I think at some point flipping a coin can actually be a good idea for this sort of problem, and there's some researchers/employers who agree. It might actually be more fair than trying to find differences, actually more often than not introducing bias, when there's a lot of competition for a spot/job. Just put the top 5, top 10% or top 20% of those who fulfil a set of requirements in a raffle.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funding_by_lottery