Executive Order 24-04 | Toolkit | Part One

In accordance with Executive Order 24-04, Increasing Employment Opportunities in Washington State Government, the Department of Enterprise Services now offers both initial and refresher trainings on being aware of and mitigating bias when hiring for state jobs. 

Beginning March 1, all employees who participate in recruiting and hiring new employees must take the antibias training each year. 
 
DES offers the training courses described below. Agencies may develop their own trainings, but they must be approved by DES Equity and Employee Development. 

Recognizing and mitigating bias in hiring 

(35 minutes/e-learning; on demand; Washington State Learning Center) 

This e-learning course explores the critical topics of workplace diversity and bias awareness, with a focus on their impact on hiring practices. You'll discover the numerous benefits that diversity brings to an organization and learn to recognize both internal and external biases that can affect decision-making. 

The course will equip you with strategies to mitigate bias in the hiring process, ensuring a more inclusive and equitable approach to talent acquisition. You'll gain the ability to identify common biases that often influence hiring decisions and understand how to create a more diverse and inclusive work environment. 

This course is part of the Hiring Process series. The other two courses - Recruitment and Interviewing Preparation and Interview Skills for Panelists – are supplemental and can be found in the LMS. 
After completing this course, participants will have the skills to: 

• Identify benefits that diversity brings to an organization. 
• Explain how diversity benefits organizations. 
• Recognize internal and external biases that can affect decision-making. 
• Mitigate bias in the hiring process, ensuring a more inclusive and equitable approach to talent acquisition. 
• Identify and analyze common biases that often influence hiring decisions. 
• Develop strategies to create a more diverse and inclusive work environment. 

Reducing bias and noise with a competency-based approach 

(Virtual, 2.5 hours) 

This course builds on the foundational knowledge of workplace diversity and bias from the initial Hiring Process course. It addresses the challenges of unconscious bias and hiring noise that can impact decision-making throughout the recruitment process. Participants will learn how to minimize these issues by adopting a competency-based approach, which emphasizes the knowledge, skills, and abilities required for the job. The goal is to create a more diverse, inclusive, and effective hiring process. 
After completing this course, participants will have the skills to: 

• Identify the impact of unconscious bias and noise on the hiring process. 
• Analyze the hiring stages to identify where bias and noise may occur. 
• Construct competency-based qualifications. 
• Analyze interview questions to ensure they align with competencies. 

Additional classes are posted on the DES website as they become available.