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fair_screening.md

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1# Fair screening

3The constraint, what it rules out, and how to read an application inside it.

5---

Fair screening

The constraint, what it rules out, and how to read an application inside it.

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7## The rule

9**Score only against the rubric.** Skills, experience, and requirements stated in the job post. Nothing else enters the score.

11Two reasons, and both matter.

13**It is the law in most of the work this touches.** Screening decisions that turn on age, sex, race, national origin, disability, religion, or several state-protected characteristics are unlawful. An SMB owner without an HR department is exactly the person most exposed and least equipped to defend it.

15**It produces a better shortlist.** The strongest field hire in a trade often has the worst resume in the stack. Every point of score spent on presentation is a point not spent on whether they can do the job.

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The rule

Score only against the rubric. Skills, experience, and requirements stated in the job post. Nothing else enters the score.

Two reasons, and both matter.

It is the law in most of the work this touches. Screening decisions that turn on age, sex, race, national origin, disability, religion, or several state-protected characteristics are unlawful. An SMB owner without an HR department is exactly the person most exposed and least equipped to defend it.

It produces a better shortlist. The strongest field hire in a trade often has the worst resume in the stack. Every point of score spent on presentation is a point not spent on whether they can do the job.

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19## Off-limits, explicitly

21Do not score, rank, comment on, or let influence the ordering:

23| Signal | Why it is out |

24|---|---|

25| Name | Proxy for ethnicity, gender, and national origin |

26| Age, graduation years, "digital native" reads | Age discrimination, directly |

27| Gender, pronouns, photo | Protected, and irrelevant to the work |

28| Address, neighborhood, commute guess | Proxy for race and class. Let the candidate judge their own commute |

29| School name or prestige | Proxy for class and money, and a weak predictor of trade performance |

30| Employer prestige or brand name | Score the work described, not the logo it was done under. A big name buys no points and a small shop loses none |

31| Employment gaps | Caregiving, illness, immigration, layoffs. Not evidence of anything |

32| Resume formatting, typos beyond job relevance | Proxy for schooling. Only counts if the job requires written output |

33| Accent, ESL markers in a cover letter | Protected, and unrelated unless the role is language-specific |

34| Current or prior salary | Perpetuates existing pay gaps; unlawful to ask in many states |

35| Arrest records, and convictions unrelated to the role | Heavily regulated; the owner's counsel handles this, not this skill |

36| "Culture fit," "vibe," "seems like one of us" | Where unexamined preference hides |

38**If the owner asks for a screen on one of these, say no plainly and once, and offer the legitimate version.** "You can't screen on the gap, but you can ask about it — want me to draft that question for the interview?" is usually what they were actually after.

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Off-limits, explicitly

Do not score, rank, comment on, or let influence the ordering:

Signal	Why it is out
Name	Proxy for ethnicity, gender, and national origin
Age, graduation years, "digital native" reads	Age discrimination, directly
Gender, pronouns, photo	Protected, and irrelevant to the work
Address, neighborhood, commute guess	Proxy for race and class. Let the candidate judge their own commute
School name or prestige	Proxy for class and money, and a weak predictor of trade performance
Employer prestige or brand name	Score the work described, not the logo it was done under. A big name buys no points and a small shop loses none
Employment gaps	Caregiving, illness, immigration, layoffs. Not evidence of anything
Resume formatting, typos beyond job relevance	Proxy for schooling. Only counts if the job requires written output
Accent, ESL markers in a cover letter	Protected, and unrelated unless the role is language-specific
Current or prior salary	Perpetuates existing pay gaps; unlawful to ask in many states
Arrest records, and convictions unrelated to the role	Heavily regulated; the owner's counsel handles this, not this skill
"Culture fit," "vibe," "seems like one of us"	Where unexamined preference hides

If the owner asks for a screen on one of these, say no plainly and once, and offer the legitimate version. "You can't screen on the gap, but you can ask about it — want me to draft that question for the interview?" is usually what they were actually after.

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42## The anonymization pass

44Before scoring, strip what should not influence the read. It is a small step with a large effect, because the constraint is easier to hold when the information is not on the page.

46Remove or set aside: name, contact details, photo, address, graduation dates, school names, and any personal detail unrelated to the work.

48Keep: job titles, employers, tenure lengths, described responsibilities, tools and systems, certifications, and stated availability.

50Scoring runs on the stripped version. Identity comes back only when the ranking is done and the owner is looking at candidates as people.

52**Employers stay visible even though they carry some signal** — a resume without the companies is unreadable, and the work described is the whole point. The judgment is about the work done there, not the brand.

