Why blind hiring is better for diversity

It’s a great idea to inject a little more science into your job interview process, but even the best rubric won’t solve the problem of bias. Humans are biased, and there’s nothing we can do about it. Whether knowingly or otherwise, we make choices based not on skills, or qualifications, or personality characteristics, but according to our own criteria. Mirror hiring plagues the traditional hiring process. Often, when we talk about “culture fit”, we’re giving ourselves latitude to hire the people most like us.

If you want to find the best person for the job, you’ve got to embrace blind recruitment. You have to remove names, faces, genders, and geographic locations from the hiring process. This method has worked incredibly well for Woodie’s: Thanks to our blind Chat Interview system, Woodie’s has hired 1.5 times more women and 3 times more ethnic minorities, reflecting the powerful impact of blind hiring strategies on workplace diversity.

“I am a huge believer in the power of technology to effect change for both the individual and organisations, to remove bias and create more equality in the world, to dignify, to empower, to teach through feedback, and to save that scarcest of resource – time. Since meeting the team at Sapia two years ago I was impressed at their ambition to deliver to all of those aspirations and now we are seeing their technology have that impact for our own clients. Technology like this is the future of hiring.”

Michael Smith, CEO
Randstad Sourceright