I don’t have bias; I’m a man of the 21st century. I’m open-minded, don’t hate any race, and I hate discrimination… HA!
I was so naive about this back then, around 2005.
The company was recruiting for a safety advisor position. The stack of resumes in the discard pile were names like Abdul, Abramish, and Abby. The potential interview pile was more like Conner, Clint or Chris. I wasn’t even aware I was doing it.
Naive? Maybe not, but a full-on lack of awareness for sure.
One last resume left. I started to read it and thought to myself. “This person warrants a second read and probably an interview. Who is this?”
Another piece of paper on my desk covered the name at the top while I read it. I lifted the paper and saw the name, Fahleed.
Then I had a look another look at the discard pile without looking at the names.
Talk about unconscious bias taking a flying leap to the conscious — a game-changing moment for me. I did not consider myself racist or misogynistic in my heart and mind, and I hated any discrimination.
But clearly, I had a bias of some kind influencing my resume screening.
Even after working overseas, where sometimes I was the visible minority, I still had a bias.
