solved this is the discussion question down below. Review your current

this is the discussion question down below. Review your current company’s hiring process and identify bias and barriers for diverse applicants in the process (you must identify at least 3 separate biases or barriers). Explain how you would correct these. Incorporate concepts from your readings.(If you are not currently employed, you can use a previous employer or another company you are this familiar with). MORGAN, ADRIANAHRM 6603POST 1I currently contract with many insurance companies as a broker; however, Aflac is my primary company and I have worked with them as a district recruiter/contractor/trainer. Aflac has no significant biases when it comes to the hiring process. Aflac does a fantastic job at promoting diversity when it comes to the hiring process. As long as you are above the age of 18, do not have a felony charge on your record, or a documented termination from a previous insurance company, you are given the opportunity to pursue the job.The problems that occur in the hiring process occur in waves of barriers. These are listed as follows:1. ATTRACTING THE WRONG CANIDATES FROM INADEQUATE JOB DESCRIPTIONSMost candidates come from large hiring platforms (CareerBuilder, Monster, etc.) and are mislead about the true nature of the job from the Aflac HQ approved descriptions that we must use. According to Flesher, “poorly written job descriptions and confusion as to the type of candidate needed for any given position results in a large number of applications from unqualified or underqualified candidates” (2016). The descriptions that we use do not indicate important information. For example, the description does not state that all agents are rendered 1099 independent contracted employees, meaning that “the earnings of a person who is working as an independent contractor are subject to Self-Employment Tax” and have no base income to support them (IRS, 2020). All employees entering the industry are automatically placed into a more aggressive tax situation and have no guaranteed income. This is problematic to most individuals who do not have a financial safety net in place when applying.This problem has lead to attracting many people who are uninformed or uncomfortable working as an independent contractor. I personally have spent hours discussing these concerns with applicants during an interview that could have been avoided if HQ would allow us to modify the job description postings. I would correct this barrier by posting a job description that is accurate in responsibilities and conditions. I would be sure to mention that this is a 1099 role where your income is variant based on your work effort and economic conditions. I would also state directly in the job description that this is a professional role where applicant will be entering an insurance agent position directly. I do feel that presenting that information can help cut down on poor-quality talent and avoid the wasted time that comes from the misinformation surrounding the pay structure.2. DELAYED ONBOARDINGContracting as an agent in Alabama is not an easy process. There are many steps that must be completed to officially contract with Aflac as an entry level agent.Submit a resume and complete an application to be scheduled for a group interview.Complete group and individual interviews successfully.Register for a state training program and complete a 40-hour course designed to help you pass the State of Alabama Insurance Licensing Exam. I personally only see around 8-10% of applicants successfully finish the training course.Pass the state exam with a 70% or better. The Alabama Insurance Examination Report posted by ALDOI indicates that the Life & Health exam has a fail rate of 41% and that number has held a close constant for the past decade (2018). This means that almost 50% of applicants who finish the training program fail the exam and have to wait a minimum of 6 months before retesting. These applicants also do not get their money back on investment in this exam which can range between $150 and $275.You must pass the state exam to move forward with an appointment with Aflac, pass a background check, and other routine monitoring by the State of Alabama to receive a State of Alabama Life & Health Insurance license.An applicant must then complete a 36 hour training a course with Aflac to be officially appointed and ready to begin training.There are more onboarding steps than what is listed, but these are the major ones. As you can see, the process is exhaustive and requires an overwhelming amount of time invested before you ever receive any financial payout. Aflac chooses not to participate in a program called Temporary Licensing, where the applicant can function as an agent for 6 months in the form of grace-period, receive pay and on-the-job training, as well as additional assistance in passing the exam. If I could correct this, I would allow every applicant the opportunity to receive a temporary license and build income before asking them to invest the time and money into the state exam.3. LACK OF START-UP RESOURCESI see many applicants that do not have the necessary start up resources to complete the training and testing needed to effectively begin this job. All of the initial onboarding and testing is completed virtually and is not formatted to be completed on any device other than a laptop with Google Chrome. Many applicants do not have a laptop or the correct equipment to complete this process in a timely manner. Due to this barrier, many applicants have expressed that it feels like a form of financial/ resource discrimination from Aflac. If I could correct this, I would provide all District Coordinators, who are responsible for the success of the applicants, resources to assist applicants. One or two laptops or computers to remain in the office for applicant use could be incredibly beneficial. Coordinators are not provided any HQ assistance when it comes to resources of this nature. I personally have seen many applicants that met all criteria to be a successful agent fail because of this lack of resources.Flesher, R. (2016, December 12). 