The recruitment process is a crucial stage of any employment relationship. Ensuring you end up with the best person for the role depends upon having the right systems in place, from the initial job advert through to final interview.

Organisations are continuously looking to innovate in this area, and whilst some tend towards abstract questions in order to assess a candidate’s ability to think laterally (e.g. Google’s question “Why are manhole covers round?”), Clifford Chance are seeking to make strides in this area by introducing a “CV Blind” policy. Staff conducting interviews now sit down across from hopeful candidates with no information other than the candidate’s name.

This is reportedly to mitigate perceived bias towards candidates with Oxbridge or leading independent school backgrounds. It also accords with the shift away from traditional university “milk round” drives to online campaigns using social media, where getting access to professions of your choice does not depend on being in the right university lecture room on the right evening.

Avoiding the Pitfalls

The move also seems to be benefitting Clifford Chance’s diversity statistics, with an increase in successful graduates from black and ethnic minority backgrounds.  This suggests a degree of ‘blindness’ in recruitment processes can help avoid pitfalls other than unconscious bias, such as discrimination under the Equality Act 2010.

Section 39 of that Act states:

“An employer (A) must not:

The “arrangements” that businesses put in place for recruitment are key.  In the same way that medical questionnaires are typically no longer sent out until a job offer is made, inferences of discrimination can be minimised by interviewers not having access to information about a candidate that could lead to stereotypical assumptions being made before the individual has even entered the room. 

Character assessment involves a degree of subconscious subjectivity, and CV data such as academic background and geographical history may trigger assumptions about the candidate at this stage. The risk of perceived discrimination can be enhanced where these assumptions overlap with demographic factors, such as gaps in employment history suggesting childcare responsibilities, or jumping to conclusions concerning ethnic backgrounds based upon the interviewer’s knowledge (or latent prejudice) of where an applicant lives.  Where this occurs before an interviewer has even met a candidate, it becomes clearer to see how a ‘blind’ policy may increase the objectivity of the process and afford greater protection from discrimination complaints.

However, employers should remember that candidates should be asked whether any reasonable adjustments need to be put in place for the interview, irrespective of a ‘blind’ policy being applied.

Top tips for a ‘blind’ process