Recruitment bias is barrier to STEM employment

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Recruitment bias based on factors including age or race must be challenged by employers if industry is to become more inclusive, a survey has by STEM Returners has found.

In the annual STEM Returners Index - a survey of over 750 STEM professionals on a career break who are attempting to return to work or who have recently returned to work - recruitment bias was revealed to be the main barrier preventing them from returning to work.

In the survey, 37 per cent of participants said they experienced bias in the recruitment process due to their age, while 43 per cent of people who identified as BME (Black and Minority Ethnic) said they had experienced bias due to race or ethnicity.

According to the survey, female engineers are more likely to be victims of recruitment bias with 27 per cent of women feeling they have personally experienced bias in recruitment processes due to their gender compared to eight per cent of men.

Natalie Desty, director of STEM Returners, believes recruiters across STEM must update their processes and challenge unconscious bias so that highly skilled people can gain employment and for industry to become more diverse and inclusive.

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