Harvard Kennedy School’s Iris Bohnet – companies can learn from orchestras who audition people behind curtains!

I love the example Iris told me about how orchestras in the United States in the 1970s increased the amount of women they had in their pits.  At the time only 5% of musicians in the top five orchestras were women. They made a conscious decision to make musicians audition behind curtains – this helped women advance to future rounds and get hired. Today around 38% of the musicians of the major orchestras are women.

How can companies “blind” themselves? Technology can help – platforms like Be Applied, GapJumpers or Unitive recruitment help to level the playing field by introducing work sample tests and help you with comparisons and aggregation across evaluators. Instead of picking those who look the part, you can find the best talent and level the playing field.