Best Practices for Reducing Bias in the Interview Process

Abstract

Purpose of Review Objective measures of residency applicants do not correlate to success within residency. While industry and business utilize standardized interviews with blinding and structured questions, residency programs have yet to uniformly incorporate these techniques. This review focuses on an in-depth evaluation of these practices and how they impact interview formatting and resident selection. Recent Findings Structured interviews use standardized questions that are behaviorally or situationally anchored. This requires careful creation of a scoring rubric and interviewer training, ultimately leading to improved interrater agreements and biases as compared to traditional interviews. Blinded interviews eliminate even further biases, such as halo, horn, and affinity bias. This has also been seen in using multiple interviewers, such as in the multiple mini-interview format, which also contributes to increased diversity in programs. These structured formats can be adopted to the virtual interviews as well. Summary There is growing literature that using structured interviews reduces bias, increases diversity, and recruits successful residents. Further research to measure the extent of incorporating this method into residency interviews will be needed in the future.

“I’d rather see action”: Application and recruitment experiences of underrepresented in emergency medicine trainees

“…Standardized questions have also been proposed as a mechanism to avoid bias in nonstructured interviews. [30][31][32][33] Requiring implicit bias training for interviewers can signal a commitment to equity in the recruitment process, although the efficacy of such training is unclear. 26,34 Interviewers should also be encouraged to provide transparency around DEI goals and metrics, such as percentage of residents and faculty who identify as URM and retention of URM faculty.…”

“…Using standardized questions may help interviewers cover similar topics with URM applicants as non‐URM applicants, rather than focusing on DEI. Standardized questions have also been proposed as a mechanism to avoid bias in nonstructured interviews 30–33 . Requiring implicit bias training for interviewers can signal a commitment to equity in the recruitment process, although the efficacy of such training is unclear 26,34 .…”

Bias Reduction Practices in Underrepresented Groups in Ophthalmology Resident Recruitment

“…15,16 Standardized or structured interviews, in which the same question is asked to all applicants, is one of the most effective methods. [17][18][19][20] Selection committee implicit bias training [21][22][23] and blinded interviews (applicant file is not reviewed by interviewers) 24 have also shown to reduce bias in other specialties. Scoring rubrics, either to prescreen applicants or to assess them during the interview, provide further standardization and reduce affinity and conformity biases.…”

Editorial: Association of Socioeconomic Status, Sex, Racial, and Ethnic Identity with Sustained and Cultivated Careers in Surgery

“…The authors did not discuss the affinity biases that we all have and how this plays into whom we choose to mentor and support. 8 The likelihood of associating with and promoting individuals who share commonalities is a natural tendency and can affect the demographics of the cultivated path in surgery. More work is needed to find ways to recognize, measure, and reduce affinity bias in surgical training.…”

“…One area that was not addressed explicitly in the paper is what role we as surgeons individually play in expanding the cultivated path. The authors did not discuss the affinity biases that we all have and how this plays into whom we choose to mentor and support 8 . The likelihood of associating with and promoting individuals who share commonalities is a natural tendency and can affect the demographics of the cultivated path in surgery.…”