8 ms·

"When I'm hiring, I have an HR intern (or the external recruiter) strip anything that could indicate gender or race from the résumés before they get their initi

"When I'm hiring, I have an HR intern (or the external recruiter) strip anything that could indicate gender or race from the résumés before they get their initial evaluation. For the ones that make the first cut, I have the recruiter print out code from Github, with the username redacted. This has resulted in a tremendous increase in the number of women who make it through to an actual interview." https://devmynd.com/blog/2015-2-mind-the-gap https://devmynd.com/blog/2015-2-mind-the-gap

jobu 12y ago
Kudos to you, that's a great way of doing it. I've worked with a few women in technical roles that decided to take more masculine versions of their names (Jackie -> Jack, Ashley -> Ash, Jessica to Jesse). For two of them it started out as a way of getting hassled less online, and the other did it as an experiment to see which resume got more interviews (surprise, the masculine name got more than double the callbacks.)
- m-photonic 12y ago
  Not me, I'm just linking this here. It was submitted the other day but didn't get much attention. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9092545 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9092545
mc32 12y ago
Now, if only German companies would do away with requiring, photos, place of birth and marital status in their Lebenslaufs... I mean, this is a good thing to do, but wish it would happen overseas as well. Could you imagine requiring photos and marital status in the US (aside from modeling and the like)
- pgeorgi 12y ago
  I haven't added marital status, place of birth or birth name in my Lebenslauf, ever. But then I never listened to teachers or any public employment agencies and their leaflets since I had HR people in family who knew more contemporary habits (eg. that handwritten long-form CVs mean pretty much immediate rejection, while they were sold in class as the best thing ever) The photo requirement is still rather annoying though.
  - raverbashing 12y ago
    Yeah, most elaborate "somersaults" guidance in CVs (or Lebenslaufen) are usually BS Go with the basics and it should be ok. Especially in more modern companies (IT, etc)
cbd1984 12y ago
Wonderful. It's the "symphony orchestra" method of finding the best, which also works to fight discrimination: http://www.nber.org/papers/w5903 http://www.nber.org/papers/w5903 http://www.theguardian.com/women-in-leadership/2013/oct/14/blind-auditions-orchestras-gender-bias http://www.theguardian.com/women-in-leadership/2013/oct/14/b...
vishaldpatel 12y ago
This is brilliant.
leohutson 12y ago
The sanitization process should also be repeated in the interview process. Only objective information is taken down by the interviewer, and this is passed on to someone else, who can make a value judgement about the candidate without that judgement being coloured by the candidates gender, race, looks, height, perfume or whatever else is considered to be extraneous information.
- hobs 12y ago
  Are you being sarcastic? This would be expensive, and is that how you are going to work with them? I know that HN and the world in general is on a kick about equality of everything, but when your interviewee wears 100 gallons of perfume to the interview that is a problem I have to address even before they start working. I absolutely think that the work can have objective measures, but back in reality much of work is not based around how good the candidate fits the job description exactly as described in the requirements.
  - leohutson 12y ago
    Include personal hygiene as a criteria that you are interested in then.
    - hobs 12y ago
      That is a somewhat fair response, that I be honest in what I ask for. However, it seems like at some point these basics are societal norms, and I am going to ridiculous lengths to specify what I want for a position. Personal hygiene is pretty much the criteria for ANY job.
- Already__Taken 12y ago
  That's not really fair to the candidate when you remember the potential employee is also interviewing the employer. I don't think I'd want to work somewhere that thought myself and my boss' should not meet.
jkot 12y ago
Interesting. Most american companies I interviewed with, were asking me very personal questions, such as race and sexual orientation.
- belorn 12y ago
  What kind of work place uses the sexual orientation of employees for the benefit of the company?
  - jkot 12y ago
    It was for equal oportunity or something.
    - deleted 12y ago
      [deleted]
    - collyw 12y ago
      I always find this very ironic.
- nailer 12y ago
  Which ones?
- DanBC 12y ago
  That's very poor recruiting practice. Why bothe asking questions if you can't use the answers as part of your recruitment process?
- gamechangr 12y ago
  I have interview with numerous companies in America and have NEVER been asked personal questions. What industry? What city? How many companies = "Most"?
  - jkot 12y ago
    All were major corporations. I had to apply for job interview using their website. After I would fill out CV and relevant information, I was redirected to survey or something like that. This was in Ireland, since 2006.
Anderkent 12y ago
Show us the data. Unless you believe an average woman is better at the job than the average man, stripping all gender / race information should at best bring it up to the baseline; with the huge skew at the college level (maybe 10% of my year at graduation were women) this doesn't really result in a 'tremendous increase in the number of women'.
- TeMPOraL 12y ago
  Wish I could upvote twice. Very important insight, and one that is constantly missed in gender discussions. One shouldn't expect any change downstream to suddenly cancel out the effects of something high upstream. BTW. the huge skew at college level seems to be a result of a skew in as early as high-school, or maybe even earlier. [0] has an interesting discussion on the topic. [0] - http://slatestarcodex.com/2015/01/24/perceptions-of-required-ability-act-as-a-proxy-for-actual-required-ability-in-explaining-the-gender-gap/ http://slatestarcodex.com/2015/01/24/perceptions-of-required...
  - pron 12y ago
    It is not missed at all. But the reality of discrimination at a young age is no excuse for not fighting it in software companies, where women constantly report hostile working conditions. The article you linked to is quite good, but it ignores the very real decline over the past few decades[1] in women participation in software relative to other professions. [1]: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2014/10/21/357629765/when-women-stopped-coding http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2014/10/21/357629765/when-wom...
    - TeMPOraL 12y ago
      Of course it's not an excuse. But you should not expect to get results that defy statistics.
      - pron 12y ago
        Defy what statistics? What statistics explain the constant decline in the last few decades? Are women getting dumber?

