Equal Opportunity Résumés: Fair and Unbiased CVs, Finally

No Personal Information

Why should your name or information about your background be relevant in the job selection? Depending on the country, a different set of personal data is revealed in your CV. For example, in Germany even pictures are still an inherent part in most applications. Where background checks are relevant from a job perspective, it is understandable that information about the applicant is necessary, but this is not the standard procedure for most jobs. A name can help the recruiter to find more information about a person, especially online via different social platforms and this might strengthen or challenge the first impression. But the candidate name can also lead to bias and stereotyping, including but not exclusively with respect to racial and ethnical indications.²

This risk of possible and unaware influences can be mitigated, just by avoiding to show personal information. Or at least, by shifting the focus away from it, and throw a bigger spotlight on the skills.

No Name Dropping of Educational Institutions

Don't get me wrong. It is important to have a great and fundamental education. And it is also important to select the provider of your educational knowledge wisely. I also think that university rankings provide a solid information about the quality of a university.

But what makes a good university so outstanding? Firstly, it is the skills you learn during your studies at a school or university. Some might argue, that it is the methods and mindset these establishments convey, and I totally agree to both. As the right mindset is the foundation to develop great skills, this methodical strength and the investment in this foundation will be uncovered indirectly through the skills and projects in the CV Skillmap. So, there is no need to separately mention the institution.

As already shown, it might help individual candidates to be favoured in the application process (halo effect or similarity heuristic) if they can name a prestigious university. On a collective level this leads to unfair distortions towards candidates that acquired the same skillset just via another area of life, e.g. in a private project or in online as well as evening classes.

No Name Dropping of Company Names

Different area, same problems. Often, just the pure familiarity of a company name can distort the opinion about a job candidate. Of course, if recruiters have a good knowledge about the industry and a good network, they should definitely consider their experience and integrate it in their judgement. But in the end also this information about a former employer in the job history of an applicant is nothing more than an increased likelihood that the employer might also fit in the particular company or team. You might have had an experience like this: You are working at an employer, maybe a company with a good reputation, remarkable employer ratings and a lot of talented people. But does the whole team always contribute in the same way? Do all employees stick to the same methods of work and do all employees deliver the same level of quality?

Focus on Skills

Job advertisements are mainly about what you have done and not where you have been. Mostly, after the introduction of the company and a description of the position, the most relevant section for the recruiter is the (minimum) qualifications or requirements area. The employer normally clearly defines, which skills and how many years of experience they expect from an applicant. Hence, the skill section is in general the reason why people get invited to a job interview. Yes, one requirement might be a university degree and yes, one criterion might be experience in a specific industry. But based on my review of several hundred job ads, these ads hardly mention that you should have visited a specific university or should have spent recent years in a set of pre-defined companies.

Be Part of the CV Revolution

By using a skillmap in your CV or even instead of a CV, you can put the focus on your skills and on your work history, without sharing too much superfluous personal information.

It has to be mentioned, that skillmaps aren't the solution to every bias in the job application process. A skillmap cannot show at one glance if the candidate is a good team fit, has descent soft skills or is a great team player. But neither can classical CVs. The aim of skillmaps is to challenge the current and rusty CV approach and to make applications fairer and less biased. Everyone with a matching skillset should get the same chance to get invited to a job interview.