February 06, 2012
Employment discrimination based on your education and personal background could become a thing of the past as more and more major UK businesses pledge their backing to the government’s “anonymous CV” initiative.
More than 100 major UK businesses, including Tesco, Barclays and Coca-Cola, have signed up to the initiative which proposes asking for CVs without the name or the school details of candidates, thereby removing the risk of discrimination during the application process.
Under the government's Business Compact, which proposes the anonymous idea, firms are required to recruit "fairly and without discrimination" by using application forms that don't allow candidates to be screened out due to the school they went to or their ethnicity.
Other elements of the agreement include advertising work experience placements to people of different backgrounds, instead of giving places to "informal contacts", and providing financial support or paying the national minimum wage to interns.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg's has targeted unfair discrimination with regards to social mobility and aims to create a "what you know, not who you know" recruitment culture in the UK, he has claimed.
"Working with the coalition, the biggest hitters in British business are helping lead the way to a fairer, more open society. By opening their doors to young people from all walks of life, this marks the start of a culture shift among major employers, driven by the belief that ability and drive should trump connections and privilege," added Mr Clegg.
Experts believe the move is a "step in the right direction" for the UK’s employment market and that "removing an applicant’s name will, in some cases, prevent employers from making shortlisting decisions based on a person’s national/ethnic origins”.
