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Beyond the Blind: Why Personalisation Wins in 2025 · Edan Haddock - Total Talent

• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome back to Eden Haddock Total Talent.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Eden Haddock, and today we're exploring something that's been buzzing around, buzzing around my world lately, and that's blind applications.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if you've been in talent or HR long enough, you know there are always waves of best practice ideas that rise up, sometimes with research behind them, and sometimes with a lot of hype.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: And every so often, one of those ideas makes you stop, lean back, and ask, is this really the future?
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: Or just the trend of the moment?
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: For me, blind resumes or blind applications fall firmly into that category.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: And here's why.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: In the past couple of weeks, two things have happened that brought this front and center for me.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: First, a colleague reached out after reading an article about blind resumes.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: They weren't pushing it, just curious, asking me, Eden, what do you think of this?
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: Wouldn't blind resumes solve bias in hiring?
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: Then separately, I was participating in an ATS survey.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: It was one of those best practice surveys, best ATS in market, what do people really think?
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: Surveys.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I noticed how the survey itself was framed.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: It was leading, positioning blind resumes as if they were already best practice.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: Almost as if you weren't doing them.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: If you weren't doing them, you were behind the times, put it that way.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: And that bothered me.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: Because framing something as best practice can nudge people into accepting it.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: Without stopping to ask, does it actually work?
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: So today I want to dive into this topic the pros, the cons, the promise, and the pitfalls.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: And then I'll share my perspective.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: Even though the idea has good intentions, I believe the future in 2025 and beyond isn't blind.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's hyper personalized.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's about making candidates feel seen, valued, and human.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: Let's start with those two triggers.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: First, the colleague.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: They'd read a think piece about blind regimes and came to me with genuine curiosity.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: They said, Eden, isn't this the way forward?
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: If we know bias is such a big issue, why wouldn't removing names, photos, and all identifying details just solve it?
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: And you know what?
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: On the surface it sounds good.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: If the problem is bias and bias comes from identifiers, then take the identifiers out.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: Problem solved.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: Simple equation.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: But in that moment my brain went two ways.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: One side was nodding, yes, that makes sense.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: The other side was whispering, hang on, is it that simple?
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: Because people aren't just a list of skills.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: They're stories, experiences, motivations.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: If you strip that away, and you don't just reduce bias, you reduce humanity.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: Then the second trigger, this survey, and the way it was framed really made me stop.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't just asking, do you think blind regumes are useful?
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: And that's that's a fair question.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: It was positioned as if blind resumes were already the gold standard.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: Almost a loaded question.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I thought, hang on.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: This is how things get normalized.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: A practice is put out there labeled best, and suddenly everyone feels they need to adopt it.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: Even if it hasn't been tested in their context.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: Think skills-based hiring, right?
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: We've all seen that unfold.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: So between one curious colleague and one very leading survey, I found myself thinking deeply about blind applications, not just as a concept, but as a practice, as an experience, and as part of as part of the future of talent.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: Let's be fair.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: Blind applications do have a case.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: Bias reduction.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: We know from decades of research that unconscious bias is real.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: Names can trigger assumptions.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: A CV with a certain sounding name can get fewer callbacks than one with a more familiar one.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: Gendered assumptions creep in too?
