Blind Recruitment: Diversify and Unbias Your Hiring
Hiring the right candidate is crucial to the success of any organisation.
Recruiting a new team member can be quick, but it’s often biased, taking just a few seconds to judge an applicant’s worth.
All hiring managers have biases towards certain types of people, which can limit the diversity of the workforce and hinder the selection of the most qualified candidates.
What is blind hiring?
Blind hiring is a new recruitment strategy that removes personal information from CVs or job applications, enabling recruiters to concentrate on an applicant’s skills and experience.
Blind hiring is a practical solution to finding the best candidates for the job regardless of personal circumstances, eliminating the barriers that applicants face today.
Blind hiring is simply a way to sift through CVs or job applications and shortlist candidates with the best experience and expertise regardless of their age, race, ethnicity, gender, or disability.
Blind hiring is meant to fight any unconscious biases that might be lingering while also helping to build a diverse workforce that is geared towards the needs of the business and boosting productivity.
As a diverse employer, you also have to consider other areas of accessibility and infrastructure in your business.
Digital accessibility is the process of ensuring digital technologies, services, and resources, such as websites, mobile apps, e-books, and documents are designed with the needs of disabled people in mind. There are 3 main disabilities that digital accessibility is concerned with:
a) Visual (e.g., color blindness)
b) Motor/mobility (e.g., wheelchair-user concerns)
c) Auditory (hearing difficulties)
Companies like https://abledocs.com/ offer digital accessibility services.
What is unconscious bias and how it affects the hiring process
We all have an unconscious bias because we stereotype. Stereotypes are how we make sense about the world around us.
Unconscious bias refers to the biases or prejudices that we hold at a subconscious level, without being aware of them.
These biases are often based on our personal experiences, cultural background, and societal stereotypes.
Unconscious bias can affect the hiring process in a number of ways.
For example, hiring managers may unconsciously favor candidates who come from a similar cultural or educational background as their own, or they may make assumptions about a candidate’s abilities based on their gender, race, or other characteristics.
Unconscious bias can also lead to a lack of diversity in the workplace, as hiring managers may be less likely to consider candidates who don’t fit their preconceived notions of what a “good” candidate looks like.
Social media can also feed into these unconscious biases; looking up applicants ahead of time and viewing their profiles can create an idea of who they are outside of work, which is not necessarily relevant to the role that you are hiring for.
Advantages of blind hiring for business
Blind hiring has many advantages for the business.
1. Access a bigger pool of talent
Blind hiring can help companies attract a more diverse pool of candidates. When biases are eliminated from the hiring process, companies have a better chance of hiring candidates from underrepresented groups who may have been overlooked otherwise.
2. Diverse teams are more innovative
A diverse workforce brings together different perspectives, experiences, and ideas, which can spark innovation and creativity. By having a team that thinks differently and can approach problems from multiple angles, you can develop new products and services that stand out from the competition and drive revenue growth.
Think about it: if you have a room full of cookie-cutter graduates from the same background, then the ideas that they throw out are all likely to be somewhat similar; diverse teams, on the other hand, have different experiences and backgrounds to draw from which leads to a bigger range of ideas.
2. Enhance employer brand/reputation
A commitment to diversity and inclusion can enhance your company’s reputation as a socially responsible and ethical business.
Companies that adopt blind hiring practices are often viewed as more progressive and inclusive. This can help enhance the employer brand and attract top talent who are looking for a company that values diversity and inclusion. Gen Z value diverse companies highly. In fact, 80% of Gen Z talent believe that a company’s commitment to diversity is one of the aspects they consider when looking for an employer.
This can attract customers who prioritise these values and also appeal to potential employees who want to work for an organisation that values diversity and provides equal opportunities.
3. Access a broader range of customers
A diverse workforce can help you connect better with a broader range of customers. By having employees from different backgrounds and cultures, you can tap into new markets, understand their needs better, and offer products and services that cater to their preferences. This can result in increased sales and revenue for your business.
4. Improve employee retention
When employees feel valued and respected, they are more likely to stay with a company long-term. Diverse hiring can help create a positive work culture where all employees feel included and have opportunities for growth and development. This can lead to higher employee satisfaction, lower turnover rates, and reduced costs associated with hiring and training new employees.
