We don’t talk enough about candidate anxiety - a silent challenge that disproportionately affects female, disabled, BAME candidates, and job seekers from lower socio-economic backgrounds. A lack of confidence, negative stereotypes, limited access to resources and support, and the high-stakes nature of job applications all contribute to heightened anxiety.
Research has shown that this anxiety can significantly hinder performance during interviews, online tests, and assessment centres, limiting these individuals ability to showcase their true potential. This, in turn, deprives talented individuals of life-changing employment opportunities, and perpetuates a cycle of inequality.
Why are so few people talking about this issue in the talent acquisition space? 🤔
The data is clear - conventional psychometric tests are among the worst culprits, with adverse impact frequently aligned to gender, socio-economic status, disability, and ethnicity.
The use in these tests of 'one size fits all' scoring algorithms fails to account for varying levels of candidate anxiety. Far from being accommodated, those experiencing anxiety are penalised by this approach, limiting their real-world employment opportunities. This is both a personal challenge for the individuals impacted, and a systemic problem that affects the diversity and inclusivity of our workplaces.
This issue has persisted for decades, and it’s one of the reasons Neurosight was founded. We developed dynamically adaptive scoring algorithms in our psychometric assessments to accommodate different levels of candidate anxiety. A long overdue innovation that helps level the playing field in psychometric testing.
Advocating for practices that enable all candidates to compete on a level playing field, and striving to accommodate and mitigate heightened anxiety throughout the hiring process, goes beyond fairness. It also impacts business performance - since diverse teams drive innovation and success.
It's long past time we recognised the scale of the anxiety challenge across end-to-end hiring processes, and responded meaningfully to resolve it!
