Blind hiring
Blind hiring, also known as blind recruiting, is an approach aimed at minimizing bias in the hiring process by concealing personal details about candidates during the initial stages of review. This method involves withholding information such as names, genders, educational backgrounds, and other characteristics that might reveal a candidate's race, gender, age, or socioeconomic status. By providing hiring reviewers only with relevant qualifications like work experience and education, the goal is to create a more equitable selection process that enhances diversity in the workplace.
While studies suggest that blind hiring can improve opportunities for underrepresented groups by creating a more diverse interview pool, there are complexities to consider. For instance, in environments where there has been a historical effort to diversify, this method might unintentionally reduce the representation of certain demographic groups. The technique also does not automatically ensure a diverse workforce, as the effectiveness of blind hiring can be influenced by existing biases in recruitment strategies and job requirements.
Moreover, while blind hiring can help counteract both conscious and unconscious biases, it may also limit interviewers' ability to assess cultural fit and other human elements that contribute to a candidate's potential success in a role. Therefore, organizations should evaluate their hiring practices carefully to determine if blind hiring is the right method for achieving their diversity goals, while also considering complementary strategies and structured interviews to further mitigate bias.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Blind hiring
Blind hiring, sometimes called blind recruiting, is a method of reducing or eliminating bias for or against candidates for jobs. Companies intentionally withhold personal information about potential hires from hiring reviewers during the initial review process. This information may include name, gender, schools attended, graduation date, and hobbies. These are withheld because they can reveal the gender, race, age, and socioeconomic status of the applicant. Instead, those screening applications are provided only with information relevant to the position, such as previous work experience and type of degree.
Blind hiring is intended to increase diversity in the workforce. Studies have indicated that blind hiring can give applicants from underrepresented groups a better chance at gaining an interview. This is considered important because, according to experts, a diverse workforce is more productive and increases profitability for companies. However, blind hiring may have the opposite effect, especially in workplaces that already try to diversify by hiring from marginalized groups. Hiding identifying characteristics during the review process can result in less diversity.
Background
The blind hiring or blind recruiting technique is intended to reduce or eliminate bias. Bias is the human tendency to favor or disfavor an individual or a group in comparison to another, usually in a way that is subjective and/or unfair. It is generally based on past experiences or personal feelings rather than any objective data or facts. For example, someone who has had a bad experience with a dog in the past may be biased against dating someone who owns a dog. When biases are conscious, the person is aware that they do not like a group of people and avoids hiring them. When biases are unconscious, the person is not specifically aware that they prefer one group over another.
All people have some form of bias. Biases affect preferences and decision-making in many ways. For example, someone who prefers vegetables and is a vegetarian will use that bias to direct their choices of grocery stores and restaurants. Biases are not inherently good or bad. Some biases can even be good and bad at the same time. For example, someone who is biased in favor of spending time outdoors may experience health benefits from being outdoors but struggle to focus when they must stay indoors to work or go to school. Biases become problematic, however, when they cause people to discriminate or demonstrate prejudice in a way that is harmful or unfair to an individual or a group.
The concept of blind hiring arose in the 1970s. The Toronto Symphony Orchestra realized that most of its members were White men. Members of the orchestra wanted to increase diversity, so they had musicians audition behind a screen. Those making the hiring decision could hear the candidates’ musical skills but could not see them. Between 25 and 45 percent of the candidates who were chosen were women. This blind hiring practice increased the orchestra’s appeal to a more diverse audience.
Overview
Blind hiring occurs at the earliest stage of the hiring process. The technique is also used in non-hiring settings. For example, it may be used to increase diversity in the candidates who are accepted to higher educational institutions.
As an alternative to hiding this information, some companies develop applications that only include the necessary information about work experience and education. In these cases, the applicant is identified by a number or other code, and personal information is gathered and kept separately.
The intent of this process is to eliminate bias as much as possible by removing any information that can trigger biases such as gender, race, or age. The initial reviewers screen the applicants and decide who will advance to the next stage, at which point the person is generally called in for an interview. Studies have found that when blind hiring practices are used, the pool of individuals who are interviewed is more diverse.
Blind hiring does not automatically guarantee that the company will achieve its desired level of diversity, however. For example, if a company has already been diversifying and has been actively choosing applicants from specific marginalized groups, it may find that the resulting applicant pool has fewer candidates from certain groups than they would have chosen on their own. In other words, blind hiring can counter biases both for and against certain groups of people.
Experts recommend that companies consider several factors before choosing the blind hiring method. They should determine whether their existing process is consistently providing applicants representing only one or a few demographics. For example, they might review their staff to see if women or marginalized individuals are in management positions. They should also consider whether the requirements for a position, such as a certain level of education, might inherently tend to limit the pool of applicants to individuals from advantaged groups. Blind hiring may not be as effective in these situations.
Companies should also consider whether they are using other techniques to complement the blind hiring process. They might analyze how they are recruiting and advertising for job applicants to ensure that they are attracting a diverse hiring pool. It is also necessary to use a structured interview process that keeps the interviewers on task with questions related to the position to help limit the likelihood that personal bias will again be introduced.
While blind hiring can lead to greater diversity and the benefits it brings, it also has drawbacks. It keeps interviewers from having access to human factors that may indicate an employee is a good match for a job. In other cases, interviewers may not know if a candidate has personal tendencies that make them a bad fit for the company’s culture. It can also prevent interviewers from learning information, such as the challenges an applicant overcame to reach their level of education.
Bibliography
“Addressing Bias: Rights, Responsibilities and Responses.” Penn State University, www.knowyourrightsandresponsibilities.psu.edu/pages/bias/bias-the-basics. Accessed 3 Feb. 2025.
“Bias.” Psychology Today, www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/bias. Accessed 3 Feb. 2025.
“The Blind Hiring Process: What It Is & How to Do It?” Glassdoor, 23 Aug. 2021, www.glassdoor.com/employers/blog/blind-hiring-process/. Accessed 3 Feb. 2025.
“Everything You Didn’t Know about Blind Recruitment.” Equalture, www.equalture.com/blog/blind-recruitment/. Accessed 3 Feb. 2025.
Fath, Sean. “When Blind Hiring Advances DEI—And When It Doesn’t.” Harvard Business Review, 1 June 2023, hbr.org/2023/06/when-blind-hiring-advances-dei-and-when-it-doesnt. Accessed 3 Feb. 2025.
Hipps, Charles. “Blind Recruiting: What Is It and How Do You Do It?” Forbes, 1 June 2022, www.forbes.com/sites/forbeshumanresourcescouncil/2022/06/01/blind-recruiting-what-is-it-and-how-do-you-do-it/?sh=6b74f29020d3. Accessed 3 Feb. 2025.
Newbery, Cathryn. "What Is Blind Recruitment--and Does It Work?" Ciphr, 3 May 2023, www.ciphr.com/blog/what-is-blind-recruitment. Accessed 3 Feb. 2025.
“What Is Blind Hiring? (How to Implement It).” Embroker, 4 Nov. 2024, www.embroker.com/blog/blind-hiring/. Accessed 3 Feb. 2025.
“What Is Blind Hiring? Pros, Cons, and Its Statistics.” Boulo, boulosolutions.com/what-is-blind-hiring-pros-cons-and-its-statistics/. Accessed 3 Feb. 2025.