We have found that on occasion, the definition of the panel present for the team interview could potentially include just men.
We see this as terrible for many reasons:
- This would not help all candidates feeling safe in the interview process.
- This is hardly conducive to achieving any gender balance within the team.
- Although we trust in the behavior of our colleagues, an all male (or all female) panel may result in a bias boost, whether they would actually materialize for the interviewers (objective bias), or be perceived as such by the candidate (subjective bias).
As a consequence:
- When our availability allows, there will be no panels consisting entirely of a single gender for any team interview.
- In the case there would be a single gendered interview panel, one member would have to withdraw, on a rotating basis, and invite a colleague from another gender, even if they are not part of the same team as the role interviewed for.