When you’re building your team, the need to identify top talent is critical. A multitude of factors should be considered before making a final hiring decision, to ensure that your team is best positioned for long-term success.

While many choose to believe that we are all operating on a level playing field when it comes to career success, most of us are wise enough to acknowledge that this is in fact not accurate in most aspects of our lives. Some job applicants are at a disadvantage from the start simply because of their name.

In order to increase your chances of selecting the best candidates, there are several commonly asked questions that a hiring manager is likely to pose.

Very often, following the interview, the hiring manager and an HR representative will compare information to determine next steps.

One area that many companies should probably revisit, review and possibly revise is how significantly the routinely utilized question “Are they a good fit, will they fit in?” is impacting hiring decisions.

Companies that are genuinely committed to maintaining a diverse and inclusive workplace will ensure that such an assessment be made primarily on business “fit” only.

Does the person have the skills necessary for the position? Is the applicant a team player (if required for the position)? Do they possess the needed education and experience to be successful in the job? In other words, ideally, the “fit” assessment should be related to essential job requirements that are authentically necessary for the job.

Contrary to the claims made by some regarding declining discrimination in American society, levels of discrimination remain largely unchanged, at least at the point of hire according to a recent Forbes article. Since 1989, whites receive on average 36% more callbacks than blacks and 24% more callbacks than Latinos. A study by researchers at Northwestern, in Chicago; Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts; and the Institute of Social Research in Oslo, Norway, indicates that hiring discrimination against Blacks hasn’t changed in the last 25 years.

With the desire to determine “fit” as a component of the hiring process, it behooves decision makers to refrain from the temptation to reach a “fit” conclusion based on irrelevant, personal perspectives.

Whether a hiring manager is unable to foresee themselves going out for a beer after work, playing a round of golf on the weekend, or sharing in a family potluck dinner during the holiday season are not reasons enough to fail an applicant on the “fit” test. That is unless the detailed job description itself has a bonafide requirement of beer drinking, golf, and cooking skills.

In 2017, companies such as Dove, Kellogg, and Nivea missed the mark by releasing culturally insensitive advertising. Less than two weeks into 2018, H&M was forced to apologize for using a black child to model a hoodie with a “coolest monkey in the jungle” slogan. H&M spokeswoman Anna Eriksson said, “This image has now been removed from all H&M channels and we apologize to anyone this may have offended.”

The primary reason many companies have been guilty of producing culturally insensitive campaigns is because of the lack of diversity in many advertising agencies.

Where is the individual in the rooms where such decisions are being made, possessing one iota of common sense, bold enough to not only see the insensitivity in situations like this but to speak up about it?

While many companies wave diversity banners and include such verbiage in their mission statements, only 3% of Fortune 500 companies share full diversity data.

Is there an issue with finding qualified, diverse candidates, or are companies not expanding their reach to identify them, or are talented individuals applying but not surviving the “fit” test?

The demographic changes in America’s workforces have become increasingly noticeable, making diversity in the workplace a hot topic, yet the employee population of many companies remains significantly homogenous.

Will the “fit” assessment continue to be one of the barriers to the creation of more diverse workplaces, or will leading-edge, progressive organizations aggressively set the example for others to follow?

It would be in the best interest of companies who claim to fall into the latter description above to incorporate the following, at a minimum, into their talent acquisition processes:

1. Diversity starts a the top. Leadership sets the tone. What message is trickling down from your executive team?
2. Have a written and public diversity and inclusion statement and have it known to every employee.
3. Ensure that business units and HR teams comply with and enforce the mission. Clarify consequences for non-compliance.
4. Review your hiring policies and processes regularly and have HR leadership validate their commitment to creating a diverse talent pool. In other words, routinely assess the gatekeepers, which are often found within HR.
5. Review budgets. Are hiring managers being hampered by unrealistic budget constraints, which can interfere with their ability to explore resources that may provide more diverse applicant pools?

We need diversity of thought and experience in the world to face and overcome the challenges within it. The ability to operate from one man’s or woman’s perspective is no longer a luxury that we can afford. And for the record, diversity doesn’t mean just black and white.

The sooner society as a whole grasps the fact that to be different does not mean to be denied, or worse, unqualified, the sooner we can truly live up to the notion of America being the melting pot and a land of opportunity for all.

In the words, of award-winning filmmaker Ava Duvernay, “When we’re talking about diversity, it’s not a box to check. It is a reality that should be deeply felt and held and valued by all of us.”

More importantly, an organization committed to success shouldn’t need a room full of people who all look alike to be profitable, it needs a room full of people who can get the job done.

Jacqueline Miller is a certified life coach, speaker, lifestyle blogger and career and leadership consultant for women, seeking to establish their purpose outside of motherhood. A former senior human resources executive, she also helps leading-edge organizations to boost their success factor, by delivering essential business and personal development skills training, designed to cultivate a workforce of high-performing, well-rounded talent. She is the author of a #1 Amazon bestseller, Get Your Life Back! Your Guide to Guilt-Free Happiness Outside of Motherhood.

Previously published on medium.com