Listed is a range of situations and circumstances that can result when when personal, sensitive and irrelevant information is exposed in a job interview, and human behaviour comes into play:

• inaccurate assessments are made because candidates are assessed using alternative gauges of measurement or different criteria
• second-hand information influences decision-making
• candidates are stereotyped due to the recruiter’s personal perspectives and experience, resulting in direct and indirect discrimination on gender
• women candidates suffer dual disadvantage due to stereotyping e.g. gender and family responsibilities or gender and race
• when candidates are very close, the fall-back position is to select the candidate within the recruiter’s ‘comfort zone’
• workplace culture that disadvantages women is fostered and rewarded
• the written material on file does not support the chosen candidate and the final decision is in conflict with company policy
• loss of skill to the organisation
• the process is unlikely to stand up to external scrutiny
• a breach of the anti-discrimination and privacy laws, sex discrimination complaints and the associated legal costs
• potential damage to commercial reputation and public image
• despite EO training, the people making recruitment and selection decisions feel justified and comfortable with their decisions failing to see the bias that subverts the objective process
• the claim of EO training becomes a “smoke screen” that ends up protecting an inequitable process, making it harder to break the cycle of gender bias

Proceed to Issue 2 - Neutralising the human factor
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