Anonymous Recruitment: Opportunities and Challenges
Anonymous Recruitment: Opportunities and Challenges
Opening Doors is Business in the Community’s (BITC) inclusive recruitment campaign. Launched in 2022, we have an ambition to make two million jobs more accessible to diverse talent by 2025, by asking employers to commit to making specific changes to the way they recruit.
This factsheet considers how anonymous recruitment can help businesses eliminate unconscious bias during the hiring process.
Although anonymous recruitment is not a specific action identified by the Opening Doors campaign, it can be a valuable tool to help businesses implement actions under keys 4 and 5:
Key 4: focus on the essential skills needed for the job.
Key 5: prioritise accessibility and eliminate bias.
About Opening Doors
Opening Doors calls on employers to make changes to the way they recruit so that their jobs become more accessible to all jobseekers, regardless of background and life experience. Working in collaboration with a wide range of organisations supporting diverse candidates, we identified 25 actions that would improve access to jobs. The actions are grouped under five ‘keys’ to inclusive recruitment:
- Create partnerships that connect untapped talent to your jobs.
- Show candidates that you are committed to inclusion.
- Use comprehensive job adverts with inclusive language.
- Focus on the essential skills needed to do the job.
- Prioritise accessibiity and eliminate bias.
Opening Doors: insight at the midpoint of the campaign
At the midpoint of the campaign, we undertook some analysis of employer commitments and their progress towards them.
Read our factsheet for a summary of the findings.
READY TO BECOME AN OPENING
DOORS EMPLOYER?
Frequently Asked Questions
Complete the Opening Doors sign up form. Opening Doors employers are asked to commit to at least three actions from the list of 25 actions, identified by the Five Keys to Inclusive Recruitment framework. You will then receive a welcome email and an invitation to an introductory call.
Employers are encouraged to participate in peer learning forums and connect with peers via our closed Opening Doors LinkedIn group. Employers have access to BITC support such as signposting to relevant content, resources and events to help implement these actions. We also ask signatories to complete the annual progress survey that provides insights to our Opening Doors Progress Report.
BITC members benefit from a range of support to help them achieve the campaign asks,
including the following:
- BITC Advisory Services
- Employment programmes, including our national job coaching programme and the STEP programme supporting refugees
- Content – Inclusive Employment toolkit, case studies and best practice guides
- Events – webinars, peer learning forums, leadership roundtables
- Regions & nations – connecting to partners & responding to local need
Don’t hesitate to contact your BITC Relationship Manager for more details.
For more information, please email the Opening Doors campaign team.