Do “blind” recruitment processes help or hinder growth of diverse teams?

Over the past few years, some organisations have put tools, and procedures in place within their recruitment processes to increase the diversity of their teams and remove unconscious and conscious bias towards and away from certain individuals.

There is no doubt that the use of ‘blind recruitment tools’, and the goal they are setting out to achieve is the right one, however it is debatable as to how effective these steps at the start of a recruitment process are in ensuring that the organisation hires a more diverse group of individuals moving forward.

In recent years, the French government have had such a large issue with diversity bias that they are implementing a scheme where they will send companies two of the same CV’s where one is a French sounding name, and one is an ethnic sounding name, to check that these organisations are not making decisions based on an individual’s name. This shows the extent of the issue, however, one 2017 study for the French unemployment agency suggested that the move was counterproductive as employers do not in fact discriminate on social or national origins and tend to promote “positive” discrimination where an organisation may appoint someone from an underrepresented group into a role without considering whether they have the right skills or personal qualities required for the role. If they were using a “blind” system this positive discrimination would not be possible.

This is of course not just a French issue, a study in the US found out that applicants with white-sounding names were 50% more likely to be called for an initial interview than applicants with black-sounding names.

Disabled individuals also face bias as they find they have to apply for 60% more jobs than their able-bodied peers before securing a job.

Given all these statistics, it is understandable why organisations have looked to put ‘blind’ processes in place to counter this.

What is a ‘blind’ process?

Each blind process is different but as a general rule, a blind CV reaches a hiring manager as a group of skills, removing all elements that are unique to the individual such as name, education, hobbies, non-work-related achievements, and past employers. At The Search Project, we focus on the more personal and unique elements of an individual, including their values, rather than simply matching the skills on their CV to the skills on the job spec, so for us, this blind process is challenging and we have to question its merits, although the reasoning behind it is unquestionable.

What are the risks of a ‘blind’ process?

Organisations face huge dangers by using and potentially relying on AI and systems to create blind CV’s as they may miss out on diverse candidates altogether.

AI systems have been known to create shortlists solely made up of white males, especially when they simply create a list of skills and experience which due to several factors can place white males in the driving seat to amass more experience than others.

These processes and pieces of tech also have other possible negative outcomes attached to them, as once this process has been followed, the hiring manager could absolve themselves of the responsibility of addressing and challenging their own bias. The responsibility lies not just with systems but with the recruiter, the hiring manager and anyone else involved in the hiring decision making process to ensure they have the skills to understand and recognise their bias and the skills to act accordingly.

What does this all mean?

Anonymising CV’s and applications can help improve diversity in the initial stages and is great for helping with the initial statistics regarding diverse applications, however it cannot help during the interview process and beyond.

Putting in these processes without organisations providing the proper training on unconscious and affinity bias is unlikely to have any long terms benefits.

The key to removing unconscious and conscious bias in the hiring process is to develop a learning and development scheme within an organisation that makes individuals and teams aware of their bias and give them the tools to counter them.

At The Search Project, we find that by recruiting based on values rather than simply matching skills to job descriptions, we help our clients to create diverse and well-rounded teams. The use of technology that removes the uniqueness of an individual is in danger of losing the best and most diverse candidate without anyone ever realising it.

For us, a good hire will have considered a person’s background, culture, attitudes, and perspectives. Hiring people who can contribute positively to the culture and the team is critical. We don’t just want our hires to be a set of skills!

For organisations, a focus on internal culture and inclusion, as well as training and development on all forms of bias will give them the tools to create and retain a truly diverse, varied, and creative team.