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The anonymization pass

Before scoring, strip what should not influence the read. It is a small step with a large effect, because the constraint is easier to hold when the information is not on the page.

Remove or set aside: name, contact details, photo, address, graduation dates, school names, and any personal detail unrelated to the work.

Keep: job titles, employers, tenure lengths, described responsibilities, tools and systems, certifications, and stated availability.

Scoring runs on the stripped version. Identity comes back only when the ranking is done and the owner is looking at candidates as people.

Employers stay visible even though they carry some signal — a resume without the companies is unreadable, and the work described is the whole point. The judgment is about the work done there, not the brand.

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56## Extracting the evidence

58For each rubric criterion, find the line in the application that speaks to it, and quote it.

60```

61Criterion: Commercial rooftop unit experience (weight 35)

62Score: 3

63Evidence: "Serviced 40+ rooftop package units across 6 retail sites,

64 Carrier and Trane, 2021-2025" — Candidate 7, current role

65```

67**A score with no quoted evidence is an impression, not a screen.** The quote is what makes the ranking defensible to the owner, to the candidate who asks, and to anyone who reviews it later.

69**Read past presentation.** "Fixed AC units at stores" and "Managed HVAC asset lifecycle across a retail portfolio" may describe the same work. Score the work.

71**When the resume does not say, mark it as a dash.** Do not infer. "Probably has rooftop experience since they worked commercial" is exactly the kind of guess that lets bias in through the back door, in both directions.

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Extracting the evidence

For each rubric criterion, find the line in the application that speaks to it, and quote it.

Criterion: Commercial rooftop unit experience (weight 35)
Score: 3
Evidence: "Serviced 40+ rooftop package units across 6 retail sites,
          Carrier and Trane, 2021-2025" — Candidate 7, current role

A score with no quoted evidence is an impression, not a screen. The quote is what makes the ranking defensible to the owner, to the candidate who asks, and to anyone who reviews it later.

Read past presentation. "Fixed AC units at stores" and "Managed HVAC asset lifecycle across a retail portfolio" may describe the same work. Score the work.

When the resume does not say, mark it as a dash. Do not infer. "Probably has rooftop experience since they worked commercial" is exactly the kind of guess that lets bias in through the back door, in both directions.

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75## The "cannot assess" band

77Any candidate whose must-have or heavily weighted criteria came back as dashes goes here, not into the rejection pile.

79These are usually a two-line email away from a decision:

81```

82Hi Marcus — quick question before we go further. Does your EPA 608

83certification cover Universal? Wasn't clear from your application.

84Thanks, Ray

85```

87**People who are bad at resumes are not bad at the job.** This band is where an SMB out-hires a company with an applicant tracking system, and losing it to a formatting problem is a real cost.

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The "cannot assess" band

Any candidate whose must-have or heavily weighted criteria came back as dashes goes here, not into the rejection pile.

These are usually a two-line email away from a decision:

Hi Marcus — quick question before we go further. Does your EPA 608
certification cover Universal? Wasn't clear from your application.
Thanks, Ray

People who are bad at resumes are not bad at the job. This band is where an SMB out-hires a company with an applicant tracking system, and losing it to a formatting problem is a real cost.

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91## Showing the work

93Every candidate the owner sees comes with the score per criterion and the quote behind each one.

95This does three things: it lets the owner disagree specifically rather than vaguely, it makes the process explainable to a candidate who asks why, and it keeps the ranking honest, because a score with nothing to quote becomes visible immediately.

97---

Showing the work

Every candidate the owner sees comes with the score per criterion and the quote behind each one.

This does three things: it lets the owner disagree specifically rather than vaguely, it makes the process explainable to a candidate who asks why, and it keeps the ranking honest, because a score with nothing to quote becomes visible immediately.

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99## What the owner still decides

100

101This skill produces an ordered, evidenced list. It does not hire anyone.

102

103The owner brings context that is not on any resume and not in any rubric — a reference they trust, how the role fits the crew, what they saw in the interview. That is their job and it should stay their job. The value here is that they spend their judgment on five well-evidenced candidates instead of on sorting forty PDFs at 10pm.

What the owner still decides

This skill produces an ordered, evidenced list. It does not hire anyone.

The owner brings context that is not on any resume and not in any rubric — a reference they trust, how the role fits the crew, what they saw in the interview. That is their job and it should stay their job. The value here is that they spend their judgment on five well-evidenced candidates instead of on sorting forty PDFs at 10pm.

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