Case Study: Wellcome Trust improves gender balance with Applied

Wellcome Trust improves gender balance without using quotas

Wellcome Trust, an independent global charitable foundation, wanted to improve gender balance in its hiring process. Working with Applied, it used data from the Applied platform to diagnose why fewer male candidates were reaching interview stages, rather than using quotas or manual “bumping up” of applications.

Applied helped Wellcome Trust identify that male candidates were often scored lower because their applications tended toward self-promotion, while women provided more context and team focus. In response, Wellcome Trust added a new development-focused question to the process, which improved progression through the funnel: male representation at final interview rose from 8% in 2019 to 27% in 2020, and all male finalists were hired. Applied’s post-hire report also showed the new question was the most predictive, confirming the change’s effectiveness.

Wellcome Trust