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I am reviewing a set of CVs for a senior position. I need to provide a short summary of each CV with a proceed/drop recommendation. Here is a sample:

Ford Prefect: From his CV, he seems to have successfully moved away from functional role A to functional role B. He has been performing role B for the past 5 years; the last instance when he performed role A was when he was employed with Slartibartifast, Inc. which he left in 2011. Since the requirement calls for candidates with advanced experience in role A, he is not suitable for this role.

Now, I do want to write this in a gender-neutral manner. Right now I make a guess about the gender of the candidates from their names and use the appropriate pronouns, but I don't want to do that. I am also wary of looking up social media profiles (LinkedIn etc.) to identify gender. What could be the best way to structure the above summary to do this?

FreeBird
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2 Answers2

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This is what the singular they was invented for. It's been around for a long time in English, although some people seem to think of it as some newfangled fad...

Ford Prefect: From their CV, they seem to have successfully moved away from functional role A to functional role B. They have been performing role B for the past 5 years; the last instance when they performed role A was when they were employed with Slartibartifast, Inc. which they left in 2011. Since the requirement calls for candidates with advanced experience in role A they are not suitable for this role.

Off-topic: This candidate may very well have advanced experience in role A, so your conclusion is a non-sequitur. If you would be looking for recent experience in role A, that's a different matter.
oerkelens
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  • Well, there is a bit more to the conclusion than what I posted here (the job Ford had in Slartibartifast Inc. was at a skill level that is lower than what my client is looking for, the field to which the role pertains has seen many new developments in the intervening years etc.). Thanks, though. I think your suggestion works quite well for my needs. – FreeBird Aug 05 '16 at 14:06
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You may use the word APPLICANT to hide the gender.

Abhilaaj
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  • How so? "From this applicant's CV, this applicant seems to have successfully moved away from functional role A to functional role B. The applicant has been performing role B for the past 5 years; the last instance when the applicant performed role A was when the applicant was employed with Slartibartifast, Inc. which this applicant left in 2011. Since the requirement calls for candidates with advanced experience in role A, this applicant is not suitable for this role." – herisson Aug 05 '16 at 06:28