Blind hiring: What is it and what is its purpose?

2 de March, 2023

Several studies have shown a direct relationship between diversity in companies and their financial performance. This is the case of the study “Delivering through diversity” by McKinsey (2018), which found that the existence of cultural, ethnic and gender diversity in companies – particularly in executive positions – positively influences their revenue and financial performance.

In fact, the benefits of a diverse and inclusive organizational culture are obvious. And an approach that favors diversity and inclusion must start at ground zero: recruitment.

Any prejudice, even if unconscious, can have a negative impact on this process. When human resources managers allow themselves to be influenced by any preconceived ideas when selecting candidates, they may be underestimating profiles with real potential.

It is in this context that the concept of blind hiring.

Blind hiring: what is it?

Blind hiring refers to the concealment of candidates’ personal and demographic information during the recruitment process (e.g. name, age, gender, ethnicity or religion).

By omitting questions that are not strictly related to professional experience or the skills required for the job, the selection of candidates can become less biased, as aspects that can generate unconscious prejudice are taken out of the equation.

What is unconscious bias?

It consists of a tendency or preference that, even if it is not intentional or deliberate, can affect the way we judge someone’s character, abilities or skills.

Even if we’re not aware of it, we may have some deep-rooted preconceptions. Which, in the case of recruitment processes, can make it difficult to make completely objective and impartial decisions.

How to adopt good blind hiring practices

It can be difficult to eradicate unconscious bias. Even so, adjusting some procedures when recruiting human capital can result in more unbiased assessments. Some good practices could be:

• Use more inclusive job descriptions: avoid terms that convey a gender preference (such as “he” or “she”) and write more neutrally. The same applies, for example, to age. More inclusive job ads result in applications from more diverse people.
• Hide irrelevant personal and demographic information: understand what information is strictly necessary for the selection of the candidate and eliminate the rest. Elements such as a person’s name, address and photograph can, even if unconsciously, bias the process.
• Focus on the candidates’ skills: carrying out some tests during the recruitment process can allow you to gather information on the candidates’ technical skills, but also on their interpersonal and socio-emotional skills (such as the ability to collaborate and work as part of a team, organization, empathy, among others).
• Make your team aware of the existence of unconscious bias: people need to be educated about what unconscious bias is. Give examples of situations in which such prejudice may exist and provide training and tools to recognize and circumvent them.
• Evaluate the success of these measures: define metrics that allow you to gauge whether your company is actually more diverse and inclusive with the implementation of these good practices.
• Bear in mind that blind hiring doesn’t solve everything: these measures are not enough to solve all the diversity and inclusion problems your company may have, as they are not holistic. Define strategies for other phases of the relationship between employees and the company, and not just for the recruitment stage.

In practice, it is essential to strive to build an organizational culture as a whole that makes people feel included, respected and valued. Because blind hiring alone is not enough to promote diversity and inclusion, nor to entrench them.

Even so, it’s a relevant exercise in that it can reveal some prejudices, even if unconscious, on the part of those doing the hiring. And the more we are able to identify our prejudices, the more easily we can work on them and put them aside.