Expert: John Fuller - 11/12/2007

Question

What are some potential selection practices that could unintentionally disadvantage minorities?

Answer
Hi Stephanie,

One of the biggest selection practices that creates what is commonly referred to as institutional discrimination is having promotions or selections only internally.  If you have an organization that does not have a representation of underrepresentated populations and they only advertise positions internally without regard to increasing the diversity in their pool, I believe that is a disadvantage.  It surely limits any chance for diversity hires.  Secondly what is called past in present discrimination is to unfairly place arbritrary number of years experience required when the position does not technically need that much experience.  Advertisements that want a minumum of five years experience is a nice to have but really a person with 2-4 with the appropriate certification or education should have that opportunity to be considered.  We at Johns Hopkins Hospital have reworked many of our selection procedures to reflect accurate selection criteria and not throw in "preferred" categories whenever possible.  Preferred education, experience, and other displayed categories have the effect of many underrepresented populations from even applying.  Those organizations who do that are missing out on some of the best talent available. Limiting the time a job is open to the public is another unintentional way of not getting diversity into the talent pool.  There are many.  Hope this helps and if you have other questions about this, please do not hesitate to ask.  Have a great day!

John