From the White Paper: Introducing Blind Screening

Blind Screening Began With Orchestras

One proposal to combat cognitive bias in hiring is blind screening. In blind screening, the identity of the candidate is hidden, leaving only their capabilities and qualifications to be reviewed. The lack of identity information (including race, gender, ethnicity, age, etc.) makes it impossible for the reviewer to exhibit bias, conscious or unconscious.

Benefits of Blind Screening

Blind screening can have a noticeably positive impact on the removal of bias from the screening process, and thus equalize screen through rates for candidates regardless of their demographics.

Additionally, studies have found that the bias problem is at its worst at the point of resume screening. There is far less bias exhibited at the interview stage. This implies that if bias can be addressed in the candidate screening phase, it may largely be addressed for the hiring funnel in general.

Finally, it is notable that the New York Philharmonic adopted blind screening after a high-profile discrimination lawsuit was filed against them in 1969. Proof of a blind screening workflow may offer some defense for an organization against charges of discrimination in hiring.

History of Blind Screening

As far back as 1952, but growing in prominence during the 1970’s, symphony orchestras started to audition musicians blind. They literally placed a curtain across the stage so neither the other musicians nor the conductor could see the candidate. The impact of the practice on diversity hiring was clear: in the New York Philharmonic, for example, female membership rose from a baseline of near zero up through the 1960’s, to 35% at the time of the study in 1997. Making bias impossible through blind screening clearly had a positive impact on increasing gender diversity.

The above excerpt is from the Opus AI white paper on blind screening. You can download a complete copy of the white paper here.