Would it not be nice to be hired for a job because of your skills, background (assuming it’s educational background) and versatility? If you didn’t know the name, age, gender, marital status, nationality and native language of an applicant up until the time of an interview, would you find it difficult to make the decision to hire the applicant? Why / why not?
Anonymous
I read in a local newspaper of an “anonymous” job application process that’s being run as an experiment in hiring. This is to see if it will equalize chances of all applicants and whether it will produce different results compared to the traditional approach. The applicant, of course sends the application as normal with all personal details included but once the application is on file all personal information is purged and focus is on skills.
I must say I personal like the idea but could there be possible pitfalls and disadvantages with such a hiring approach compared to the traditional one? What are your thoughts?
p.s. image courtesy of Google
I think this would be ideal, Cocoa, except that I believe the appropriate language proficiency is rather important. As for race, age, gender and all those other things, I don’t think they should be taken into account at all.
That’s what I think as well AD, that it would be ideal. Well, I think with language in this case would probably be referring to not knowing what the applicant’s native language is, so that it doesn’t cause biasness.
there could very well be pitfalls, but those are not removed if you know all the personal details. I think, if they add a handwriting sample, it might level the field even more.
Let’s hope it works out – might make a difference in the job market going forward.
I do hope it works out as well, it could make a lot of difference.
I think it’s great concept. I have a friend who has a disability and found it very difficult to get a job. He went for a lot of interviews and was always turned down (even though he has a masters degree). Then he applied for a job in a different state, had a telephone interview and got the job – go figure…
See this is what I mean, it would be really good to be judged according to your skills rather than anything else. I’m glad your friend got the job.
I found this post fascinating. I am certain the experiment, as it removes biases and mood swings, would indeed produce different results. But as organisations hire, what is the outcome that they are really looking for ? After all the chosen candidate would still be required to work with people within the organisation, bristling with beliefs and biases.
Shakti
According to the article, they are trying to see if this will equalize chances of all applicants in a getting a job. I’m eager to see how it progresses.
As far as I am aware, Australia is going this route quite strongly. CV’s no longer include age, marital status or even a name that could give an indication of sex (no, not having it, just which one they are
). I’ll be fascinated to see how it all plays out. Of course, if you are looking for teamwork, I guess you do need to look at who will best fit in with the group but, if the field is narrowed down based purely on skills, I think it would be a great thing
Nice to know that this is already been tried in Australia and that it’s going well. I think it’s good for everyone to have a fair chance at the job applied for. Instead of having one’s CV tossed aside without being even give a chance for an interview is frustrating at times. Of course then the interview should address all other components needed for that particular job, e.g. Would one work well in a teamwork set up, etc.
Thanks for the comment:-)