Anonymous CVs: An End to Discrimination?
Read with interest this blog post by the Editor of Personnel Today and wanted to share it with you;
"What should we make of the proposed amendment to the Equality Bill which would allow candidates to omit their name when submitting job applications. Lib Dem equalities spokeswoman Lynne Featherstone said the move would prevent 'subliminal' discrimination by employers, meaning applicants would only be judged, in the first instance, on their qualifications and experience.
The proposal is one that deserves greater scrutiny. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, among others, has cautiously backed the idea, but is right to say that it should not become law. If this clause makes the statute book it risks becoming too restrictive, and the government's aim with its Equality Bill is to simplify discrimination law, not make it more burdensome. And it's not yet clear how this amendment would work in practice. Would it be the sole responsibility of the candidate to leave his or hers name off their application? Would HR have to act as a filter before passing on CVs to line managers? Where do recruitment agencies fit into all this?
As one commentator on our community site HR Space pointed out, some recruiters already put this into practice; replacing individual names with numbers. Names are only then disclosed once an interview is agreed and booked. So a better route would be to encourage and spread this best practice.
Work needs to be done to tackle discrimination that occurs at the latter stages of the recruitment process; that problem won't be solved by words simply written down in statute."
