Dale Gray, a partner at Inside, says blind shortlisting is more than removing "he" and "she" from a CV.
"Things like hobbies and interests can sway a person's thinking as to their gender. If someone lists 'quilting' as in interest on their CV, realistically, what are you going to assume about their gender?" he says.
"So where we read a CV and spot ourselves making assumptions based on certain pieces of information, we will remove the triggering word or phrase."
"It really focused your attention on the skills the candidates had and their work background - you couldn't build a picture of the person in your mind in the same way you could if you had a name and date of birth, etc," says Ferguson.
"It does really narrow your focus, and it was good not just for [neutralising] gender bias but also age and cultural bias."
Ferguson says once more details of the candidates were revealed, some people she had pictured as male were female and vice versa, based on their background and work experience. "Once we'd narrowed down the shortlist, it was an interesting experience to see who they actually were," she says.
REANNZ has recruited for all four of its leadership role positions over the last 18 months. Female candidates was selected for the chief information officer and chief financial officer roles, and males for the chief product officer and chief engagement officer.
"We have ended up with quite a balance across the executive team, and a woman as CIO in charge of the tech side of the organisation."
However, she says there's also no point in trying to remove gender bias from the recruitment process if you don't have enough female candidates to start with. Attracting more women to apply is an another significant step, and using online tools to make job ad language as gender-neutral as possible is part of the solution.
REANNZ advertised the CFO position twice, revising the language used the second time, and attracting not only more candidates, but also more women.
Gray says there is a growing desire from Kiwi companies for increased gender and ethnic diversity in their workforce.
"Some organisations understand the need for diversity from a compliance perspective, but sometimes do not have a genuine understanding of why it is necessary and how it affects their business. We know that unconscious bias exists, and this is a good way of highlighting it to organisations who are less aware of it."
Gray and Ferguson admit there are limitations to the process, but are committed to continue using it.
"It's not without its flaws - we're still relying on that initial shortlist the recruiters pull together, and we still have to interview the people ourselves at the other end," Ferguson says.
"But by doing these things, we are bringing an awareness of unconscious bias to the interviewing table and recruitment process. It's a very important thing for New Zealand, as it tends to encourage diversity in the broadest sense of the word."
Gray agrees.
"We can't remove all possible biases -- individuals will draw their own conclusions based on things like schools, addresses, and other factors we can't control.
"Also, because New Zealand is a small market where reputation matters a great deal, by removing someone's name from a CV you can sometimes lose the informal intelligence on a candidate that can be quite valuable. The small size of the market also means people can recognise a candidate based purely on their career path."
However, Gray says blind recruitment is becoming more common worldwide, and can be of benefit to all companies.
"In a perfect world we wouldn't need it, but humans are imperfect creatures. It's about trying to level the playing field as best we can."
