3007 - Anonymous Hiring (Historical View)

** Effective: 2/27/2026 10:33:49 AM - 2/27/2026 10:34:47 AM **

Status: Active

Change Notes

Policy Created.

Category

Examination and Hiring

Audience List

Synopsis

This policy:

• Defines the Anonymous Hiring process for all active state recruitments, when a department opts in.

• Defines Personally Identifiable Information.

• Identifies Anonymous Hiring and Personally Identifiable Information which will be removed from state application package documents.

• Provides guidance on how to implement Anonymous Hiring during the recruitment and selection process.

Introduction

The State of California is committed to equitable, merit-based hiring practices that promote an inclusive workforce reflective of California’s diverse communities. An inclusive and diverse workforce is integral to providing effective services that meet the needs of all Californians.

Job opportunities in state service must be filled in alignment with the merit principle, which means that appointments and promotions are based on the candidate’s qualifications for the job.

Anonymous Hiring is an optional tool available to departments to assist in reducing barriers to diversity, equity, and inclusion in state service by ensuring that hiring managers evaluate candidates only on job-related qualifications during the application screening process.

Statement

Anonymous Hiring is a process that redacts personal information from a candidate’s application materials before they are reviewed by a hiring manager to reduce the potential for conscious or unconscious bias in screening and selection.

Demographic information on a candidate’s job application or other requested documents (e.g., résumés, college transcripts) may produce unconscious bias, which may inadvertently influence job-related hiring decisions. Anonymous Hiring allows the screening of applications based on the candidate’s job-related qualifications, without consideration of Personally Identifiable Information (PII). PII is information that, when used alone or with other relevant data, may identify an individual’s personal characteristics, such as age, gender, race, or veteran status.

Anonymous Hiring is optional, beginning March 1, 2026, and job controls in the Examination and Certification Online System (ECOS) will default out of Anonymous Hiring for new recruitments unless an appointing power formally opts in. Departmental Human Resources (HR) managers are responsible for informing hiring managers of this process and providing necessary guidance and training.

Application

The Anonymous Hiring process provides hiring managers with the ability to review candidates’ job application packages only after PII has been removed.

Redactions fall into three categories: those required by law, those automatically applied by ECOS for Anonymous Hiring job controls, and those that appointing powers may choose to apply for Anonymous Hiring job controls.

Mandatory PII Redactions Required by Law

PII that must not be visible to any persons outside of HR under California Code of Regulations, title 2, section 249.6 includes:

• Social Security Number

• Date of Birth

• Marital Status

• Equal employment opportunity data (e.g., race, ethnicity, sex/gender)

• List eligibility (as defined in California Code of Regulations, title 2, section 249.7)

• Any other information considered confidential under law or regulation

ECOS automatically redacts this confidential information for electronically submitted application materials provided Anonymous Hiring is enabled for the recruitment, and these redactions cannot be altered by the appointing power.

Additional Automatic PII Redactions to Examination/Employment Application (STD. 678) with Anonymous Hiring enabled

In addition to the redactions required by law, ECOS automatically removes certain personal information to support a fair, consistent, and merit-based screening process.

ECOS automatically redacts the following additional personal information before hiring managers can view them on the STD. 678 when Anonymous Hiring is enabled:

• Last, First and M.I. (Name)

• Number, Street, Apt # (Mailing address)

• City, County, State, Zip Code (Mailing address)

• E-mail Address

• Preferred county to take an exam

• Request for accommodation to take an exam

• Signature

• Company/Agency address on employment history

• Supervisor name and phone number on employment history

These items are not required to be redacted by law, but ECOS has been designed to remove them automatically. Because Anonymous Hiring is an optional tool, departments have the discretion to remove the feature from the recruitment in ECOS.

Redaction (Best Practice)

Beyond automatic system redactions via ECOS, appointing powers may manually remove other non-essential information from application documents (i.e., résumés, statements of qualifications, college transcripts) when doing so supports unbiased screening and does not interfere with evaluating job-related qualifications.

Additional information may include, but is not limited to:

• Fluency in other languages

• CA Driver’s license information (number, class, restrictions)

• Licenses/Certifications

• From/To dates of employment history

Optional redactions should not be used when the information is necessary for the hiring manager to assess a required skill, credential, or job-related qualification that cannot be evaluated without the unredacted detail.

