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.

91裸聊视频淲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?91裸聊视频� said James Spearing, Scotiabank91裸聊视频檚 vice-president of talent acquisition.

91裸聊视频�(We91裸聊视频檙e) removing as much of that possible and giving a level playing field.91裸聊视频�

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 bank91裸聊视频檚 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 Scotiabank91裸聊视频檚 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.

91裸聊视频淎 lot of companies talk about it, not many actually do it,91裸聊视频� said Caitlin MacGregor, Plum91裸聊视频檚 chief executive. 91裸聊视频淪cotiabank is leading the way.91裸聊视频�

Plum, for example, is used by consulting behemoth Deloitte, carmaker Hyundai and even Canada91裸聊视频檚 national defence department, but none fully dropped the resum茅 requirement, MacGregor said.

Spearing still sees the value in resum茅s and won91裸聊视频檛 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 Scotiabank91裸聊视频檚 talent pool, creating a better chance that good candidates aren91裸聊视频檛 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 bank91裸聊视频檚 recruiting team using Plum91裸聊视频檚 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 91裸聊视频渕atch score91裸聊视频� indicating each candidate91裸聊视频檚 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.

91裸聊视频淲e, as humans, are flawed and we misinterpret that data all the time,91裸聊视频� she said.

91裸聊视频淲e think 91裸聊视频極h, they took five years to study that so that must be because they91裸聊视频檙e not very smart,91裸聊视频� 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.91裸聊视频�

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

91裸聊视频淚t could potentially reduce the importance of some sort of bias triggers like 91裸聊视频業 like sports team X and this person has some connection to sports team X on their resum茅,91裸聊视频�91裸聊视频� he said.

But assessments can also be lengthy 91裸聊视频� Plum91裸聊视频檚 takes about 25 minutes 91裸聊视频� 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.

91裸聊视频淲e still have work to do to show the longer term benefits.91裸聊视频�

Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press

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