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Interview Bias Training: What Every Business Needs to Understand About Unconscious Bias in Hiring

Interview bias training is essential for businesses looking to optimize their hiring processes. Is unconscious bias in recruitment holding your business back? When aiming to expand your team, it’s tempting to select a candidate who appears to be a solid ‘cultural fit’.

However, what if that means you’re overlooking a candidate who could be an invaluable ‘cultural add’? Interview bias training can help hiring managers and teams recognize and overcome these pitfalls. When you strive to challenge unconscious bias and foster an environment that appreciates diversity – in terms of background, experience, worldview, and many other facets – you nurture an office that benefits not only your team but also your enterprise.

Hiring based on a gut instinct that someone will mesh well with the team might be a sign that your choice was swayed by unconscious hiring bias. It’s not unusual, and in reality, we all possess unconscious bias and are influenced by it. This is where interview bias training becomes pivotal.

Bias might be evident in others.

You may notice it in how someone behaves or speaks about others. Maybe you’ve felt the sting of bias firsthand. Recognizing our inherent biases can be tough, which is why it’s dubbed unconscious.

Unconscious bias training for recruiters and unconscious bias training for hiring managers is not just a trending term; it’s a burgeoning industry. In this piece, we delve into the pivotal questions surrounding bias: What exactly is unconscious bias? How does it alter the hiring framework? Is it possible to truly counter unconscious bias? If you’ve swiftly reached your own verdicts on these queries, that’s a manifestation of unconscious bias too!

The Imperative Discussion on Bias

From the era when our ancestors congregated around fires, bias has been prevalent.

It’s essentially how we lean towards or against a concept, object, individual, or group. Bias often implies these sentiments are prejudiced or discriminatory.

Bias revolves around presumptions, stereotypes, or trepidation of the unfamiliar. It can be intrinsic or acquired, and unconscious bias is shaped and amplified by our personal histories, cultural backdrop, and surroundings. Biases can be trivial – like despising broccoli – or they can be significantly detrimental.

Why is Unconscious Bias Crucial During Hiring?

The aim of overcoming bias at work is to establish a milieu where every staff member feels the environment is congenial, secure, and devoid of discrimination or harassment. While this might sound idealistic, diverse and inclusive work settings can elevate employee contentment, augment engagement and efficiency, and bolster your company’s repute as an exemplary employer. It also diminishes the risk of potential legal repercussions from inequitable employment practices.

The Most Frequent Forms of Unconscious Bias in the Workplace

Regarding recruitment, certain biases are more prevalent. While some are self-explanatory – such as gender bias, ageism, and racism – experts have pinpointed over 150 types of unconscious bias influencing our interactions. We’ll examine a handful here. It’s plausible you’ve allowed one or more of these biases to sway your decisions, hence missing an ideal candidate.

  • Confirmation Bias – Rapidly forming an opinion based on a singular detail and subsequently seeking to validate that impression.
  • Overconfidence Bias – Overestimating one’s judgment capability, often intertwined with confirmation bias.
  • Illusory Correlation – Misinterpreting or overstating the relevance of certain responses to the candidate’s competence.
  • Beauty Bias – Preferring candidates based on appearance, which isn’t indicative of their job proficiency.
  • Conformity Bias – Yielding to group consensus even if personal opinions differ.
  • Contrast Effect – Comparing candidates to their predecessors instead of evaluating them based on the job’s demands.

How are you scoring in bias roulette?!

Here’s some more:

Affect heuristics – this unconscious bias sounds very scientific, but it’s one that’s being a very human survival mechanism throughout history. It’s simply about making snap judgements on someone’s ability to do a job based on superficial and irrelevant factors and your own preconceptions  – someone’s appearance, tattoos, the colour of their lipstick.

Similarity attraction – where hirers can fall into the trap of essentially hiring themselves; candidates with whom they share similar traits, interests or backgrounds. They may be fun to hang out with, but maybe not the best match for the job or building diversity.

