Academy · TALENT · OBJECTIEF REKRUTEREN

Objective recruitment - attracting the best talent, not the most familiar.

Most organisations intend to select on competence and potential. Research shows they select in practice on familiarity and similarity. This programme gives recruiters and hiring managers the instruments to correct that systematically.

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WHAT YOU GAIN

Recruitment processes are structurally bias-aware — and deliver better candidates

Interviewers ask the right questions and score on relevant criteria, not impressions

Diverse, capable teams are built — not as an end in itself, but as a result

THE CORE PROBLEM

Bias in recruitment is predictable. Which means it can be designed out.

Research consistently shows that within the first 90 seconds of an interview, the judgement about a candidate is largely formed — based on signals with little relation to job-relevant competencies. Affinity bias, the halo effect and confirmation bias are not exceptions; they are the norm in unstructured selection processes.

Bias is predictable because it is systematic. And what is systematic can be designed for. Structured selection demonstrably reduces the influence of irrelevant factors on decision quality.

Affinity bias — preference for candidates who resemble the interviewer — in background, style or communication
Halo effect — one positive trait colours the judgement of all others
Confirmation bias — interviewers seek confirmation of their first impression rather than information that could disprove it
Unstructured interviews — without standardised criteria, interviewers compare apples with oranges

Three pillars of bias-aware selection

01 - Job profile

Selecting on what actually matters

Participants learn how to build a job description and selection criteria that are behaviourally grounded — focused on predictors of success, not comfortable proxies.

02 — Structured interview

The same questions, the same criteria

We practise Behavioural Event Interview techniques and structured scoring instruments that increase comparability between candidates and reduce the space for bias.

03 — Decision process

From impression to substantiated choice

Participants design a decision protocol that dampens individual bias: independent scoring, structured calibration and explicit criteria for the final selection.

"What can we do about bias?

A lot."

- Smithsonian (The Bias Inside Us)

Format

⏱ 2 days or modular (essentials: 1 day) I 👥 Leaders · HR · Recruiters I 🏢 In-company or virtual I 📐 Tailored to your context I 🌐 NL, EN & FR

ACADEMY · DEI

Breaking bias

The cognitive mechanisms behind bias in detail - the scientific foundation for objective recruitment.

ACADEMY - TALENT

Objective evaluation

Bias does not stop at hiring - it plays a systematic role in performance and potential assessments too.

Want to explore whether this programme fits your context?

A short exploratory conversation is usually the best starting point.

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Reviews

“One of those rare workshops where I think 'I can actually do something with this!' Really happy about that.

It was eye-opening for me to see how stereotypical thinking doesn't only play during interviewing, but throughout the whole recruitment process. I will be more mindful of this from now on."

Laurens Van den Hurk, Recruiter, Brunel