Bias | Should candidates change their names on CVs?

Unconscious bias has long been considered a major problem when it comes to recruitment, which can also hinder an organisation’s chances of achieving better diversity. This type of stereotyping occurs when we use our own experiences to make a quick judgement on an individual or group, something that often occurs in the hiring process.

And it seems recruiters believe that this type of thinking is a problem in the industry. For example, in a poll carried out by Agency Central of its network of recruitment leaders, 96% claimed that unconscious bias is a problem, while more than a third said it was a ‘big problem’ in recruitment.

With studies such as the McKinsey report Delivering Through Diversity indicating the business benefits of a diverse team – it discovered that gender diversity in management positions helps to increase profitability within a business – it may come as a shock to hear stories from jobseekers who are facing unconscious bias frequently.

This was the case for job hunter Sevjan Melissa Pem, who for the past five months had been seeking work with little success. Writing in a blog post for Metro, she noted that while her decision to seek new opportunities during the coronavirus pandemic may have made her job hunt more difficult, she believed that sending out around 30 CVs a week and still receiving no call-backs was unusual.