The Role of Implicit Bias in Recruitment and Employee Relations

Session Time: 2:15 pm — 3:15 pm

Speaker: Janelle Tarasewicz, Principal Consultant, Aperture EQ

Session Description: Implicit biases are the attitudes and stereotypes that hang out in the depths of our minds. As professionals, we like to think we can remain objective as we work through our recruitment, labor and employee relations processes. However, science tells us that everyone is subject to these fallacies. Implicit biases directly impact our decisions as we hire, negotiate, and manage our employees. It's important to reflect on our personal biases in an effort to manage these automatic beliefs. There are many underlying factors that contribute to these unconscious processes in our minds. By unpacking the science behind these theories, we can better understand how implicit biases operate and what steps we can take to mitigate their impact.

• Core Competency #1: Relationship Management

• Core Competency #2: Talent Acquisition

Speaker Bio:
Janelle Tarasewicz, Principal Consultant for Aperture EQ, is a learning and development professional with nearly 20 years of experience helping managers and employees improve individual and team performance. Janelle’s areas of expertise include the design and implementation of talent management systems as well as processes encompassing recruitment and onboarding, training, performance management, employee relations, PIP development, and classification and compensation strategies. Janelle has a talent for developing and delivering training at all levels and has provided coaching and guidance to executives, managers, and employees regarding employee relations issues, conflict resolution, and communication strategies. Janelle has also spent over 10 years as a psychology instructor and is currently a faculty member at both Bellevue College and Highline College. In these roles, she has developed and maintained a thorough knowledge of instructional standards and practices that had proved beneficial in her development of training programs for public- and private-sector agencies. Janelle holds a Master's degree in Psychology from Pepperdine University and a Bachelor's degree in Communication from the University of Southern California. Janelle has earned both her SPHR as well as her SHRM-SCP and is a certified Success Signals Trainer.