Shortlisting promising candidates from the applicant pool may require multiple stages of screening, during which recruiter bias often prevents women from progressing to the interview stage. Here are some simple techniques to combat this pattern and ensure that women applicants are judged solely on merit and talent.
 

• Exclude photos from applications.

• Practice ‘blind hiring’ wherein gender-specific details are scrubbed from resumés, effectively anonymizing them, before screening.

• Conduct bias and assumption training for recruiters.

• Include at least two female candidates in the final shortlist.
   

Research shows that a lone female candidate in the shortlist has virtually no chance of being selected. However, including two female candidates in the shortlist raises their individual odds by a factor of nearly 200!
 

• Set targets for candidate diversity and encourage recruiters to smash them. Collect data and evaluate the progress made.
   

In a recent survey, employers who said they had adopted diversity practices cited this as the top strategy to successfully boost diversity in hiring.