Tackling unequal hiring with our new ‘bias blocker’ tool
We’re thrilled to announce the launch of our bias blocker tool! This is our most recent step to help support fair hiring practices. The tool represents exactly what we stand for as a company, which was born out of our founder Pip Jamieson’s passion to make the creative industry more open and diverse.
We are committed to encouraging the thousands of companies and brands that use The Dots to make hires, to reduce unconscious bias in their process.
So now, hiring managers can toggle on our new bias blocker tool, which hides name, photo, education and more of from profiles and job applications on The Dots.
What does this mean?
This means that we’re putting a measure in place to reduce the chances of our community being unconsciously discriminated against when applying for a job.
We believe that there is no better way to hire other than basing people on their skills, talent and positive values.
If you’re looking to hire and keen to give our bias blocker a try, click here to get in touch with a member of the team who can help.
The story behind the idea: it’s all down to a Post-It note!
The idea came to life when Pip spotted that a hiring manager from AKQA had been using Post-It notes to cover the images of candidates on The Dots - it all clicked into place. Rather than using Post-It notes, companies searching for talent on The Dots can now hide personal data such as name, photo, educational and other information that could bias their hiring decisions, meaning candidates are considered solely based on talent.
Being a dyslexic sole female technology founder, Pip holds diversity close to her heart, so utilising The Dots to tackle the lack of representation in the creative industry is a no-brainer. So, the bias blocker was the perfect eureka moment.
‘Blind recruitment’ is a practice that has become increasingly common amongst recruiters such as the BBC and Deloitte to reduce unconscious bias in their recruitment process. The goal of the new feature is to help change an industry known for poor representation of women, ethnic minorities, talent from underprivileged backgrounds amongst many more diverse groups.
“Bias is stronger than anyone thinks – people can be discounted in the blink of an eyelid… The Dots' Bias Blocker feature removes unconscious bias, resulting in diverse teams and diverse work – both imperative for innovation, thriving businesses and the audiences we serve.” – Ali Hanan, CEO of Creative Equals.
The feature was designed by The Dots Head of Product Design & Brand, Dan Harvey and built by The Dots incredible front-end engineer Gosia Palys-Dudek – they co-created the feature with staff at AKQA and Publicis.Sapient.
Diversity at The Dots
68% of our community is female (readdressing the balance when considering platforms such as Linkedin), 31% BAME and 16% LGBT+.
We also run several diversity campaigns each year, focussing on key calendar dates such as International Women’s Day, Pride, Female Speakers and Black History Month.
“As female and minority representation grows in companies, unconscious bias will fade. It won’t happen overnight, but my team and I won’t rest until it does happen.” – Pip Jamieson, founder and CEO, The Dots
Project Tags
Companies
AKQA
- Design
Creative Equals
- Social Enterprise
Publicis Sapient
- Design