Since early 2025, some organizations, influenced by the current U.S. administration, have dismissed earlier commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), claiming their hiring practices are now purely meritocratic. However, portraying DEI and merit as opposites ignores that abandoning DEI doesn’t guarantee merit-based hiring. Effective DEI practices expand recruitment beyond traditional networks without replacing talent assessment with demographic criteria. In reality, merit-based hiring is often elusive and filled with errors, despite good intentions. “Merit” in hiring is actually about validity—selection methods must be proven job-related by scientific standards. Many commonly used criteria like educational requirements, years of experience, or subjective impressions often lack validity and favor majority groups, creating a “merit mirage.” True merit requires using validated, standardized assessments, but many managers rely too much on intuition and unstructured interviews, which are less effective. Additionally, valid assessments may lack face validity, leading to skepticism, which can hinder their adoption despite their effectiveness in promoting diversity and merit simultaneously. Leaders should invest in HR expertise, embrace empirically supported methods, and understand that diversity and merit are not mutually exclusive but can coexist to strengthen hiring outcomes.
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