Affinity bias – so you went to the same school, followed the same football team and maybe know the same people. That’s nice, but is it really of any relevance to the hiring decision?

Expectation anchor – where the hirer is stuck on what’s possibly an unrealistic preconception of what and who the candidate should be

Halo effect –  Your candidate is great at one thing, so that means they’re great at everything else, right? Judging candidates on one achievement or life experience doesn’t make up for a proper assessment of their qualifications and credentials

Horn effect – It’s the devil’s work. The opposite of the halo effect where one negative answer or trait darkens the hirer’s judgement and clouds the assessment process.

Intuition – going with that gut feeling again? While the emotional and intellectual connection may come into the process, it’s largely irrelevant. Focus on their actual experience and capabilities instead.


Can unconscious bias be eliminated? Can bias be unlearned?

In an ideal world, every hire would be approached in an objective way, free of unconscious basis and based on the candidate’s ability to do the job well. However, we don’t live in that perfect world and, time and time again, bias can cloud our judgement and lead to the wrong recruitment decisions. So what can we do? Let’s first talk about what doesn’t work.

Why unconscious bias training does not work

The efforts of any business to drive affirmative change in their business are to be respected. However, there’s a very good reason why unconscious bias training simply can’t work. Why?

Because unconscious bias is a universal and inherently human condition. Training targets individuals and their well-worn attitudes and world views.

While awareness and attitudes may change, inherent bias will remain because that’s the human condition.

So if humans can’t solve a very human problem, what can? Sapia is challenging the issue of unconscious bias in hiring by promoting ‘top-of-funnel’ screening that entirely avoids humans and their bias. Instead, candidates are interviewed and assessed through automation and algorithms.  The data that trains the machine is continuously tested so that if ever the slightest bias is found, it can be corrected.

According to an Article Published By Fast Company:
(Ref. https://www.fastcompany.com/90515678/science-explains-why-unconscious-bias-training-wont-reduce-workplace-racism-heres-what-will)

From a scientific perspective, there are reasons to be cautious that unconscious bias training will have a significant impact on racism, sexism, and other forms of workplace discrimination.

1. MOST BIASES ARE CONSCIOUS RATHER THAN UNCONSCIOUS

Contrary to what unconscious bias training programs would suggest, people are largely aware of their biases, attitudes, and beliefs, particularly when they concern stereotypes and prejudices. Such biases are an integral part of their self and social identity.

2. THERE IS ONLY A WEAK RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIORS

Contrary to popular belief, our beliefs and attitudes are not strongly related to our behaviours. There is rarely more than 16% overlap (correlation of r = 0.4) between attitudes and behavior, and even lower for engagement and performance, or prejudice and discrimination.

3. THERE IS NO ACCURATE WAY TO MEASURE UNCONSCIOUS BIAS

The closest science has come to measuring unconscious biases is via so-called Implicit Association Tests (IAT), like Harvard’s racism or sexism test. (Over 30 million people have taken it, and you can try it for free here. These have come under significant academic criticism for being weak predictors of actual behaviours. For example, on race questions (black vs. white), the reported meta-analytic correlations range from 0.15 to 0.24.

4. IT’S HARD TO CHANGE PEOPLE’S BELIEFS, ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY DON’T WANT TO

The hardest thing to influence through any D&I initiative is how people feel about concepts such as gender or race. Systematic reviews of diversity training concluded: “The positive effects of diversity training rarely last beyond a day or two, and a number of studies suggest that it can activate bias or spark a backlash.”

Algorithms do the job humans can’t

Using machines and artificial intelligence to augment and challenge decisions is fast becoming mainstream across many applications and industries. To reduce the impact of unconscious bias in hiring decisions, testing for bias and removing it using algorithms is possible. With humans, it’s not.

Sappia tackles bias by screening and evaluating candidates with a simple open, transparent interview via a text conversation.  Candidates know text and trust text.

