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Anonymous résumés: An effective preselection method?
Author(s) -
Lacroux Alain,
MartinLacroux Christelle
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
international journal of selection and assessment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.812
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1468-2389
pISSN - 0965-075X
DOI - 10.1111/ijsa.12275
Subject(s) - spelling , psychology , attribution , quality (philosophy) , intervention (counseling) , social psychology , overweight , applied psychology , medicine , linguistics , obesity , philosophy , epistemology , psychiatry
During the preselection process, recruiters use cues from résumés to form attributions about applicants’ suitability. They rely on visible characteristics (e.g., origin) that activate stereotypes that can lead to discriminatory decisions. The anonymization of application forms is a possible intervention to avert discrimination. The few studies on this topic led to inconsistent conclusions. The present study aims to extend previous findings by comparing decisions on anonymous and standard résumés that differ in quality. Recruiters ( N = 1,031) assessed a series of application forms whose profile (Caucasian, Moroccan, overweight, normal stature) and résumé content (experience, spelling errors) differed. Results show that anonymous application forms are rated more severely than standard forms, and are effective in neutralizing discriminatory behaviors toward overweight applicants.