Manual shortlisting carries more bias than most hiring managers realise.
Even before an interview, CVs can trigger unconscious decisions based on names, photos, dates of birth, addresses, or educational history. These signals, often unrelated to a candidate’s ability, can influence shortlisting and lead to missed opportunities, biased hiring, and compliance risks.
That’s why HR Duo’s AI-powered CV Anonymisation tool has been built into our applicant tracking system (ATS), helping HR teams and line managers to shortlist candidates fairly, focusing on what matters, and speed up early-stage recruitment without sacrificing due diligence.
Unconscious bias still plays a major role in recruitment, even when employers believe they’re being fair.
British citizens from ethnic minority backgrounds have to send, on average, 60% more job applications to get a positive response from employers compared to their white counterparts, according to researchers at Nuffield College's Centre for Social Investigation (CSI). They also found that candidates with white-sounding names were invited to interview 24% more often than those with ethnic minority names, even when CVs were identical in skills and experience.
This shows that bias can creep in during the earliest stages of hiring, before a candidate has even been seen or spoken to. However, it’s not just a moral issue, it’s a business one:
By removing personal information from CVs, including names, gendered pronouns, and addresses, CV Anonymisation helps employers:
Instead of manually redacting each CV (and hoping nothing gets missed), HR Duo uses machine learning and natural language processing to automatically identify and remove potentially biasing fields. This includes:
Bias risk: Names may suggest ethnic or cultural background
Example bias: CVs with white-sounding names get 24% more callbacks
Impact: Can lead to racial or cultural discrimination, often unintentionally
Bias risk: Assumptions about energy, tech skills, or seniority based on age
Example bias: Older candidates being overlooked for roles seen as “fast-paced” or “digital-first”
Impact: Can contribute to ageism and breach age discrimination laws
Bias risk: Triggers gender bias, including assumptions about ability, assertiveness, or cultural “fit”
Example bias: Male candidates are considered more suitable for leadership or technical roles
Impact: Skews hiring decisions away from ability and towards stereotypes
Bias risk: Visual appearance influences perceptions of professionalism, likability, or suitability
Example bias: Beauty bias (preferring more conventionally attractive candidates) or appearance-based discrimination
Impact: Leads to subjective decisions unrelated to job performance
Bias risk: Location can signal socioeconomic status or imply commuting challenges
Example bias: Candidates from certain postcodes are perceived as less reliable or committed
Impact: Penalises candidates unfairly based on geography, not ability
Bias risk: University or school names may suggest class, privilege, or perceived prestige
Example bias: Favouring Russell Group graduates over equally capable candidates from newer or regional universities
Impact: Reinforces social inequality and undermines a skills-based hiring approach
You choose the fields to redact, and HR Duo returns clean, anonymised CVs in the same format, ready for review. All that’s left is what matters: skills, experience, and suitability. No more spreadsheets. No more manual formatting. Just bias-free, consistent shortlisting, handled in seconds.
Manually redacting CVs is slow, inconsistent, and prone to error. HR or admin staff must copy CVs, remove personal details like names or addresses, assign candidate codes, and manage separate spreadsheets to keep track. It’s a time-consuming task that increases the risk of mistakes, like mislabelling files or accidentally revealing identifying information. Worse still, it's hard to maintain fairness and accuracy at scale, especially when shortlisting hundreds of applicants across multiple roles.
Let AI do the heavy lifting. HR Duo’s AI-powered CV Anonymisation tool, built into our applicant tracking system (ATS), eliminates the time-consuming admin and automates the redaction process with precision.
It’s faster, fairer, and fully integrated, supporting HR compliance, improving hiring objectivity, and freeing your team to focus on selecting the right talent.
Line managers are often closest to the needs of the role, but not always trained in bias-free hiring practices. HR Duo supports them with compliant tools that simplify shortlisting and ensure fairness from the first step. Meanwhile, HR teams retain visibility and control, without having to manage every task.
It’s part of our wider vision: practical HR automation tools that free up time, reduce risk, and improve how you manage people throughout the entire employment lifecycle.
HR Duo gives you the power of blind recruitment without the admin. It’s just one part of our all-in-one HR software suite, combining workforce management, recruitment software, and HR compliance in a single platform.
👉 Book a quick demo to see CV Anonymisation, our ATS, and the full platform in action.