The reality of the anonymous CV
Since 2006, the French Equal Opportunity Act has made it « mandatory » for companies with more than 50 employeeséto use anonymous CVs. Mandatory? No, because the décret d’application has not été been publishedé...
The government had therefore askedé for a étape assessment before généralizing éventually the anonymous CV. The elimination of civil status (à namely : name, surname, address and date of birth of the applicant) was éexpériencedé by the Pôle Emploi in 8 different departments over a period of 1 year (from November 2009 to November 2010). Thousands of candidates took part without knowing it....
In parallel, a étude a été menéeée par une équipe de chercheurs du Centre de recherche en économie et statistiques 5crest) de p J-PAL et de l'Ecole d'économie de Paris.
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The objective seté éwas to see the feasibilityé and effectivenessé of the anonymous CV in the fight against discrimination.... Indeed, let's not forget that the measure éwas supposed to make it easier for victims of preéjudgmentséto get a first job interview...
Firstly, it reduces the tendency of recruiters à to privilege their "fellows": men privilegeégiant male candidates and women female candidates. Another finding is that younger recruiters are turning more to older ones… Thus, according to the studyéédata, when the recruiter is a man and the CV is nominative, women have a 1 in 27 chance of being interviewed, and men a 1 in 5 chance. When the CV is anonymous, the map is reversed: when the recruiter is a man, female candidates have a 1 in 6 chance, and male candidates a 1 in 13 chance. The recruiter's homophily is counteractedée.
The same (but lesser) écarts are found in the opposite configuration, when the recruiter is a woman. The effects of the anonymous CV are not only on access to interviews, but also on final recruitment.
Thus, when the recruiter is a man and the CV is nominative, women have one chance in 167 of being selected êat the end of the interview, and men one chance in 34 when the CV is anonymous, the cart’éreverse : female applicants have one chance in 17, and male applicants one chance in 59. Again, the same écarts (albeit smaller) are foundés in the opposite configuration.
Second observation, concerning candidates from immigrant backgrounds, it would not reduce the écart de chances between candidates from immigrant backgrounds and others. The anonymous CV does not benefit and even "penalizes" jobseekers from immigrant backgrounds or those living in sensitive urban zones (ZUS), or in a town with an Urban Contract for Social Cohésion (CUCS) to get a first job interview.
According to the study, it does not reduce the écart of chances" between these candidates and others: "the écart of interview rates becomes even more défavorable à these potentially discriminatedés candidates when their CVs are anonymizedé". Thus, with nominative CVs, candidates from immigrant backgrounds or living in sensitive areas have one chance in 10 of getting an interview, compared with one chance in 8 for other candidates. But when the CV is anonymous the écart increasesît, à 22 versus 6, according to the étude.
To explain this rather unexpected result, various avenues have been éexplored, and one of them seems the most plausible... : that of an interaction between signals sentéby the CV body and signals sentéby the état-civil block: it may be that the anonymization of the CV, by ôso much information about the candidates, has prevented êché employers from réinterpreting à the advantage of potentially discriminatedécandidates the other CV signals. For example, « holes » in the CV could êbe explainedéby more difficult access àto employment when the CV shows that the candidate réside in ZUS, but not when this information is maskedée.
Thirdèfinding, Anonymous CV does not imply any extra costûfor the company : positions are filled just as often and in comparable délais, and trial periods are transformedées in the same proportions...
The anonymous CV could have changed recruitment in multiple waysçfor the recruiter : probabilityéof filling the position, recruitment time, resources devotedéto recruitment, adéquation of the candidate recruitedé. In none of these dimensions is there any difference between anonymous and named offers. From a more subjective point of view, employers’ satisfaction with the recruitment process as a whole remains unchanged.
In conclusion :
The anonymous CV certainly acts against the tendency of recruiters à to select candidates of the same sex or of the same âage as themselves’them . However, there are recruiters of both sexes, and recruiters of both younger and older... The phénomène of homophily is therefore compensated for from one recruiter à to another and the anonymization of the CV does not, on average, improve the chances of women or seniors.
This result may, however, open up avenues for companies, particularly in terms of raising their recruiters' awareness of this hidden discriminationée à diversifying the people in charge of sélectioning CVs.
Concerning candidates from immigrant backgrounds, as the law foresaw, it would not make it possible to réduire the écart de chances between candidates from immigrant backgrounds and others.
The généralization of the anonymous CV therefore does not seem to be justified...
Amanda
Responsible for Communication
Alphéa Conseil
