The Power of Anonymity
Imagine, for a moment, that you are tasked with choosing between two internal candidates to move forward with in the search to fill a very important role at your company. One of these candidates could soon find themselves with higher pay, a more prestigious title, and an exciting new opportunity to advance their career. Needless to say, your choice could mean a lot to both of them.
Let’s say your choice will also mean a lot to your team and your organization. The last few incumbents have neither fit nor performed well, so you need to make sure you’re choosing the right people in this process and finding slam dunk type of candidates.
Meet Candidate A. Candidate A has some of the skills and experience you’re looking for, and they’ve been with the company for a little bit over a year.
Meet Candidate B. Candidate B has all the skills and experience you’re looking for, and they’ve been with the company for 6 years.
Easy call, right? Candidate B already has what it takes to prosper in the role, and having been with the organization for as long as they have, they’re a safe bet to be a fit down the line. Might as well go ahead and let them know they’ve been selected to move forward in the process.
That right there is the power of anonymity. When these two candidates were labeled just A and B, your assessment was based strictly on merit and fit, and it was an easy choice to make. The best candidate got chosen to advance in the process.
The problem is that talent mobility takes many different forms, and most of them don’t incorporate anonymity. Internal job boards and off-the-cuff promotions in particular don’t leave much room for it. It was easy to choose Candidate B over Candidate A based solely on their skills, but when it’s not anonymous, there are a lot more factors that come into play that could lead to a decision that’s potentially wrong but more importantly, unfair.
What if Candidate A was a close friend and you had never even heard of Candidate B? That’s one scenario where hiring managers could be naturally inclined to choose the less qualified candidate, but there are plenty more playing out every day that are even worse. Favoritism, bias, discrimination… anonymity can eliminate them all in the early stages of the hiring process.
It’s time to level the playing field and adopt internal mobility strategies and tools (like WORQDRIVE) that harness the power of anonymity. That way, we can make sure that we’re judging candidates based on what really matters.