Unlike other Ai Hiring Tools, Sapia has no video hookups and no visual content. No CVs.

All of these factors carry the risk that unconscious bias can come into play. Nor is data extracted from social channels as our solution is designed to provide every candidate with a great experience that respects and recognises them as the individual they are.

A better experience for candidates, recruiters and clients alike

A research study by The Ladders found that recruiters only spend about 6 seconds looking at a resume. With bulk-hiring, it’s probably less. That’s 6 seconds to make or break a candidate’s hope.

Sapia’s AI-based screening comes into to its own with high volume briefs, with the capability to conduct unlimited interviews in a single hour/day, assessing >85 factors – from personality traits to language fluency and other valuable talent insights. Candidates receive personalised feedback, coaching tips for their next interview and faster decisions on their progress in the hiring process.

Sapia is not out to replace human recruiters but we are here to work as your co-pilot, helping you to make smarter, faster and unbiased hiring decisions.

Understand where unconscious bias has held your business back

AI-enabled enabled interviewing and assessment also tracks and measures bias at a micro level so businesses can understand the level and type of bias that may previously have influenced decisions. With candidate and client satisfaction rated 95%+, it’s a game-changer for changing behaviours.

Hiring’s a team sport and we’re rewriting the rules

The ability to measure unconscious bias is just one more reason to use AI-based screening tools over traditional processes.

Everyone has a story that’s bigger than their CV.

Sapia gives every candidate an opportunity to tell theirs. Through our engaging, non-threatening process where unconscious bias can be taken out of the equation (literally!), we will help you get to the best candidates sooner.

You’ll get a shortlist of candidates with the right traits and values for your business so you can move ahead to interviews with confidence and clarity. With time and resources saved on upfront screening, your team can concentrate on making the interviewing stage more rewarding for hirers and candidates alike.

With Sapia, you can soon be on your way to building more diverse, inclusive and happier workplaces. We know we can work for your business, so we’d love to work with your business. Let’s talk.


Have you seen the Inclusive e-Book? It offers a pathway to fairer hiring in 2021.

Get diversity and inclusion right whilst hiring on time and on budget. In this Inclusivity e-Book, you’ll learn: 

  • How to design an inclusive recruitment path. From discovery to offer and validation of the process.
  • The hidden inclusion challenges that are holding your organisation back.
  • How to tell if Ai technology is ethical.

Download Inclusivity Hiring e-Book Here >


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Sapia.ai Wrapped 2024

It’s been a year of Big Moves at Sapia.ai. From welcoming groundbreaking brands to achieving incredible milestones in our product innovation and scale, we’re pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in hiring.

And we’re just getting started 🚀

Take a look at the highlights of 2024 

All-in-one hiring platform
This year, with the addition of Live Interview, we’re proud to say our platform now covers screening, assessing and scheduling.
It’s an all-in-one volume hiring platform that enables our customers to deliver a world-leading experience from application through to offer.

Supercharging hiring efficiency
Every 15 seconds, a candidate is interviewed with Sapia.ai.
This year, we’ve saved hiring managers and recruiters hours of precious time that can now be used for higher-value tasks. 

See why our users love us 

Giving candidates the best experience
Our platform allows candidates to be their best selves, so our customers can find the people that truly belong with them. They’re proud to use a technology that’s changing hiring, for good.

Share the candidate love

Leading the way in AI for hiring 

We’ve continued to push the boundaries in leveraging ethical AI for hiring, with new products on the way for Coaching, Internal Mobility & Interview Builders. 

Join us in celebrating an incredible 2024

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Situational Judgement Tests vs. AI Chat Interviews: A Modern Perspective on Candidate Assessment

Choosing the right tool for assessing candidates can be challenging. For years, situational judgement tests (SJTs) have been a common choice for evaluating behaviour and decision-making skills. However, they come with limitations that can make the hiring process less effective and less inclusive.

