Many people feel “pigeonholed” because of their name or ethnicity, calling into question whether CVs should be anonymised. 

A study by the African Professional Network of Ireland (APNI) found 51% of its members think job applicants’ names should be anonymised during the recruitment process. 

A further 70% said interview panels should include more people from diverse backgrounds to address inherent bias among employers.

Brian from Ballyfermot told Lunchtime Live he used to only put his street name on his CV so people couldn’t pinpoint his location. 

“You give an address at Ballyfermot, you get an immediate ‘What are you doing here?’,” he said. 

“Your address is an identifier, and I don’t know if we can do anything to stop it. 

“People like to create a shortlist for applicants, and I suppose that's one way they do it.” 

Brian said he knows a lot of people who couldn’t hide their Ballyfermot address as they lived in more “identifiable areas” and couldn’t get a job “for years”. 

“We like to pigeonhole people very quickly and [address] is one way they do it – what you sound like and where you come from.” 

'Rough' addresses

One texter said they were from a “rough part of Limerick” and listed their address on their CV. 

They did not hear back on their job application until they submitted their CV again with a different name and a “much nicer address”. 

“They called me straightaway, and I got the job,” they said. 

Employer in an online interview with a young person. Image: insta_photos / Alamy Stock Photo

Michelle said she is “half-African, half-European", but was “lucky to Ireland with a job already”. 

“But listening to your other two contributors, I recognise a lot of things from my life,” she said. 

“It was very hard for me to get my first job. 

“I was the last one in my year of college that got a job because I’m half-Black – I had my address and my name [on my CV], which made it obvious.” 

Michelle said when prospective employees did call her and she got a job, it was through recruitment teams with “a very open mind of what they were looking for”. 

She agreed there is an unconscious racial bias among recruitment teams “most of the time”. 

“When you get your foot in the door by not showing who you are of where you’re from on the CV, you can show them you can do this,” she said. 

“It’s luck as well, but it’s not fair in a sense – I've had job applications where I know the person who has been hired... I was more qualified. 

“It’s harder, but that’s life.” 

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