A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words: Unconscious Bias in the Residency Application Process?
It is an unfortunate reality that personal preference, bias, and, in some cases, discriminatory hiring practices all factor into the selection process.17 This is why, as described above, the EEOC includes asking for photographs during the application stage on its list of prohibited practices for employers.13 The EEOC website also states: “If needed for identification purposes, a photograph may be obtained after an offer of employment is made and accepted.”13 In the residency application scenario, once an applicant has been granted an interview, a photograph can be taken on the day of the interview. With so many interviewees, this may help the interviewers to remember the interviewee. At this point in the process, the applicant has already been granted the interview. The bias associated with merely looking at a photograph is thus eliminated. This is in accordance with Title VII and is clearly different than including a photograph in the initial application, which directly violates Title VII.
Reviewers of applicants may have an unconscious bias due to the applicant’s attractiveness, race, sex, ethnicity, etc. Other, subtler forms of bias may also be present. Without realizing it, people may judge the quality of the photograph, or even what the applicant was wearing in the photograph. In orthopedic surgery, for example, there may be bias in the “size” of the applicant regardless of sex. Reviewers may unconsciously think how is he/she going to hold the leg, cut a rod, reduce a hip, etc. Without even realizing it, this may sway the person reviewing the application to choose one applicant over another. This may occur regardless of the applicant’s actual qualifications as based on the previously described factors, including test scores, grades during medical school, letters of recommendation, personal statement, extracurricular activities, volunteer activities, and research experience.
Unconscious bias is present in everyone. In an ideal world, one would be able to eliminate all sources of unconscious bias in the application process. Bias due to attending an Ivy League school versus a state school, bias due to where the applicant is from, bias due to who wrote the letter of recommendation, along with various other sources of unconscious bias, would be able to be eliminated. Unfortunately, this is not possible. What is possible, however, is to remove the photograph from the application process and to comply with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
