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I don’t know about you, but I love watching talent development programs that display raw talent and allow you to watch a very real transformation of a person’s natural ability.
One such program is the Voice, and one of the most fun parts of watching this program is the blind auditions.
In this part of the weeding-out process, the judges sit with their backs to the candidates and listen to their voices.
This allows the judge to use their ears as the only sensor in judging the talent.
Often, the voices match the looks of the person auditioning, but very often, the musician looks very different from the sound of their voice.
This blind weeding out of talent allows the judges to select talent without any other biases interfering with their judgment.
In business, we hire people, and all too often we dismiss candidates for unconscious reasons that we may not even be aware of.
Think about it: you’re reviewing a stack of resumes, and a name gives you an impression, a school (or no degree) helps you eliminate a candidate or perhaps a zip code with which they live.
We all have these biases, and recruiters unconsciously weed out potential great employees based on a bias that is not even acknowledged.
Blind Hiring
A new trend in HR is the concept of blind hiring practices.
This trend challenges recruiters to assess talent based on criteria unrelated to where they live, their race, name, color, education level, or other orientations.
The recruiter aims to assess a candidate based on their skillset and experience.
We all come to work with unconscious biases, and anything that we can do to unplug those filters allows us to select talent that supports our mission.
For example, when a hiring manager posts a job, candidates are asked to submit their resumes without basic demographic data such as name, address, college, or graduation date.
This is often the first step in looking at candidates in the purest sense of the word – at their experience, skills, and accomplishments.
Isn’t that all we care about anyway?
Once a candidate meets job skills requirements, the hiring manager asks them to come in for an interview and provide any necessary demographic information at that time.
Why Blind Hiring?
Organizations are beginning to embrace this unbiased approach to hiring for many reasons.
1. More Top Talent
Companies that hire blind can recruit and retain top talent because there are no unconscious biases weeding out potentially great employees.
Think about it: Does someone with a BA in IT make a better programmer than someone who has learned the necessary skills by doing the work?
Yet, we often go after that credential and potentially miss out on a better employee.
2. More Innovation
New ideas come from people who view the world slightly differently, and the more diverse a culture is, the more innovative it is.
Organizations that hire diverse populations benefit from more innovative product development because they have teams that think differently.
3. Higher Profits
Interestingly, companies that incorporate blind hiring practices were 35% more likely to have above-average financial returns – according to McKinsey research.
The reason is it allowed them to hire a more diverse workforce. These are some numbers to pay attention to!
How Do You Conduct Blind Hiring?
Every organization understands the importance of finding and keeping great talent.
Perhaps it is time to look at talent acquisition slightly differently and put into practice a process that puts blinders on our biases so we don’t inadvertently miss out on that great employee!
Does your organization recruit blindly?