Appointing powers are encouraged to apply optional redactions consistently across similar classifications and recruitment types to promote fairness and transparency.

Redaction of Additional Documents Submitted by Candidates

When the appointing power requires candidates to submit additional documents (i.e., résumés, statements of qualifications, college transcripts), the HR office shall ensure that all confidential information required by California Code of Regulations, title 2, section 249.6 is not visible to the hiring unit. ECOS automatically redacts this information for electronic submissions when Anonymous Hiring is enabled, and HR may apply manual redaction using the ECOS “Redact” function for uploaded or hard-copy documents before releasing them.

It is recommended that appointing powers establish an internal process for redacting PII from additional hiring documents consistent with this policy.

Electronic vs. Hard-Copy Application Packages

For electronically submitted application materials, ECOS automatically applies redaction when Anonymous Hiring is enabled. For hard-copy or manually uploaded documents, HR must use the ECOS “Redact” button before releasing the documents to the hiring unit.

Access Rights (Redacted vs. Unredacted Views)

Hiring managers and hiring unit users see only redacted materials until candidates are advanced to the interview stage. HR retains access to unredacted materials for MQ verification, audit purposes, and official correspondence.

Opting In to Anonymous Hiring and Required Documentation

Anonymous Hiring is not the default process for all active recruitments, and it is optional. An appointing power may opt in to the Anonymous Hiring system functionality, but if they choose not to, they must still comply with all redaction requirements under California Code of Regulations, title 2, section 249.6. Staying opted-out allows the appointing power to proceed without the additional system-level redactions built into ECOS, but it does not permit the release of confidential information. To opt in, the department must check the “Anonymous Hiring” box when establishing their job control.

Implementing the Anonymous Hiring Process

How-To Guides with specific steps for HR Professionals using Anonymous Hiring system functionality are available in ECOS on the How-To tab. As a general overview to implement the Anonymous Hiring process, the HR office will:

1. Inform the hiring manager of the Anonymous Hiring process.

2. Create the job control in ECOS.

3. Ensure the “Enable Anonymous Hiring” checkbox is selected on the Job Control Record page in ECOS. Once Anonymous Hiring is enabled, PII will automatically be removed from candidates’ job applications.

4. Redact PII from other documents submitted as part of the candidate’s application package (e.g., Statement of Qualifications, transcripts). Redaction may be completed manually or by using ECOS functionality.

5. Provide the hiring manager with application materials after PII is removed. The hiring manager screens documents and selects candidates for interview based solely on job-related qualifications.

Record in ECOS the candidates selected to move forward to the interview phase of the selection process, which will reveal candidate information on the Job Interview Scheduling Report. Alternatively, the hiring manager may provide HR with a list of candidates to advance in the selection process based solely on the redacted application materials.

If the Anonymous Hiring tool is utilized for the recruitment and the hiring manager receives applications containing PII during the application screening process, they should immediately contact their HR office. If ECOS caused the error, the HR office should disable the Anonymous Hiring function in ECOS and contact their assigned CalHR ECOS Consultant for assistance. The HR office should determine if the released information is enough that the appointing power may no longer be able to use Anonymous Hiring for that recruitment, but in these cases, the recruitment may continue as normal without additional information anonymized.

Any disclosure does not waive the appointing power’s continuing obligation to comply with section 249.6, and confidential information may not be provided to hiring managers under any circumstances.

Appointing powers should assess whether the disclosure was isolated or systemic to determine whether Anonymous Hiring may continue without compromising fairness.

Failure to Enable Anonymous Hiring Before Application Receipt

If the HR office fails to enable the Anonymous Hiring function in ECOS before applications are received, the functionality cannot be added after applications have been submitted because doing so would not allow for a fair, equitable and consistent hiring process.

Additional Guidance

For additional information on the Anonymous Hiring process, please review the ECOS How to Guides for Anonymous Hiring provided in the link under Resources.

Authorities

Resources

Not Applicable.

Authorized By

Chris Dainard
Chief, Selection Division, California Department of Human Resources

Chief, Policy Division
, State Personnel Board

Contact Person

Selection Division
Policy Program, , Selection Division
Phone: 916-909-3757
Email: SDPolicy@calhr.ca.gov

Superseded Policies

Not Applicable.