Blind Hiring Best Practices
While the traditional hiring process relies heavily on resume-screening and in-person interviews, some employers are turning to blind hiring in order to reduce bias and create a more level playing field for all candidates. Blind hiring is a process in which personal information that could lead to unconscious bias (such as names, gender, ages, and education) is removed from applications before they are reviewed.
This allows employers to assess candidates solely on their qualifications and skills. Some blind hiring best practices include using software that randomly assigns candidate ID numbers, using an objective scoring rubric, and ensuring that interviewers are not privy to any personal information about the candidates they are speaking with.
How to implement blind recruitment
In order to implement blind recruitment in your company, you can make use of much available software to remove demographic information from the applications and resumes. If you don’t have enough budget to get new software, then there are also other options and workarounds available. As a manager, you can also create columns with your name on it.
Moreover, you can also create some pre-screen questions so that the candidates can complete it before reviewing and finalizing their resume. Many organizations also ask their candidates to eliminate all or some parts of information from their resumes. That way, you can easily implement blind hiring in your company.
Blind hiring best practices
One of the first steps in implementing a blind hiring process is to remove personal information that could lead to bias from candidate profiles and resumes. This includes details such as age, gender, names, and photos. In addition, candidates' graduation years, addresses, ethnicity, and other personal details are often removed from their profiles.
By taking these steps, employers can help to ensure that all candidates are judged on their qualifications and experience rather than on personal factors. As a result, blind hiring practices can help to create a more diverse and inclusive workplace.
Some of the best blind hiring practices are as follows:
- You can make use of inclusive job descriptions. If you are willing to improve the diversity of your staff, then you need to begin at the very start of your recruitment process.
- The second-best blind hiring practice is to choose demographic information to hide. It includes the name, zip code, address, headshots, as well as other such information that is mostly mentioned on resumes. However, demographic information is sometimes important. For example, if you plan to examine the preliminary results of your diversity recruiting program, this information can be important.
- Another amazing blind hiring practice is to obscure academic information. For example, having a gold medal or high GPA might not necessarily be required for job success. Similarly, a low GPA isn’t a sign of a capable applicant as well.
- Collecting relevant data about your candidates' skills and expertise is another best practice. For this purpose, pre-employment assessments also help gather data about the candidate's abilities and other skills such as integrity, personality characteristics, and collaboration.
Last Thoughts
The hiring process can be filled with unconscious bias, and sometimes the resumes that stand out the most are from candidates from similar backgrounds to the hiring manager. This can create a homogenous workplace and prevent qualified candidates from less privileged backgrounds from having a fair shot at getting the job.
One way to level the playing field is through blind hiring. This helps to ensure that everyone has an equal opportunity to get their foot in the door. In addition, it can also lead to a more diverse workplace, which can bring a wealth of new perspectives and ideas. For these reasons, blind hiring is an excellent way to level the playing field for all job seekers.
