Well funnily enough, everything. You would like to think that in 2017, businesses have overcome their biases towards race, gender and disability and yet, here we are, encountering the same issues as the 1980s.
In a recent study by the BBC, it was found that candidates with the name Adam were 3 times more likely to be invited for an interview than those with the name Mohamed. They have confirmed the findings of other academic studies that cite ‘significant discrimination’ against British Muslims.
In the last couple of years, there has been a lot of talk (and research) into the advantages of sending ‘blind CVs’. This is where the name and any reference to race, gender, disability is removed to prevent any conscious/unconscious biases. Indeed, UCAS, the UK’s university admissions service, will adopt this approach from 2017.
As with a lot of these issues, most of us highlight them, maybe write an article about them and then do nothing to affect a positive change.
The Life Science industry is facing some serious staffing challenges and in some areas, a talent crisis. I recently attended an event held by the CCRA where they spoke about the lack of Clinical Research Associates and it’s subsequent impacts. As with many, my business is typically moving passive talent and now needing to build networks outside the UK. I firmly believe most, if not all recruiters are trying to source the best candidate for the role, regardless of the candidates background, race, gender or disability. However, we are nervous to address discrimination with our customers and need to be doing more to level the playing field and ensure talent is reviewed on merit.
At SciPro, we like to do things a little differently. Moving forward, we are going to encourage our clients to forward blind CV's from all of their suppliers to hiring managers. I’ll report back on the response and whether we see a positive impact.
Watch this space…
{ "Someone suggested: 'Why don't you put a very English name on your CV [as well as sending one in your own name]... and see who they might offer the job to?' So I had my name, Yogesh, and John Smith. John Smith got the interview. I got rejected for the interview."