5 barriers slowing down your hiring process – and how to overcome them. Retrieved March 30, 2021, from https://thrivetrm.com/5-barriers-slowing-down-your-hiring-process-and-how-to-overcome-them/ (Links to an external site.)Independent contractor defined. (2020, December 03). Retrieved March 30, 2021, from https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-se…2017 Alabama Insurance Examination Report [PDF]. (2018). Montgomery: State of Alabama Department of Insurance. Donna LocklearDB week 3I am currently employed at Cardinal Health. The hiring process now has a few differences from other companies like Tyco, Kendall, Medtronic, and Covidien. There are five critical standards with which all personnel selection methods should conform: reliability, validity, generalizability, utility, and legality (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, & Wright, 2021). With Cardinal Health, there are three ways to complete the hiring process. First, Cardinal Health can convert a contractor to a full-time employee. Second, Cardinal Health posts open full-time positions internally for seven days. Third, Cardinal Health offers external candidates positions.The process we had with most of the previous employers was to post all opening jobs for seven days on the website and post notice on the Human Resource board in the hallway for everyone to see and review. At the end of the seven days, the post came down, and if any internal candidate applied, it would go to the most qualified starting with seniority with no attendance or performance concerns on file. If we did not have any internal candidate apply, it would go to the most suitable contractor with seniority. If we did not have any contractors ready to fill the position, we would start the interviews with the external candidate. As a panel of interviewers, we would select one person to offer the full-time job too.I see three biases or barriers with Cardinal Health’s hiring process for diverse applicants in the hiring process. The first bias is the fact that we only offer positions to employees internally only first. We need to focus on the skillset and not on the candidate’s characteristics. The second bias is that employees can be hand-selected, converting a temporary employee to a full-time job. When we convert contractors to full-time, this could be biased because the hiring supervisor could be hiring someone they like versus working with the company longer, and who else is qualified for the job to be hired. It can be a natural bias to give the position to those we feel are more like us, align with our ways of thinking, or whom we like. The third bias is that external candidates could be people that Cardinal Health employees recommend. Recommendations of candidates can be beneficial; however, a candidate’s familiarity can lead to unstructured interviews. Unstructured interviews can miss the candidate’s skillset and what they have to offer. To ensure that all interviews are fair, I like to start with the same panel of people doing the interview and have the same selected interview questions. The situational interview is an interview procedure where applicants are confronted with specific issues, questions, or problems that are likely to arise on the job (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, & Wright, 2021). This way, you can compare the answers to see who would be best suited for the position by answering the questions. To correct all or most of the bias or barriers, I think we should go back to having a set of rules that must be maintained in all cases. To start with would be some expectations of how we will support and go about with the hiring process at Cardinal Health. The standardization of the interview process minimizes bias and focuses on factors that influence potential performance. Another correction could be to utilize software specific to reviewing applications and resumes, which can help level the playing field. Also, work sample tests allow the company to see if the candidate would be a good fit for the type of work involved with the position. It also provides a level playing field and gives an apples-to-apples comparison while alleviating any unconscious bias. With everyone completing the hiring process the same throughout the company, I believe this should eliminate any bias or barriers for the Cardinal Health process to get diverse applicants for positions.ReferencesNoe, R., Hollenbeck, J., Gerhart, B., & Wright, P. (2021). Human Resource Management: Gaining a Competitive Advantage (12 edition). New York: McGraw-Hill. Retrieved March 21, 2021