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Are we too blinded by Blind Recruitment?

Employers are now seeing a trend in blind recruitment whereby applicants applying for vacancies will redact their CVs to remove any details of protected characteristics, such as age, sex and race.  Essentially, blind-folding their CV.


The reason for this is simple; to prevent any form of bias by a potential employer.  Therefore, giving a sense of protection to the candidate that an employer will only form an opinion of suitability for interview with an un-biased approach.

However, as much as this is perceived as understandable by some, are we blinded, or have we lost sight that, regardless of age, sex and race, businesses only want the good employees.  Therefore, why is blind-folding a CV appropriate?

What employer would not interview a highly skilled 50 year old man just because a lesser-skilled 30 year has applied?  What justification, save for his age, would an employer have.

Why would this set of people not offer opportunities to someone older, or a certain sex, utilise their skills and experience and better their business because of their perception of that person from their CV.

So why, when living in a society wherein discrimination is unlawful, the retirement age has been scrapped and we have a multi-cultural workforce, are some employers not tapping into the most valuable candidates due to their prejudice?

Easy answer, the perception of a person is outweighing the right person for the right role philosophy.  Therefore, meaning that the only person suffering to succeed will be the employer.