Canadians eyeing internships, co-op placements and graduate positions at Scotiabank no longer have to polish up their resum茅s.

The Toronto bank removed the requirement as part of its campus hiring program and has begun using assessments from Waterloo, Ont. technology company Plum to help find untapped talent and ease the barriers to employment among some population groups.

B次元官网网址淲e are taking away any bias, which would be where did someone go to school, what jobs did they have before and what opportunities did they have or not have based on their upbringing or circumstances?B次元官网网址� said James Spearing, ScotiabankB次元官网网址檚 vice-president of talent acquisition.

B次元官网网址�(WeB次元官网网址檙e) removing as much of that possible and giving a level playing field.B次元官网网址�

Scotiabank decided to abandon resum茅s in August as new waves of the COVID-19 pandemic emerged, further disrupting a tight labour market.

The decision has already boosted the bankB次元官网网址檚 number of hires for people of colour and increased its retention rates.

Many companies have spent recent decades experimenting with innovative recruitment methods such as personality tests and application assignments and ScotiabankB次元官网网址檚 move comes as Hisayuki (Deko) Idekoba, an executive at the parent company behind job websites Indeed and Glassdoor, urged companies this week to address worker shortages by abandoning resum茅s.

However, few have been bold enough to ditch resum茅s altogether.

B次元官网网址淎 lot of companies talk about it, not many actually do it,B次元官网网址� said Caitlin MacGregor, PlumB次元官网网址檚 chief executive. B次元官网网址淪cotiabank is leading the way.B次元官网网址�

Plum, for example, is used by consulting behemoth Deloitte, carmaker Hyundai and even CanadaB次元官网网址檚 national defence department, but none fully dropped the resum茅 requirement, MacGregor said.

Spearing still sees the value in resum茅s and wonB次元官网网址檛 penalize applicants for including one because writing a CV can teach people to market themselves and review their skills, but he feels not requiring one widens ScotiabankB次元官网网址檚 talent pool, creating a better chance that good candidates arenB次元官网网址檛 overlooked.

The bank started its no-resum茅 experiment with roughly 1,000 student intern roles and 250 spots in co-op programs that it recruits for some 300 to 400 events per year, including coffee chats, business overview sessions, hackathons and sponsorships.

Its new hiring processes has expanded to include the bankB次元官网网址檚 recruiting team using PlumB次元官网网址檚 platform to determine which requirements are most important for jobs they are looking to fill.

Requirements range from the ability to come up with innovative solutions to how someone sets goals, monitors progress and executes projects.

Applicants then complete a Plum assessment with problem solving, personality and situational questions targeting those requirements.

Applicants receive information on their talents, work style and preferences, while recruiters see a B次元官网网址渕atch scoreB次元官网网址� indicating each candidateB次元官网网址檚 potential fit with the role they are hiring for and other openings.

The information is used to determine who to interview or hire.

The approach helps businesses uncover talent in places outside their traditional networks and removes many false preconceptions recruiters form, said MacGregor.

B次元官网网址淲e, as humans, are flawed and we misinterpret that data all the time,B次元官网网址� she said.

B次元官网网址淲e think B次元官网网址極h, they took five years to study that so that must be because theyB次元官网网址檙e not very smart,B次元官网网址� but maybe there are financial reasons for that or maybe they had to juggle part-time jobs as a way of paying for all of that and so it took them longer.B次元官网网址�

Mitchell Hoffman, an associate professor at the Rotman School of Management, said such assessments often help companies compare candidates more fairly.

B次元官网网址淚t could potentially reduce the importance of some sort of bias triggers like B次元官网网址業 like sports team X and this person has some connection to sports team X on their resum茅,B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址� he said.

But assessments can also be lengthy B次元官网网址� PlumB次元官网网址檚 takes about 25 minutes B次元官网网址� and sometimes software can have difficulties picking up on how transferable some skills are, he said.

Scotiabank has used the software for about a year, but already seen benefits.

In its inaugural year, the platform helped the bank recruit from 30 colleges and universities nationally and almost 50 per cent of hires now have STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics) degrees.

Minorities now make up almost 60 per cent of recruits in the campus program and women represent about 50 per cent of hires.

The program-wide retention rate has soared to 46 per cent from 26 per cent pre-launch.

Spearing is proud of the results, but thinks it will take more time to see the real perks of the system and how hires brought in through the platform progress.

B次元官网网址淲e still have work to do to show the longer term benefits.B次元官网网址�

Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press

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