident in selecting any of those presented for interview, recognizing they’ve been properly vetted and have demonstrated in interviews that they are highly competent. This has resulted in a savings in time associated with interviews.
In the past — and as with many institutions — who someone knew could play a serious role in determining who was endorsed for an interview and considered for the job. Adding more science to the art of hiring, as we have done, has eliminated much of that bias and, in turn, promotes equity in our staffing process with the outcome of an even more competent workforce now and in the years ahead. Put simply, the competition for jobs is less about who you know and more about what you know and are capable of.
Implicit bias is often cited as a hindrance to hiring a more diverse workforce. Prior to evidence-based selection, the KDL workforce had few persons of color (approximately 2%.) That percentage has now grown to approximately 10%. Moreover, 17% of professional hires under evidence-based selection (i.e., managers, librarians) represent persons of color. Our workforce is trending toward better representation.
TESTING AND PREDICTIVE VALIDITY
Test assessments help predict future job performance, fit (or lack of future trouble on the job), ability to work with the team, and likelihood of retention on the job. Testing provides a field of viable candidates who have strong predictive validity to perform well while eliminating implicit bias, providing managers and staff with confidence in the ability of those who are being considered.
LEGAL DEFENSIBILITY
Under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and decisions of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), employers have a legal responsibility to establish that their employment selection procedures are job related and consistent with business necessity. The O*Net job analysis process, coupled with testing to ensure relevant candidate competencies as predictors of future success, are designed to comply with standards established by the EEOC for legal defensibility of the selection process.
HIRING PROCESS STEP-BY-STEP
The following process seeks to maintain staffing effectively and efficiently at the library. The steps are:
1. A vacancy occurs due to turnover or newly created positions.
2. The designated hiring supervisor completes a position requisition. The position is posted.
3. The position is posted internally and externally.
4. Applications are received in the applicant tracking system (ATS). The designated HR team member reviews applications, cover letters, and resumes to identify qualified candidates.
5. Applicants are compared against one another by the designated HR team member to identify those best qualified to be successful in the position given their work history and career progression. Depending on the position, a combination of 2-3 assessments are applied for those deemed best qualified.
The assessments include:
a) Measuring foundational skills like visual acuity, numerical reasoning, and vocabulary skills. Research shows that those with strong foundational skills perform at higher levels and have a greater likelihood of success on the job.
b) Determining job readiness, learning ability, and attention to detail through a series of short questions and exercises.
c) Measuring an applicant’s aptitude and predictive success in working in a public library using Bookmark, KDL’s proprietary public library employment tool.
d) Specifically identifying traits that research has found to be most relevant for the specific position for which they have applied.
e) Measuring the candidate’s personality profile.
Following the assessments, candidates with the strongest scores are eligible for further consideration. The list of eligible candidates typically ranges between 5-10 applicants.
6. The hiring supervisor reviews the list and selects interviewees.
7. Prior to interviews, HR gets reference feedback using the applicant tracking system. The information is shared with the hiring supervisor.
8. Structured interviews are conducted by HR and the hiring supervisor.
9. The hiring supervisor and/or their direct supervisor will decide who to hire no later than two business days following the last interview.
10. Human resources conveys regrets to those who were not selected; the hiring supervisor makes the job offer. To ensure internal equity, hiring supervisors are not permitted to negotiate wages of salaried employees.
11. Employment paperwork is signed and onboarding begins