France must decide on anonymous CVs
Deadline to apply 2006 law is nearing - as new study finds immigrants are a third more likely to be interviewed
FRANCE'S government is coming under increasing pressure to make a decision on whether to roll out anonymous CVs at all big companies next year - or repeal the law, eight years after it was passed.
The results of a pilot scheme run by Essonne departmental council, and overseen by the Observatoire des Discriminations, have been published this week.
It found anonymous CVs made it a third more likely for candidates with Arab and African-sounding names to reach interview stage and be offered a job.
Their results contradict another study back in 2011 which claimed that anonymity "penalised" candidates from ethnic minority backgrounds.
The Conseil d'Etat is pushing the French government to apply the 2006 law by the end of this year, making anonymous CVs compulsory at all firms with more than 50 staff.
It has imposed a January 9 deadline to apply the law or scrap it - but the government is waiting for a report from a working group on the issue, expected in March.
Anonymous CVs have been tested out at big French firms including Axa, Total, PSA and La Poste.
Aquitaine regional council also experimented with them has made them a permanent requirement for all recruitments since 2008.
