BASALT · JOURNAL
How to redact a resume for blind review
A blind-review resume needs more than the name covered. Email addresses, portfolio URLs, school names, associations, photographs, filenames, and PDF author metadata can all reveal identity or characteristics the review process intends to withhold.
Define what “blind” means for this process
Agree on the fields to remove before handling applicants. Common categories include name, pronouns, contact details, photograph, personal website, social handles, street address, graduation years, and sometimes schools or organizations. The right list depends on the hiring design and applicable policy.
Use a stable candidate ID generated outside the resume. Keep the ID-to-applicant mapping in the recruiting system, not in a PDF comment or attachment.
Remove visible and clickable identity
Search names, email usernames, phone numbers, domains, and city. Inspect headers, footers, text boxes, images, and QR codes. A portfolio label may hide a hyperlink containing the person's name, so remove link actions as well as visible text.
Strip document title, author, company, XMP, comments, attachments, and the source filename. If the resume is a scan, destroy pixels and remove OCR text beneath the mark.
Check usability after redaction
Verify the final PDF by text extraction and metadata inspection. Then check that employment dates, job titles, skills, and layout still read correctly. Overwide bars can remove adjacent experience and make candidates look less qualified.
Use the same process for every applicant and record the instruction version. Consistency matters as much as technical removal.
Frequently asked questions
Does removing the candidate's name make a resume blind?
Not by itself. Contact details, URLs, schools, organizations, photos, and contextual clues may still reveal identity.
Can the filename reveal the applicant?
Yes. Rename the release copy to a neutral candidate ID and clear title and author metadata.
Should graduation years be removed?
That is a process-design choice. Decide consistently before review rather than making ad hoc edits per candidate.
Doing it in Basalt
Basalt removes visible text, image regions, OCR, hyperlinks, metadata, comments, and attachments, then verifies the released PDF. Batch workflows and presets help apply the same treatment consistently while keeping applications local. Download Basalt.
Redaction that proves itself
Basalt destroys the content you mark, then re-opens the file it wrote and proves the content is gone before it saves anything. Your documents never leave your Mac.