What is a blind hiring process?
When done properly, blind hiring doesn’t take any of an individual’s personal information into the decision of whether or not to bring them on board. In fact, this process specifically aims to block out this kind of data to avoid any biases from affecting the decision.
Because of this, the process of blind hiring allows a company to increase diversity, remove selective hiring and take unimportant aspects (such as age, race, gender, etc.) out of the picture. It does this by focusing on factors like skill assessment and screening individuals to discern their potential. In most cases, there are quite a few benefits that can come from this, from diversifying your team to avoiding hiring the wrong person because of prejudice, even if it isn’t intentional.
It can be worth noting that each recruitment method is unique in its own right and that there are a wide variety of different ones out there. Blind hiring is just one of many options that you could choose, so if you’re looking to find the right person, it’s best to consider some of the different processes and how they could potentially help you.
What are the pros and cons of blind hiring?
Learning more about different recruitment strategies may not be a bad idea. Overall, while there are certainly advantages to these strategies, there can be some downsides too. With that in mind, we wanted to quickly go through some of the key blind hiring pros and cons.
Usually, individuals will find that there are quite a few benefits, like the fact that it can help a company to better understand biases that they may have unknowingly had, increase diversity in the workforce and much more. We’ll take a closer look into some of these aspects and many more benefits a little later on.
Just as there are advantages though, there are also a few downsides. For example, it’s rare that an applicant will mask everything and even the way they talk could give hints to who they are (say, their gender or age), which could influence decisions on who to hire. In general, personal information can be hidden, but only through the initial stages, so after screening, biases could still come into play, which is another issue to consider.
Does blind hiring work?
While there are many factors that can be considered in any recruitment strategy, there are certainly a variety of benefits to blind hiring. Of course, good HR practices and management will generally play a vital role, but the method itself is incredibly effective when done right – and it has been for many years.
An excellent example of this is one of the earliest illustrations of blind hiring’s success. In 1952, the Boston Symphony Orchestra was one of the first to utilise this method and have musicians of different colours and genders. This is even more impressive when you consider that at the time, white men were considered to be the only people qualified for the job.
While the world is a different place today, the impact that this hiring process can have shouldn’t be overlooked.
Taking a quick dive into more recent hiring trends and statistics, you’re likely to see that this process still works incredibly well for a wide range of businesses. Unfortunately, there are many people who still don’t use it to their advantage.
For example, did you know that the vast majority of hiring is still driven by intuition, rather than the variety of more logical pieces of information available? Or that many successful businesses, such as Google, use blind hiring process to filter through candidates and find the perfect members for their team?
If you want to learn a little more about whether you should hire new employees or upskill current ones, take the time to do your research. The more you know, the better your chances are of creating the ideal recruitment strategy for your business.
Six benefits of blind hiring
With all this in mind, is it any wonder that this hiring method can be so rewarding? Here’s a closer look into some of the biggest benefits that can come with blind recruiting strategies:
- This strategy is best-known for its ability to reduce biases in the hiring process and for companies that want to increase the diversity in their recruitment pool, whilst also increasing the level of skill and talent among those who apply
- You’ll entice far more skilled individuals who have been turned down elsewhere for little to no reason to consider working with you, or even those who simply feel more comfortable with the idea of blind hiring
- Leading on from the point above, this process can often be a far more comfortable experience for candidates, due to its practicality and the fact that applicants won’t have to worry about personal information irrelevant to the job being brought up
- Many businesses have seen results thanks to this hiring strategy for decades, so there’s no denying that you have the potential to hire great candidates
- A large number of companies will also find that blind hiring can help throughout the recruitment process. While it can be time-consuming when done wrong, those who do it correctly will generally find that it’s far quicker than other traditional methods of hiring
- Alongside being a more streamlined method of filtering through candidates, many consider it to be a more scientific process, thanks to how it allows employers to focus exclusively on the most important factors
When it comes to making the most out of blind hiring, you generally won’t need to worry. In fact, it’s usually fairly simple to improve your experience. For example, there’s so much on offer online, like when utilising digital business tools for your company, such as an app for creating work schedules. Depending on the work you need to take care of, something like this could potentially help to make the process even easier.
