MetLife recognized that minimizing or mitigating unconscious bias in every talent process is critical to ensuring we build a pipeline of diverse talent.  As we worked with our external recruiting partners to bring in top talent, we realized they were providing information about candidates that could easily bias our interviewers and hiring managers.

In partnership with Global Talent Acquisition, MetLife’s Global Diversity & Inclusion team developed a training program that we have required all of our recruiters to complete. This includes our in-house recruiters, our recruiting partner organization for lower level positions as well as all of our third party executive recruiting firms globally.  The training program focuses on three areas: the focus on Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) at MetLife, how we integrate D&I into all our HR processes and the common biases that can impact hiring decisions. 

The discussions that have resulted from sharing these concepts have had a significant impact on our partners.  We talk about ensuring the feedback they provide about a candidate is strictly related to the job requirements and leadership competencies at MetLife.  We have found that while recruiters were often aware of unconscious bias, this targeted training allowed our external recruiting firms to understand the importance we place on avoiding unconscious bias in their practices. Internally, our recruiters have heightened awareness and continue to adjust practices.

As a result of the targeted training we have provided, our recruiting partners and our internal recruiters are aligned in practices, commentary and expectations. Over the long term, we expect to see more qualified, diverse candidates progress further in the hiring process.

Elizabeth Nieto