Name: This sounds foreign, this person may need a visa – “NO!”
“Wait… but… I don’t need sponsorship”
Silence. I am not heard.
Picture: Why aren’t they smiling, is that blue hair, weird – “NO!”
“My hair? Really?”
Silence. I am not heard.
Experience: They jumped around a lot over the last ten years – “NO!”. Overqualified – “NO!”. Under qualified – “NO!”. No corporate experience – “NO!”. No start-up experience – “NO!”.
“Hold on – I had to switch jobs because of my wife’s promotion and two of those companies were due to acquisition.”
Silence. I am not heard.
Missing keywords – NO; Typo – NO; Lack of relevant experience (I don’t even know what this means) while in the military – NO; Can’t pronounce the name – NO; Too old for a single contributor job – NO; Gap in history – NO, NO, NO, NO, NO…
“This is ridiculous! I am perfect for the job, and I can prove it. Why won’t you just give me a chance and hear what I have to offer to help the company!”
Silence.
It’s so easy to say “NO!”
Names, pictures, background, resumes – all act to silence the candidates, weeding out many before truly evaluating their potential. How many fantastic candidates are falling through the hiring process because of biases, or lack of keywords, or inaccurate assumptions?
It’s also easy to say “YES!”
What happens if we take away candidate’s identities – all those superfluous, filled with bias, data points that we use to interpret a qualified candidate?
Who is the candidate if there is no name, no picture, no experience, no key words, no resume…
“Tell me – do you meet my requirements? How would you approach this challenge? What will you bring to my company? What diversity gaps will you fill?”
“Finally! Yes, I meet your requirement and more. Let me show you how I will solve these challenges for you and how I will add value…”
I AM FINALLY HEARD!
Behind every name and picture and resume is a voice with a story, experiences, skills, and unique approaches – i.e. diversity. Among those voices are fantastic gems easily missed with biases, lack of keywords, wrong judgement, and/or miss-interpretations.
Stop silencing your candidates. Give them their voices back by giving them anonymity.
Now that you can listen to what they are saying and are not distracted by the invaluable noise of bias, ask them the relevant questions and watch the great candidates come.