Why kindness should be part of your hiring process

by Janice Allen
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Life is constantly in motion. As humans, we crave stability and security, carefully crafting road maps for the future – but the universe has a way of throwing curveballs and putting our plans aside. For most of us, this insecurity can be a major cause of stress and exhaustion and negatively impact our mental health. Never has this been experienced on a larger scale than in the past two and a half years, when the Covid-19 pandemic ravaged the world, causing global lockdowns, economic downturns, family separations and a tragic loss of life for many.

In Canada and the United States, approximately 1 in 5 people will personally experience a mental health problem, and by age 40 nearly 50% of North Americans will have had a mental illness. Environmental factors, such as meaningful work, leisure activities, access to nature and community support, play an important role in our mental health, and many of these factors were left out during the pandemic.

Related: The Talent Gap: Challenges Immigrants Face in the Tech Job Market

The impact of the pandemic on employment and mental health

While the Covid-19 pandemic has affected us all, the recent statistics have shown that the offshoots of the pandemic are felt more strongly by underrepresented groups such as immigrants, indigenous peoples and impoverished socioeconomic groups. The pandemic had a disproportionate impact on these minority groups, as evidenced by mental health and employment.

Take immigrants for example. When looking for a job, many of them struggle with job interviews, as they often lack knowledge of language or local culture. The pandemic introduced new variables to this process, including online interviews, lack of personal connection, lost networking opportunities, and diminished face-to-face interactions. A change in the ground rules of human interaction took away the few constants many job seekers had in the past. Each of these hurdles complements their life experience and can potentially lead to psychological problems.

The pandemic also disproportionately affected marginalized groups living at or below the poverty line. Many members of these groups have manual labor, many of which have been scrapped during the pandemic. And for those who did switch to remote work, some didn’t have access to the technology needed to keep working effectively.

As the founder of ComIT, a non-profit charitable organization that provides free technical training to underrepresented minorities, I have spent years talking about the importance of giving marginalized groups a first chance to start or restart their careers. I have witnessed their challenges and experienced some of them firsthand when I immigrated to Canada from Argentina in 2015. I have become passionate about educating underrepresented groups and linking them to organizations where they can grow and thrive.

Even before the pandemic, it was proven that systemic inequalities such as racism, poverty, discrimination and colonial violence can worsen mental health and symptoms of mental illness, especially if mental health care is difficult to access. These effects have been felt more strongly during the pandemic.

Related: What Empathy Recruitment Looks Like in a Post-Covid World

What can we do to help?

Personally, I believe one way to deal with the uncertainty of the world is to lighten things up a little bit. When conducting interviews or meeting potential employees, it helps to remind ourselves that we are observant and respectful of those interviewed. Understanding that the applicant is going through a stressful situation while looking for a job in addition to his daily struggle can help us connect more with the person, which also gives us a head start in understanding if they are good with our team. to suit.

Always remember that if an applicant has the technical skills you need and the ability and desire to learn more, they could be good people to have on your team. So it’s up to us to exercise our empathy and mindfulness to find the true gems that hide behind the problems many of us face. It’s up to us to lend a helping hand sometimes.

Taking this stance can mean taking a break from our busy day to remember that everyone is doing their best and instilling empathy in every interaction. When looking for employees who will be part of our team for the long term, emphasizing kindness is a first step in creating that reality. Seeing those around us as part of a community and emphasizing kindness can help build a better post-pandemic world.

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