PARIS – Accor has decided to make CVs submitted to its French careers website anonymous, removing applicants’ first and last names, nationality, sex, age and email address.
The Times Business Travel editor, Mark Frary, reports that the decision is to “ensure that the initial selection of candidates is uniquely based on the applicant’s training, experience and skills†and “provides testimony to Accor’s engagement on the subject of diversityâ€.
It says, “The objective of the anonymous CV is to avoid any discrimination, conscious or subconscious, linked to the age, sex or origins of the candidate.â€
So, does this mean we are likely to see more mature people behind the check-in desk at Novotel? Possibly not, says Frary.
Initial selection and the interview itself are two different things.
While there may be no discrimination in the process of selecting who to invite for interview, discrimination still reigns in the interview itself.
To its credit, Accor says it plans to run a training and communication campaign for managers over the coming year, Frary writes.
But hotel general managers faced with the choice between a putting a 20-year-old and a 60-year-old behind the reception desk will probably still favour youth over experience, says Frary.
