Australia is following the overseas trend of name-free CVs to boost equality

AUSTRALIA is following the overseas trend of blacking out names on CVs to tackle unconscious gender bias in the hiring process.

The new CVs will have names, addresses, interests and schools all blacked out. Picture: iStock.

BLACKED out names on CVs is the latest tool Australian companies are using to combat unconscious bias and boost gender equality in the workplace.

Westpac, Australia Post, Deloitte, Ernst&Young, PwC and Melbourne Uni are among the companies that have partnered with the Victorian State Government to pilot an anonymous application program, which will roll out across the country at the end of the year.

Westpac Group director of women’s markets, inclusion and diversity Ainslie van Onselen said she didn’t know of any other Australian corporates trialling name-blind CVs but Westpac was definitely the first bank to sign up.

MORE: Degrees that will make you rich

Westpac Group director of women’s markets, inclusion and diversity Ainslie van Onselen. Picture: Supplied.

“We have 46 per cent women in leadership so we’re pretty close to our target of 50 per cent by September, 2017 but the one lever we haven’t pulled is anonymous CVs,” she said.

“We’ve got increasingly sophisticated data analytics and it’s shown that Westpac is good at hiring women once they are short-listed but there is room for improvement in the number of applications we received from women and the number of women we shortlist from the applications so that’s why we are particularly interested in this pilot.”

RELATED: Taking fashion to the workplace

The pilot follows similar programs overseas, such as in the UK where major public and private employers including KPMG last year signed a pledge to implement name-blind CVs.

Ms van Onselen said at Westpac the program would be specifically trialled in the context of leadership roles and all personal identifiers would be blacked out including name, address, cultural background, age, school, email address and interests.

She said email addresses often included the applicant’s name and interests such as yoga and dance might have suggested an applicant was a woman.

Once an applicant had been selected for an interview, the name and details would be revealed.

“Since the (equality) target was introduced, it’s shown it’s true that what gets measured matters,” Ms van Onselen said.

“But what gets masked matters as well.”

* Read more employment news in the CareerOne section of Saturday’s metropolitan newspapers.