Blind Hiring
Blind Hiring
Employers may utilize blind hiring techniques to prevent discrimination in their recruitment and hiring processes. Blind hiring techniques anonymize demographic data about a candidate or applicant by removing personally identifiable information from candidate resumes and applications. Candidates and applicants advance through the hiring process based upon their demonstrated skills and abilities, not on the strength of a resume.
Theory
The theory behind blind hiring is to eliminate unconscious or intentional bias in hiring decisions by focusing on the abilities of candidates and applicants. Studies have shown that recruiters and managers prefer to hire candidates/applicants whose demographic backgrounds are similar to their own. Studies have further shown that many hirings are based upon common interests of the recruiter/manager with the candidate/applicant’s hobbies, leisure activities, or other activities and traits that are not directly related to job qualifications or required for job performance.
Using blind hiring techniques, candidates and applicants are evaluated and selected on their demonstrated talents and skills rather than cultural similarities to the existing workforce. By redacting personal information from consideration, the recruiter or hiring manager must focus on the candidate or applicant’s skill sets in relation to the job qualifications and requirements.
Traditional Hiring Processes
Traditional recruitment and hiring processes focus heavily upon data collection of candidate/applicant “credentials” supplied by resumes, applications, consumer reports, and background checking. Much of the hiring process is information gathering of personal data including education, employment history, references, and other histories considered relevant to job qualifications. The general consensus is that the more information that is gathered, the more likely an objective hiring decision can be made.
While much information can be collected, the information process is not infallible and may not always produce the expected results or the best hire. If key qualifying information is somehow missed during the data collection phase, the candidate/applicant could be unfairly dismissed from hiring consideration. The hiring manager or recruiter therefore depends upon a variety of information sources and verifications supported by personal interactions with a candidate or applicant including personal interviews and assessments in order to make an informed hiring decision.
Bias
While every effort is made to remove bias of any kind from the hiring process, bias is inherent due to human nature. The hiring manager or recruiter will use his knowledge and experiences to evaluate and advance candidates for potential hire. Unconscious bias from life experiences of the manager/recruiter can influence the decision making. This unintentional bias can shape how the manager/recruiter perceives the candidate/applicant personally and professionally. Emphasis could be placed on the applicant’s work history with a well-known employer or the manager/recruiter could be impressed with a degree from a major university. With traditional practices, a recruiter/manager “knows” what a good candidate looks like and will likely hire for organizational fit rather than skills. Accordingly organizations recognize the risk of personal bias and take appropriate measures to train recruiters and managers to evaluate only the substance of candidate and applicant information supplied by documentation and during interviews.
The goal of blind hiring is to eliminate personal information bias and evaluate candidates and applicants on demonstrated skills, abilities, and work assessments that are job requirements.
To counter against potential bias, blind hiring techniques include:
- Removing candidate specific identifying information from resumes and applications that generally have no bearing on the individual’s ability to perform to job standards. Information redacted may include:
- Name
- Address
- Gender
- Age
- Marital status
- Eliminating resume requirements.
- Utilizing skills testing or simulated work projects to assess candidates and applicants.
- Conducting anonymous interviews through use of various technologies to mask personal identifying characteristics (e.g. voice) or using chat rooms.
Blind Hiring Process
The decision to implement blind hiring techniques is a business decision that must be customized to each organization within the industry served. There can be positive outcomes for many organizations in utilizing blind hiring theory to develop and refine their hiring processes. There can be issues with blind hiring techniques that must be analyzed to determine if such practices should be incorporated into the organization’s hiring processes.
An organization must first understand the theory of blind hiring and the issues associated with its implementation. A major question to be answered is what the organization hopes to gain by implementing blind hiring. The answer determines the feasibility and scope of full implementation of blind hiring or the use of blind hiring techniques as a tool in the selection/hiring process.
For some employers the use of blind hiring has the potential to create a larger, more diverse candidate/applicant pool for recruitment and selection. Redacting personal information from resumes and applications may produce qualified candidates who may not have been first considered on the strength of a conventional resume.
Workplace diversity is often cited as a major positive outcome of blind hiring. A more diverse workforce has the potential to draw different ideas from different backgrounds which can more closely channel a diverse customer base. This in turn has the potential to increase business and the organization’s bottom line.
However, there is also the opinion that if the main objective of the organization is to achieve diversity goals, those goals are best accomplished through other policies and diversity measures.
Of primary concern to most organizations in hiring decisions is the issue of culture fit. In many organizations there is the core belief that hiring for a cultural fit is the most important determination in advancing a candidate or applicant in the hiring process. As commonly implemented in blind hiring, a skills-first assessment does not allow for culture fit. With a focus on skill sets demonstrated by work samples and assessments, a recruiter or hiring manager may not be able to determine if the candidate or applicant fits the job and the organization. Organizations prioritize cultural fit as a decisioning factor in selection and hiring due to the belief that an employee who “fits” in with the existing workforce will be more productive due to greater job satisfaction and have the potential to become a long term employee.
An issue that should be considered is the organization’s investment in time, money, and resources to implement blind hiring. The challenge of avoiding the collection of or eliminating candidate and applicant demographic-related information could prove difficult at best for some organizations. Initially it could be quite time consuming and potentially costly for recruiters and hiring managers to implement blind hiring techniques, particularly if the organization does not also utilize technology to scrub personal identifying information from candidate resumes and applications. The application screening time could be unnecessarily lengthened to the detriment of applicant and employer.
Employers in different industries may design hiring processes differently. Blind hiring processes may vary from full implementation of demonstrated skills assessments to a phased approach that incorporates blind hiring techniques as a decisioning tool that supplements existing hiring processes.
As a take away, blind hiring techniques may be utilized as objective decisioning measures to build a skilled, competitive workforce. As a tool they may be blended into an organization’s current hiring processes to provide benefits of skill-based hiring yet retaining values of motivational fit and emotional intelligence qualities that contribute to teamwork and productivity.