After several years as a sale associate at a major hotel brand, you were promoted to Director of Sales and Marketing. You oversee a staff of 10 associates; 6 identify as Male and 4 identify as Female.
Two months after your promotion, Norma (a cisgender female), your most trusted and most senior associate; retires.
You advertise the vacant position and get a pool of qualified applicants; the pool is narrowed down to two candidates; one Male and one Female.
The two applicants are equally qualified and both performed spectacularly in their interviews.
The search team for the position consists of you, the Director of Human Resources and the Hotel’s Assistant General Manager.
Both members of the search team agree that both candidates are equally qualified.
Your initial thoughts are to offer the position to the Female candidate in order to maintain gender diversity on your team.
• Which candidate do you choose to hire?
• Do address your thoughts to the other members of the search committee without coming across as bias?
• Should you consult with any other Hotel administrators prior making your final decision?
• Are there any other measures you could use to base your decision on?