AI-enabled chat-based interviews, such as Sapia.ai, provide organisations with a modern alternative. They focus on understanding candidates as individuals and creating a hiring experience that is both fair and insightful while enabling efficient screening and selection. 

This shift raises important questions: Are SJTs still a tool that should be considered for volume hiring? And what do AI assessments offer in comparison?

1. The Static Nature of SJTs

Traditional SJTs use predefined multiple-choice questions to assess behavioural tendencies and situational knowledge. While useful for screening, these static frameworks lack the flexibility to adapt based on real-world performance data or evolving role requirements. 

Once created, SJTs don’t adapt to new data or evolving organisational needs. They rely on fixed scenarios and responses that may not fully reflect the dynamic realities of modern workplaces, and as a result, their relevance may diminish over time.

AI-enabled chat interviews, on the other hand, are inherently adaptive. Using machine learning, these tools can continuously refine their models based on feedback from real-world outcomes such as hiring or turnover data. This ability to evolve ensures the assessments align with organisations’ needs.

2. Richer Data Through Open-Ended Responses

One of the main critiques of SJTs is their reliance on multiple-choice responses. While structured and straightforward, these options may not capture the full scope of a candidate’s thinking, communication skills, or problem-solving ability. The approach is often limiting, reducing complex human behaviour to a few predefined choices.

AI-enabled chat interviews work more holistically and dynamically. These tools provide a more complete picture of a person by allowing candidates to answer questions in their own words. Natural language processing (NLP) analyses their responses, offering insights into personality traits, communication skills, and behavioural tendencies. This open-ended format lets candidates express themselves authentically, giving employers a deeper understanding of their potential.

3. The Candidate Experience: Stressful or Supportive?

SJTs often include time constraints and rigid formats, which can create pressure for candidates. This is especially true when candidates feel forced to choose options that don’t fully reflect how they would actually behave. The process can feel impersonal, even transactional.

In contrast, chat-based interviews are designed to be conversational and low-pressure for candidates. By removing time limits and adopting a familiar chat interface, these tools help candidates feel more at ease. They also frequently include personalised feedback, turning the assessment into a valuable experience for the candidate, not just the employer.

4. Addressing Bias and Fairness

Traditional SJTs are prone to transparency issues, as candidates can often identify and select the “best practice” answers without revealing their true tendencies. Additionally, static test designs can unintentionally embed bias; due to the nature of the timed test, SJTs have been found to disadvantage some groups. 

AI chat interviews, when developed ethically within a framework like Sapia.ai’s FAIR Hiring Framework, eliminate explicit bias by relying solely on the content of a candidate’s responses. Their machine learning models are continuously validated for fairness, ensuring that hiring decisions are free from subjective judgments or irrelevant demographic factors.

5. An Assessment That Improves Over Time

Workplaces are constantly changing, and hiring tools need to keep up. SJTs’ fixed nature can make them less effective as roles evolve or organizational priorities shift. They provide a snapshot but not a dynamic view of what’s needed.

AI-enabled chat interviews are built to adapt. With feedback loops and continuous learning, they incorporate real-world hiring outcomes—like retention and performance data—into their models. This ensures that assessments stay relevant and effective over time.

Rethinking Candidate Assessment

As hiring demands grow more complex, so does the need for tools that can capture the whole person, not just their response to hypothetical scenarios. While SJTs have played an important role in hiring practices, they are increasingly being replaced by tools like AI-enabled chat interviews.

These modern approaches provide richer data, adapt to changing needs, and create a richer and more engaging experience for candidates. Perhaps most importantly, they emphasise fairness and inclusivity, aligning with the growing demand for unbiased hiring practices.

For organisations evaluating their assessment tools, the question isn’t just which method is “better.” Understanding the specific needs of your roles, teams, and candidates will help you  choose tools that help you make decisions that are both informed and equitable.

