Who?
Founded by a team of ex-front-line London recruiters and CEO Sunil Dial, who struggled to get interview call-backs when seeking a new job – until he changed his ‘name’ to Simon.
Why?
The co-founders of CandidateX say they have each witnessed prolific cognitive bias from hiring managers which infiltrates every aspect of the hiring process, from innocuous comments to outright racism, transphobia and sexism.
What?
CandidateX combines hiring tech and a community-driven movement to tackle unconscious bias in the recruitment process and widen access to career opportunities for under-represented groups.
How?
Backed by Innovate UK, the CandidateX platform uses AI to anonymise the job application process by removing identifying factors such as gender, ethnicity and even socio-economic background. The anonymised diversity data generated from the CandidateX community – registered job seekers within the platform – provides vital insights to employers from their talent pools, enabling them to constantly improve inclusion within their hiring practices and talent attraction strategies. An exclusive early-adopter programme for the platform is launching to a high-profile roster of blue-chip organisations in North America and will extend to UK early adopters, including property tech giant Zoopla.
Where?
CandidateX is based in the UK.
They say:
CEO Dial: “As long as human bias continues to influence the recruitment process, everyone loses. Companies, will miss out on valuable skills and talent, while candidates, especially those in minority groups, will be overlooked, despite the clear economic benefits that come with increasing inclusivity. Candidate user experience is at the heart of CandidateX’s proposition, and we are building an inclusive talent-first home for all those candidates who feel they are denied opportunities based on who they are and how they identify. By tackling bias head-on we are providing equal access to opportunities and creating a positive social impact in the process.”
Sandy Lacey-Aberdein, head of talent acquisition at Zoopla: “Building a diverse and inclusive culture is an active process for Zoopla, and we are always seeking to learn and better understand our unconscious biases and the tools that can prevent them from impacting our working environment. Our team has found the CandidateX Inclusive Recruiter eLearning programme incredibly engaging, and it brings us one step closer to hiring without bias. We look forward to continuing our engagement with CandidateX as they help us to make space for diverse voices in our talent pool.”