Unconscious bias in Australian Public Services shortlisting processes

Key points of the paper:

> Overall, the results indicate the need for caution when moving towards ’blind’ recruitment processes in the APS, as de-identification may frustrate efforts aimed at promoting diversity.

> What we found is that de-identifying applications at the shortlisting stage of recruitment does not appear to assist in promoting diversity in hiring. In fact, in the trial we found that overall, APS officers generally discriminated in favour of female and minority candidates.

> It... means that introducing de-identification of applications in such a context may have the unintended consequence of decreasing the number of female and minority candidates shortlisted for senior APS positions, setting back efforts to promote more diversity at the senior management levels in the public service.

– Layman's article: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-30/bilnd-recruitment-tria...