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Keeping Interviews Real with Next-Gen AI Detection

It’s our firm belief that AI should empower, not overshadow, human potential. While AI tools like ChatGPT are brilliant at assisting us with day-to-day tasks and improving our work efficiency, employers are increasingly concerned that they’re holding candidates back from revealing their true, authentic selves in online interviews.  

As an assessment technology provider, we are responsible for ensuring the authenticity and integrity of our platform. That’s why we’re thrilled to unveil the latest upgrade to our flagship Chat Interview: the AI-Generated Content Detector 2.0. With groundbreaking accuracy and a candidate-friendly design, this innovation reinforces our mission to build ethical AI for hiring that people love.

Artificially Generated Content (AGC) is content created by an AI tool, such as ChatGPT, Claude, or Pi. We initially rolled out the first version of our AGC detector last year and have continued to improve it as our data set has grown and these AI tools have evolved.

What’s New?

Our updated AGC Detector 2.0 achieves an impressive 98% detection rate for AI-assisted responses, with a false positive rate of just 1%. This gives organisations peace of mind that they’re getting the most authentic assessment of every candidate. 

This cutting-edge system builds on Sapia.ai’s proprietary dataset of over 2 billion words, derived from more than 20 million interview question-answer pairs spanning diverse roles, industries, and regions. It’s trained on real-world data collected before and after the release of tools like ChatGPT, ensuring it remains robust and reliable even as AI tools evolve.

The Challenge of AI in Chat-based Interviews

Our data shows that around 8% of candidates use tools like GPT-4 to generate responses for three or more interview questions. While these tools may offer a quick way for candidates to complete their interview, they can inadvertently hide a person’s true personality and potential – qualities our customers are most interested in understanding through our platform. In fact, research from Sapia Labs shows that these tools have their own personality traits, which may be quite different from the candidate applying for the role. 

For Candidates: Enabling Authenticity

When a response is flagged as potentially AI-generated, the system doesn’t disqualify candidates. Instead, a real-time warning pops up, allowing them to revise their answers or submit them as-is. This ensures that candidates are encouraged to present themselves authentically, reflecting their unique communication styles and sharing their genuine experiences. 

For Hiring Teams: Actionable Insights

Responses flagged as AI-generated are highlighted in the candidate’s Talent Insights profile, accessible via Sapia.ai’s Talent Hub or ATS integrations. These insights give hiring teams the transparency to make informed decisions, fostering trust while accelerating hiring timelines. 

Built on Unmatched AI Interview Expertise

“Our detection model’s strength lies in its foundation of real-world interview data collected from diverse roles and regions,” says Dr Buddhi Jayatilleke, Sapia.ai’s Chief Data Scientist. This depth of understanding enables the AGC Detector to maintain its industry-leading accuracy – even when candidates subtly modify AI-generated answers to appear more human.

Why This Matters

The AGC Detector 2.0 embodies Sapia.ai’s commitment to ethical AI that amplifies human potential. As our CEO Barb Hyman explains:

“The hiring landscape has fundamentally changed since ChatGPT, but our commitment remains clear: AI should amplify human potential, not penalise it. This breakthrough fosters authentic hiring conversations. Our real-time warning system helps candidates make better choices and gives enterprises confidence in their selection decisions.”

Testing and Validation of the AGC Detector 2.0 

The new detector has been rigorously tested on over 25,000 interview responses generated by humans and leading AI models like GPT-4, Claude-3.5, and Llama-3. The results speak for themselves, reinforcing the reliability and fairness of this game-changing technology.

Fairness & Transparency in AI-Enabled Hiring

By detecting AI-generated content while allowing candidates to correct their responses, our AGC Detector 2.0 ensures every applicant has the chance to put their best, most authentic foot forward when applying for a role powered by Sapia.ai. For enterprises, it provides confidence in the integrity of their hiring decisions and ensures they’re connecting with real candidates at scale.

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