Guide to Redacted Application Screening

Overview

Redacted application screening is the practice of removing personally identifiable information from application materials in order to reduce bias in the recruitment process. This may include, but is not limited to, name, gender, age, education, address, dates (such as graduation dates), photos, references, links to personal webpages, supervisor names, and/or citizenship information.

Method

Applicant tracking systems, such as TREMS, do not have the capability to redact application materials. This means that HR teams must establish their own system for supplying redacted application materials for review. Here are some suggestions for redacting application materials:

• Decide what personally identifiable information to redact for all candidates before the selection process begins.
  • Be aware of other "identity cues" that appear on an application. Information such as hobbies and interests could reveal religion, age, or whether the candidate has children; volunteer work could signal religion, race, or political affiliation.
• Manually redact personally identifiable information electronically and upload the redacted application materials to a secure location, such as Box, where only those designated to review materials can access them.
  • This can be done in a PDF by highlighting the text of the information to be redacted, right clicking, and
    selecting “redact.”
• Manually redact personal information by using a black marker to hide personally identifiable information and supplying physical copies of the materials.
• Assign each applicant a number, which will be used as the only identifiable characteristic of the applicant until it is decided which candidates will be brought in for an interview.