LinkedIn, the professional social media platform, has implemented new features that allow recruiters to filter potential job candidates based on demographic characteristics.

The platform enables users to edit their demographic information, such as race, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, and military service status. LinkedIn uses this data for “diversity in recruiting” tools, which “allow your demographic information to be used in LinkedIn recruiting features to help recruiters find a more diverse group of qualified candidates.”

According to a LinkedIn webpage updated a month ago, the platform may use personal demographic information to surface qualified members who can diversify the group of candidates displayed to recruiters working for companies with public commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

The platform maintains that users’ personal demographic information is “never directly shared with recruiters or companies,” and users can “opt out of this use of their information in their settings.”

Increasing female and racial minority representation in corporate workforces is a common goal of DEI and environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) movements. These philosophies have gained prominence among leading firms in recent years, though critics argue they blend political and social causes with core business objectives, potentially compromising or distracting from profitability.

LinkedIn, acquired by Microsoft in 2016, also uses demographic information to remove “unfair bias from our products,” analyze data such as salary ranges and career trends for assessing and improving pay equality, and provide aggregate insights to help employers and hiring managers identify more diverse candidates.

The platform’s vision is “to create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce” and ensure equal access to opportunities by understanding and measuring the impact of demographic factors on its platform.

Corporations seem to be on a deaf speed train to diversity at all costs. It appears a candidate’s quality loses to diversity commitments which at some point will impact the productivity and profitability of businesses.

What happened to equal opportunity? Most businesses provide some kind of equal opportunity employer statement (EOE). For example, “We’re an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.”

I seems that great attention is now being paid to all of these categories which is drawing concern from some Twitter users.

Time will tell how the “diversity” race will impact American businesses.