Inclusive recruitment allows a diverse range of applicants to apply for roles. It does this by mitigating and removing bias at every stage of the process. To be an inclusive employer your recruitment process must be inclusive too.
What is inclusive recruitment?
Many human resources departments have made a commitment to inclusive recruitment. But what does it mean? In a nutshell, inclusive recruitment means a recruitment process that’s fair for all groups of people.
Training is an important aspect of ensuring an inclusive recruitment process. This is emphasised by Charlotte Sweeney and Fleur Bothwick in their book, Inclusive Leadership. Diversity and inclusion training should be current and provided to everyone involved in recruitment. This training is essential to understand the potential impact of bias in decision-making.
Unconscious bias training is particularly important.
Although you may hear recruiters say that they ‘don’t see colour’ or they ‘always hire the best person for the job’, this doesn’t always create an inclusive workforce.
The former CEO of Starbucks, Howard Schultz, reportedly said that he doesn’t see colour. This statement created a lot of debate about whether statements about not seeing colour are helpful. It attracted a lot of criticism from groups that feel it can be used to ignore racism. Even when well-intentioned, it doesn’t recognise diversity. Recognising and understanding the diversity of your workforce is essential to achieve real diversity and inclusion.
Why is inclusive recruitment important?
Diversity, equity and inclusion are hot topics. Organisations want to reap the benefits of a diverse workforce. It’s well-recognised that a diverse pool of talent makes sense for business.
McKinsey has found that companies in the top quartile for gender or racial and ethnic diversity are more likely to have financial returns above their national industry medians. This is thought to be because more diverse companies are more able to attract top talent.
They’re also more likely to retain that talent and have a more diverse pool of skills and ideas to draw from.
Inclusive recruitment brings the diverse range of skills and ideas needed for innovation – new ways of thinking, creating and communicating. Innovation is essential to both maintain and grow profitability.
It impacts everything – workplace environment, product and service creation, decision-making and customer service. To remain competitive organisations must attract the right candidates. That means ensuring a diverse range of people apply to work with them. If they aren’t attracting a diverse range of talent, they’re missing out. They’re also losing that talent to their competitors.
How do you create an inclusive recruitment process?
Examining your recruitment process will provide valuable insights to improve diversity.
Review your job adverts
Consider how the job is described. How could it come across to potential applicants? Who might be put off? Could your location be a problem for some people? Could they work remotely? Are the hours suitable for a candidate with caring responsibilities? Does the role really require these hours?
When writing a job advert, be clear about the role and the skills needed. But don’t ask for unnecessary requirements. Many candidates are put off by a lengthy list of ‘must haves’ (even when they have them).
Language is important. Can you adjust the language to show that you’re an inclusive employer? The Chartered Institute of Fundraising (CIOF) has a useful guide on how to write more inclusive job adverts.
Consider how you shortlist
Many employers still have strict rules about the universities candidates must have attended. There are over 160 universities in the UK. If you only consider students from a few universities, you’re not accessing the wider pool of talent. Instead, consider anonymous marking. This ensures a decision isn’t based on the name, university, address or age of a candidate. It creates a shortlist based on each candidate’s application.
Adjust your process
If a candidate needs an extra accommodation, provide it. It could be visual equipment, extra time or physical accessibility.
Train your interview panel.
Anyone involved in recruitment should undertake inclusive recruitment or unconscious bias training. This will help them to counter their own biases and reduce its impact in their decision-making.
The interview is the pivotal moment for both candidate and recruiter. A face-to-face interaction in person or online. There can be a build-up of anxiety for the interviewee – especially if they walk into an office and see no one like them. Have a diverse interview panel – think about gender, ethnicity and disability.
Check questions for cultural bias. Reference points and examples should be relatable for all candidates. The CIOF guide also has useful tips on how to make job interviews more inclusive.
The recruitment team must ensure everyone uses the person specification and job description.
A client asked me how to tackle interview panels making decisions based on a ‘nice’ personality and not on the success of the interview. These nice personalities also had a similar appearance (read more about unconscious bias). I suggested, after the next interview, she should recommend that all the interviewers take time to review the job criteria before making their decision. Time to reflect can make an enormous difference in the recruitment process.
The inclusive recruitment process isn’t complete when you hire someone who’ll diversify your workforce. Organisations must consider how to help that person find success in their new role. This involves examining the onboarding process. Do they need any adjustments in their new work environment? This extra step will pay dividends. You’re doing everything you can to bring in an engaged and high-performing team member.