jobu 12y ago

Kudos to you, that's a great way of doing it. I've worked with a few women in technical roles that decided to take more masculine versions of their names (Jackie -> Jack, Ashley -> Ash, Jessica to Jesse). For two of them it started out as a way of getting hassled less online, and the other did it as an experiment to see which resume got more interviews (surprise, the masculine name got more than double the callbacks.)

m-photonic 12y ago
Not me, I'm just linking this here. It was submitted the other day but didn't get much attention. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9092545 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9092545

mc32 12y ago

Now, if only German companies would do away with requiring, photos, place of birth and marital status in their Lebenslaufs... I mean, this is a good thing to do, but wish it would happen overseas as well. Could you imagine requiring photos and marital status in the US (aside from modeling and the like)

pgeorgi 12y ago
I haven't added marital status, place of birth or birth name in my Lebenslauf, ever. But then I never listened to teachers or any public employment agencies and their leaflets since I had HR people in family who knew more contemporary habits (eg. that handwritten long-form CVs mean pretty much immediate rejection, while they were sold in class as the best thing ever) The photo requirement is still rather annoying though.
- raverbashing 12y ago
  Yeah, most elaborate "somersaults" guidance in CVs (or Lebenslaufen) are usually BS Go with the basics and it should be ok. Especially in more modern companies (IT, etc)

cbd1984 12y ago

Wonderful. It's the "symphony orchestra" method of finding the best, which also works to fight discrimination: http://www.nber.org/papers/w5903 http://www.nber.org/papers/w5903 http://www.theguardian.com/women-in-leadership/2013/oct/14/blind-auditions-orchestras-gender-bias http://www.theguardian.com/women-in-leadership/2013/oct/14/b...

vishaldpatel 12y ago

This is brilliant.

leohutson 12y ago

The sanitization process should also be repeated in the interview process. Only objective information is taken down by the interviewer, and this is passed on to someone else, who can make a value judgement about the candidate without that judgement being coloured by the candidates gender, race, looks, height, perfume or whatever else is considered to be extraneous information.

hobs 12y ago
Are you being sarcastic? This would be expensive, and is that how you are going to work with them? I know that HN and the world in general is on a kick about equality of everything, but when your interviewee wears 100 gallons of perfume to the interview that is a problem I have to address even before they start working. I absolutely think that the work can have objective measures, but back in reality much of work is not based around how good the candidate fits the job description exactly as described in the requirements.
- leohutson 12y ago
  Include personal hygiene as a criteria that you are interested in then.
  - hobs 12y ago
    That is a somewhat fair response, that I be honest in what I ask for. However, it seems like at some point these basics are societal norms, and I am going to ridiculous lengths to specify what I want for a position. Personal hygiene is pretty much the criteria for ANY job.
Already__Taken 12y ago
That's not really fair to the candidate when you remember the potential employee is also interviewing the employer. I don't think I'd want to work somewhere that thought myself and my boss' should not meet.

jkot 12y ago

Interesting. Most american companies I interviewed with, were asking me very personal questions, such as race and sexual orientation.

belorn 12y ago
What kind of work place uses the sexual orientation of employees for the benefit of the company?
- jkot 12y ago
  It was for equal oportunity or something.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
  - collyw 12y ago
    I always find this very ironic.
nailer 12y ago
Which ones?
DanBC 12y ago
That's very poor recruiting practice. Why bothe asking questions if you can't use the answers as part of your recruitment process?
gamechangr 12y ago
I have interview with numerous companies in America and have NEVER been asked personal questions. What industry? What city? How many companies = "Most"?
- jkot 12y ago
  All were major corporations. I had to apply for job interview using their website. After I would fill out CV and relevant information, I was redirected to survey or something like that. This was in Ireland, since 2006.

Anderkent 12y ago

Show us the data. Unless you believe an average woman is better at the job than the average man, stripping all gender / race information should at best bring it up to the baseline; with the huge skew at the college level (maybe 10% of my year at graduation were women) this doesn't really result in a 'tremendous increase in the number of women'.

TeMPOraL 12y ago
Wish I could upvote twice. Very important insight, and one that is constantly missed in gender discussions. One shouldn't expect any change downstream to suddenly cancel out the effects of something high upstream. BTW. the huge skew at college level seems to be a result of a skew in as early as high-school, or maybe even earlier. [0] has an interesting discussion on the topic. [0] - http://slatestarcodex.com/2015/01/24/perceptions-of-required-ability-act-as-a-proxy-for-actual-required-ability-in-explaining-the-gender-gap/ http://slatestarcodex.com/2015/01/24/perceptions-of-required...
- pron 12y ago
  It is not missed at all. But the reality of discrimination at a young age is no excuse for not fighting it in software companies, where women constantly report hostile working conditions. The article you linked to is quite good, but it ignores the very real decline over the past few decades[1] in women participation in software relative to other professions. [1]: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2014/10/21/357629765/when-women-stopped-coding http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2014/10/21/357629765/when-wom...
  - TeMPOraL 12y ago
    Of course it's not an excuse. But you should not expect to get results that defy statistics.
    - pron 12y ago
      Defy what statistics? What statistics explain the constant decline in the last few decades? Are women getting dumber?