Equitable Hiring Practices: Mitigating Bias that May be Excluding your Best Hires

This workshop will provide an opportunity to examine how our biases influence who we hire. If we are committed to a truly racially equitable hiring process, we have to approach it with a race equity mindset and a racial equity lens. We have to ask ourselves some important questions. What kind of outreach are we doing to draw a diverse pool of candidates? Who do we advance from the resume review stage to the interview process, and why? When it comes down to two candidates who are equally qualified, but in different ways, how do we select a finalist? Too often, we succumb to affinity bias and go with the candidate who we consider a “proven performer” or “known quantity” or a “good fit.” What do we mean by this and how are we making these assessments? In this workshop, we will explore these questions together and root out the underlying bias that exists in our hiring processes so that we shift from the exclusionary “culture fit” framework to the inclusive and equitable “culture add” orientation.

Trainer:

Amihan Jennifer Matias

Amihan Jennifer Matias is the founder of KAPWA Racial Equity Transformation. She is a racial equity and organization and leadership development coach, consultant, facilitator, and trainer. She has over 30 years of experience working with social justice and social change organizations, and over 25 years of nonprofit management experience. Amihan has overseen the creation and implementation of several cutting edge and nationally recognized executive leadership development programs. These have included a nonprofit executive coaching program for emerging Black, Indigenous, and People of Color leaders of community-based organizations, a nonprofit management training institute, and a six-month leadership forum for womxn of color leaders called And Still We Rise; Amihan is a social justice activist, community builder, and leader who has a long history of community activism. She is a founder of Massachusetts Asian and Pacific Islanders (MAP) For Health and the recently formed Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Alliance of Western MA. Amihan is also a founding board member of the Sojourner Truth School for Social Change Leadership.