‘Name blind’ hiring

LONDON: Britain’s civil service and several major companies have agreed to recruit university graduates and apprentices without knowing the applicants’ names in an effort to eliminate bias against people from ethnic minorities.

Prime Minister David Cameron said last month it was ‘disgraceful’ that people with ‘white-sounding’ names were twice as likely as others to be shortlisted for jobs.

Cameron’s office said on Monday that firms including bank HSBC, accountants Deloitte, broadcaster the BBC and the state-run National Health Service had signed up to the ‘name blind’ recruitment plan, in which employers do not know applicants’ names when they are selecting them for interviews.