Labor market | An anonymous job search revealed discrimination in Helsinki: People who sounded like a foreigner were less likely to get an interview

Personswho have a foreign-sounding name, are hired more if the recruitment process takes place anonymously, reveals a recent study.

In anonymous recruitment, all personal information such as the applicant’s name, date of birth, gender, address and native language are hidden from view on job applications until the interview invitations have been sent.

Helsinki in a study carried out with the city, it appears that people with Finnish-like names received an invitation to a job interview with a probability of eight percent. If the name sounded foreign, the probability was four percent.

Based on the results, anonymous recruitment can be an effective tool to reduce discrimination.

The study was carried out in 2020 in connection with the anonymous recruitment pilot of the city of Helsinki. The study was carried out by Labore and the State Economic Research Center (Vatt).

On trial there were 13 job titles for which an anonymous job search, i.e. anonymous recruitment, was tried. The group included, among other things, the tasks of secretary and youth counselor.

During the pilot, the application process for 44 job advertisements was carried out anonymously. The study was small in size, which is why the results should be interpreted with caution.

The study considered the risk of anonymous job searching to be that the most suitable candidate for the position is not selected. The matter was investigated as part of the research by monitoring the duration of the selected work period and the salary. Based on the results, the recruitment method had no effect on these variables.

Anonymous job search also attracted more applicants compared to traditionally implemented job search situations. The number of female applicants in particular increased.

Regarding gender, anonymization did not affect the final hiring decisions.

The city of Helsinki has given some of its units the opportunity to carry out recruitments anonymously even after the experiment has ended.