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Companies try to create level field for hiring

Consider why it is easier for some people to get a job and harder for others.

If a name is hard to pronounce, does the hiring manager skip the application? Do prestige schools automatically mean more to a hiring manager than a state university?

Some CEOS have think these biases are not only unfair, but they also don’t result in the best employees.

Blind hiring focuses on skill

Enter blind hiring or blind auditions. Here employers try to eliminate every consideration except quality of work. They don’t want to know your name, see your resume, or even meet you.

One site, GapJumpers.com, hosts blind auditions for software engineering, design, marketing, and communication. According to site creator, Petar Vujosevic, a company posts a job, and anyone at all who wants to apply simply takes on a proposed project. It’s probably not a simple one, according to NPR. But, with blind auditions, performance wins. Companies don’t hire based on the name of the university, for instance, just the quality of work.

Anonymity creates fairness

Employers say blind hiring reveals true talents and results in diverse hires. The rising interest in anonymous hiring reflects growing awareness of unconscious bias, attitudes or stereotypes that could affect decisions, says The Wall Street Journal.

Tech-industry recruiter Aline Lerner saw firms ignore talented technologists if they lacked degrees from elite schools or experience with tech giants.  Lerner quit recruiting to build Interviewing Inc., a website that pairs interviewers with applicants.  Companies and applicants are encourage to share information in chat rooms, but they can’t share their names.

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