- The 'blind' curriculum represents progress in the search for non-discrimination
- The Ministry of Health will not develop any state regulations on this measure, but the adhesion of companies will be voluntary.
- Experts consider that it does not guarantee that grievances will disappear when selecting candidates and remember that sooner or later the candidate is known.
Yesterday, work began to implement anonymous or 'blind' resumes, eliminating most personal references, such as name and surname, sex or age, photographs, information about the center where students have studied and the university they have attended. assisted, among other references, which represents progress in the search for non-discrimination.
The ultimate goal of hiding these details is that the only thing that is relevant when accessing employment is the training, qualifications and profile of the candidate that best suits the function they have to perform. And for this, knowing, for example, whether the person is a man or a woman is unnecessary.
Yesterday a protocol was signed with 78 companies to establish working groups that, in the next three months, will draft a base model
Maximum involvement of the Minister of Health
One of the most important objectives that the Minister of Health, Dolors Montserrat, set to fight against discrimination in access to employment between men and women was the creation of an anonymous curriculum vitae. A personal commitment that he announced on December 12, 2016 in his appearance before the Equality Commission of the Congress of Deputies, and that yesterday became a reality with the signing of the protocol that marks the beginning of the three-month period set for the preparation of a base model, which will be applied by companies that voluntarily wish to do so.
The first step was taken yesterday, with the call by the Secretary of State for Social Services and Equality, Mario Garcés, for the act of adhesion of 78 entities (63 companies and 15 entities) to this initiative, whose ultimate objective is to combat discrimination in job selection processes and which is already applied in other countries of the European Union.
Specific areas
These companies will be able to apply it in the contracting phases that they deem appropriate, "and the protocol we have been working on is for companies to accommodate it in their business practices. There are more masculinized companies, others more feminized, and they will fit the resume into the area they consider important. It is not about doing it throughout the company, but about doing it in specific areas. We will let each company adapt,” Garcés emphasizes.
With this anonymous resume the Administration wants to "eliminate filters and guarantee effective equality in personnel selection processes." We want to break barriers, biases and guarantee that the selection processes will be transparent and non-discriminatory," says Garcés.
Facial features
Until yesterday's signing, the Ministry has been able to verify that various studies have revealed the existence of discriminatory biases on the part of those responsible for human resources when selecting personnel. When this happens, women or people who have names with foreign connotations, or whose facial features lead the human resources manager to think of a foreign origin or ages considered unsuitable for whatever reason, are more frequently discarded.
Several companies already work with the anonymous resume
In Spain there are already several companies that work with anonymous resumes in their selection processes. These are the cases of Deutsche Bank, which has had the Equality in the Company Distinction since 2011. In 2010 it implemented this initiative in its selection processes.
Another of the pioneering companies has been Caixabank, a company that adheres to the “More women, better companies” project. Likewise, Borges has developed measures to ensure the presence of women in selection processes. Finally, Axa, a company recognized by the Ministry of Employment and Social Security for its policy of supporting diversity, also uses the anonymous curriculum vitae in the selection and promotion of personnel.
Doubts that it guarantees the disappearance of grievances in the selection
Although the initiative aims to achieve equal conditions when applying for a job, it does not actually guarantee that grievances in selection will disappear, despite the fact that there are various studies that support its usefulness, which They conclude that anonymity on resumes leads to greater job opportunities, especially among minority ethnic groups.
In this sense, different experts have expressed themselves, such as the president of the Association of Women Entrepreneurs and Businesswomen of Euskadi, Susana Zabala, who assures that “in a first screening” it can be a useful measure to avoid discrimination, but only to a certain extent because “Then there is the personal interview and there a certain bias is already judged and intervenes.”
In his opinion, it is nothing more than “a patch”, since it does not address the root of the problem that has to do with stereotypes.
Jaime Alcubilla, Financial Director of Adecco Outsourcing, is more optimistic, ensuring that factors such as age, gender or marital status can exclude from the world of work certain profiles that are directly led to situations of exclusion, as is the case with those over 45 years. He considers that “it is one more tool” to put skills and talent ahead of the candidate's personal circumstances.
For its part, the Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations (CEOE) believes that the program to develop the 'blind' curriculum "fails a little", since hiring "is based on freedom" and it is the companies that "decide to “who they need” for each job.
In Spain, this trend occurs only in the private sector, normally in multinationals. Among the companies that have joined the Government project is LG Electronics. In a statement they point out that joining this project will result in the deletion of any personal data in the CVs registered for the subsequent hiring of personnel.
In some European countries such as France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Finland, pilot tests have been carried out. In France, in April 2006 a law was passed that required the use of 'blind' CVs for companies with more than 50 workers, although it has not been applied in practice. In the United Kingdom, former Prime Minister David Cameron committed that Ucas, the selection service for the British civil service, will select personnel using the blind CV method. Now, in a world connected to networks, not posting the photo is of little use if you are connected to Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter or Instagram.
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