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: If blind resumes take that off the table, they level the playing field, at least at the short listing stage.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: Leveling opportunity.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: For people who have been historically excluded, blind applications can be a way to get a foot in the door.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: If you're a woman in a male-dominated industry, or someone from an underrepresented background, blind applications might give you a fairer chance.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: Research backing.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: There are studies where orchestras, for example, introduced blind auditions, musicians played behind a screen, and the number of women hired went up significantly.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: Translate that to recruitment, and you can see the appeal.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: Simplicity.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: It feels like a straightforward solution.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: No complex training, no cultural change.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: Just remove the identifiers, and voila, fairness.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: And for organizations, there's something symbolic about it, too.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: You can say, look what we're doing.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: We're doing blind applications.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: We're serious about fair hiring.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: We're serious about our EDI practices.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: It sends a message internally and externally.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: So yes, I do understand why people are drawn to it.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: But let's look at the other side, the part that gets less airtime.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: Loss of context.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: A CV isn't just bullet points, it's a story.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: It tells you why someone took a career break, or why they switched industries, or what side projects they cared about.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: Blind resumes strip a lot of that out.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: They flatten the human.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: Dehumanization.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: I've spoken to candidates who have been through blind processes, and the feedback is pretty consistent.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: It feels feels cold.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: It feels like you're throwing your application into a void.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: And if we care about candidate experience, which we must in 2025, for me that's a real big red flag.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: Now bias isn't gone.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: Even when you remove names and photos, bias still seeps in.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: Education, niche skill sets.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: All of these hint at socioeconomic background.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: And the truth is, bias then comes back in in interviews anyway.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: And look, it can be resource heavy as well.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: Let's be frank.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like stripping out details takes time and money.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: And often you need to invest in a large enterprise platform that can support you doing that, or a plug-in that will help you.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: And often you end up with less useful data.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: And that makes decisions harder rather than easier.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: And then matches become invisible.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: Sure, blind regimes can help you assess technical skills, but not motivational or cultural ad or cultural alignment or values alignment.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: These are all the factors that determine long-term success.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: But for me, really, the biggest one is candidate experience.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: In 2025, candidates expect hyper-personalization.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: They really do expect processes that see them, that recognize their individuality.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: Blind resumes send the opposite message.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: Who you are doesn't matter, only what you can do.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: And that's not the future I want to build.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: Let's bring this down to the human level.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: When I talk to candidates, they don't say, Eden, I want you to strip away everything that makes me me.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: What they say, and we survey every candidate at November that goes through a recruitment process, they say they want to feel seen.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: They want to know their story matters.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: They want to connect with the company, not just tick boxes.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what they celebrate through our process.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: That server that I mentioned earlier was leading.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: It positioned blind resumes as best practice.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: But when you actually listen to the public, the message is different.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: They don't want anonymity, they want authenticity.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: One candidate told me once, I know bias exists, but I'd rather you see who I am and give me the chance to challenge bias than erase my identity from the start.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: And that was in response to me offering special adjustments, as you do.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: Do you want camera on?
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: Do you want camera off?
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: That stuck with me because it shows the trade-off.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, blind resumes can reduce bias at stage one, but at what cost?
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: If the cost is making candidates feel invisible, is that really progress?
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: So here's where I land.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: The future isn't blind.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's bright.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's about hyper-personalization.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: Personalized outreach, not just blasting job ads, but reaching out with something that speaks to the candidates' backgrounds and interests, their values, their motivation, their purpose, their lived experience.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: Applications that connect.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: Giving candidates the space to show why they care, why they align with your mission, why they align with your values.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: Human plus tech.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, use AI to scale.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: Use it to handle the admin.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: But keep the human warmth.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: Don't outsource empathy.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: Then celebrate uniqueness.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: Instead of stripping away identifiers, design processes that amplify them.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: When candidates feel that their individuality is celebrated, you don't just hire them, you engage them.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: And engagement is what leads to retention, performance, and advocacy.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: See, that's the future that I want to see.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: No, I'm not dismissing bias because bias is real and we need to address it.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: But there are other tools: structured interviews, diverse panels, rubrics that measure skills objectively, bias training that actually changes behavior.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: These tools reduce bias without erasing humanity.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: So it doesn't have to be a choice between fairness and personalization.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: We can do both.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: So after those two triggers, one colleague asking a genuine question, and one survey suggesting blind resumes are the answer.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: Here's my conclusion.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: Blind applications are well intended.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: They address a real problem.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: But they are not the future.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: They flatten individuality, they don't fully remove bias, and they risk making candidates feel unseen.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: The real future in 2025 and beyond for me is hyper-personalization, building processes that make people feel human, respected, and valued.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: Recruitment isn't about filling jobs, it's about building relationships, culture, and community.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: And communities don't thrive in the dark, they thrive in the light.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: You've been listening to Eden Hadictotal Talent?
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: If this episode resonated with you, please share it, subscribe, and keep the conversation going.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: Because talent isn't just about roles, it's about people.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: And every person deserves to feel seen.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.