The use of a technique hiding key identifiable information from resumes prior to presenting to hiring managers is a practice also known as blind resumes recruitment in talent acquisition. Blind resume recruitment submissions have increased in practice for companies looking to build diverse candidate slates and manage inherent bias in the initial candidate screenings. While blind resumes recruitment does not create inclusive cultures or inclusive leadership practices it has proven to measurably increase access and improve candidate slates for top talent needs for a growing list of high performing organizations. What’s beneficial about changing certain recruiting and screening methods to be more anonymous is that it diminishes the chances of bias driving initial perceptions of the candidate and can provide all candidates with the chance for a level playing field to compete for roles.
The use of a technique hiding key identifiable information from resumes prior to
presenting to hiring managers is a practice also known as blind resumes recruitment in talent acquisition. Blind resume recruitment submissions have increased in practice for companies looking to build diverse candidate slates and manage inherent bias in the initial candidate screenings. While blind resumes recruitment does not create inclusive cultures or inclusive leadership practices it has proven to measurably increase access and improve candidate slates for top talent needs for a growing list of high performing organizations. What’s beneficial about changing certain recruiting and screening methods to be more anonymous is that it diminishes the chances of bias driving initial perceptions of the candidate and can provide all candidates with the chance for a level playing field to compete for roles.
● Resumes with “white-sounding” names (the study suggests “Emily Walsh” and
“Greg Baker”) got nearly 50 percent more callbacks than those with “black-sounding names” (the study suggests “Lakisha Washington” and “Jamal
Jones”) ( Bertrand & Mullainathan, 2003)
● White-sounding names on resumes are 75% more likely to get an interview
request than identical resumes with Asian names (GapJumpers, 2012)
● Resumes with male names are 40% more likely to get an interview request than
similar resumes with female names (GapJumpers, 2012)
● For White names, a higher quality resume elicits 30 percent more callbacks
whereas for African Americans, it elicits a far smaller increase (Bertrand &
Mullainathan, 2003)
● Chinese applicants must submit 68% more applications to get an interview than
those with Anglo-Saxon names. People with Middle Eastern names must submit
64% more, Indigenous 35% more and Italian 12% more. (Leigh & Varganova, )
● A 2014 study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that managers of both sexes were twice as likely to hire a man as a woman. (Reuben, 2014)
● Researchers have determined, amongst other things, that blind auditions make it 50% more likely that a woman will advance to the finals. (GapJumpers, 2012)
● About 60 percent of the top talent identified through GapJumpers’ blind audition process come from underrepresented backgrounds. (GapJumpers, 2012)
● 15% increase in the number of community college graduates who got to the
in-person audition round by starting with a blind audition, compared to the
number of community college graduates who land interviews by applying for jobs
the traditional way. (Smith, 2015)
● Hiring managers tend to be surprised that the top performing submissions they
pick to advance very often come from applicants without an elite education,
training, or experience. This suggests blind performance auditions are a powerful tool to manage bias and address the pervasive and incorrect assumption that elite pedigree best predicts performance of on the job skills.
(Joseph, 2016)
In hopes of preventing “unconscious bias” and tapping into a more diverse “talent pool.” Deloitte adopted an algorithm that will consider “contextual” information alongside academic results of recent graduates. It will take into account disadvantages such as attending an under-performing school or coming from a deprived area. There will be a “university-blind” approach to selection, so that the name of the university attended will not be known. The aim is to find students with “potential” and to prevent the recruitment process producing an intake from a narrow range of universities and social backgrounds.
EY, the global accountancy firm, announced that it was scrapping the requirement for applicants to have a minimum 2:1 degree pass or Ucas point score of 300 (the
equivalent of three B grades at A-level). The company said it had made the decision to change the application rules for its graduate, undergraduate and school-leaver programmes after an independent study rated its in-house assessment programme and numeracy tests as “a robust and reliable indicator of a candidate’s potential to succeed”. Maggie Stilwell, EY’s managing partner for talent, said she hoped the new policy would “open up opportunities for talented individuals regardless of their background and provide greater access to the profession”. It has been welcomed by many in the universities sector.
Blind Interviews” are becoming more popular as a need for greater progress in diverse candidate slates and unbiased hiring decisions is growing. GapJumpers is a new type of job board that allows employers to recruit applicants by posting projects for them to complete before meeting them. An applicant can view all the projects and choose which one sounds like the best fit for them, all without having to see or speak to an interviewer.
GapJumpers has since been used more than 1,400 times and company numbers
suggest that compared to standard resume screening, its use increases the chances of minority and female applicants being offered a first-round job interview by around 40% according to Gapjumpers.
Recommendations on how to incorporate blind hiring into your company’s talent
selection strategy:
Create a goal. “Like any new business practice, you should set goals from the outset,” says Mikaela Kiner, CEO at Seattle-based consulting firm Uniquely HR. “For example, your goal might be to increase the number of women in executive positions over the course of a year.
Pick what to redact. In addition to stripping names, consider removing home
addresses (a possible proxy for race and income) and dates (which can reveal age).
Train recruiters and hiring managers. Educate employees on the blindspots in hiring caused by unconscious bias and the value of a diverse candidate slate, and invest in development in how to ask skills-based interview questions to reduce the ‘fit’ feedback.
Start small. Introduce blind hiring in stages or as a pilot or for specific roles with the greatest gaps or high volume need so you can fine-tune your methods before applying them companywide, Kiner advises.
Measure results. Build a dashboard to track candidate recruiting cycle
demographics—age, race, gender—to determine where in the recruiting process bias maybe present, and solicit candidate feedback. After all, “the better the job candidate experience is, the more likely candidates are to refer other talented people to your organization,” says JoAnn Corley, founder and CEO of The Human Sphere, an Atlanta-based talent management consultancy. Pro tip: Host a debrief meeting with your HR staff to discuss results
