6 Top Tips for your Diversity and Inclusion Recruitment Process

6 top tips to develop your diversity and inclusion recruitment process

1. Understand the business case

If your current workforce demographics do not represent the communities that you operate or serve in then recruiting diverse people is an essential element in the organisation’s inclusion and diversity journey.

There is a business case for all organisations as the global market for inclusion and diversity is projected to reach US$24.3 Billion by 2030 and treating it as a priority significantly increases the chances of retaining staff, including younger employees.

2. Think about job design, recruitment channels and application process

Exclusion can occur even before a job is advertised as the job design is often based on who has previously been in the role, who the manager envisages doing the job, or what fits the current status quo. Because of these factors, unconscious bias begins to creep into the way the role profile and advert are created, which is why it is essential to develop your diversity and inclusion recruitment process.

Advertising the role is all about casting the net as far and wide as possible. The aim is to have a high volume of appropriate candidates.

Aspects that can cause exclusion, discrimination or reduce the diversity of the candidate pool in advertising and application are:

• Advertising only in industry-specific publications/websites
• Not advertising and only using a recruiter to headhunt without including diversity requirements in their brief
• Not being clear on the advert what flexible options are available (or not)
• Only advertising for a short window (couple of days) or pulling the advert sooner than advertised
• ‘One-click’ CV options which don’t allow for contextualising of experience or skills

The language that you use in job descriptions is also very important to consider. Make sure you are using inclusive language. For example, gendered language and criteria which have been shown to attract males/females more: Criteria like ‘competitiveness’, ‘assertiveness’ or ‘driven’ are all words which are more appealing to men (or those who identify with masculinity).

That is not to say that women, trans people and non-binary people cannot identify with these characteristics, but research shows they are less likely to describe themselves in this stereotypical masculine language. Make sure language in job descriptions and adverts is gender-neutral.

It is also important that the diversity and inclusion recruitment process allows all candidates to demonstrate their capabilities. There are many ways to assess a candidate’s competency for a role. In general, the best method is to use two or three different approaches that are relevant to the job role. It could be an interview, an in-tray exercise, a presentation, a timed test or a group assessment. The most important thing is that the skills necessary for the role to be performed are assessed in a fair and transparent manner.

3. Offer reasonable adjustments throughout the interview processes

There are candidates that may need reasonable adjustments to make their recruitment experience more inclusive, which could be anything from extra time to complete a task to a sign-language interpreter. This is could be particularly relevant for candidates who identity as disabled.

As part of your diversity and inclusion recruitment process, it’s important to make sure the advert has a clear statement about disability and a process which is simple and does not put the burden on the disabled person.  A disabled person may need a different adjustment at application, and the same for an interview and/or assessment, so check back with the person at each stage to see if any changes need to be made.

4. Support hiring managers to make the best inclusive decisions

According to the latest research, 39% of UK hiring managers have not received training in unconscious bias best-practice as part of the recruitment process (World Economic Forum, 2020).​

There can be a significant impact from unconscious bias throughout the recruitment process if the flow of decision-making isn’t well managed. Shortlisting can be a time-consuming process if there are high volumes of applicants. When planning a diversity and inclusion recruitment process factoring in enough time for shortlisting is essential.

Aspects that can cause exclusion, discrimination or reduce the diversity of the candidate pool in short listening are:

• Only one person making shortlisting decisions in isolation
• CVs that disclose personal information such as an address, name, education institutions
• A specific cap on the number of people allowed to be shortlisted (a guideline is better than a definitive number)
• Having an over-reliance on employee referrals as employees refer people like them, which doesn’t always support diversity
• Interviewing and assessments

As well as unconscious-bias training, it’s really important that anyone involved in making recruitment decisions or designing the diversity and inclusion recruitment process has completed inclusive recruitment training. It is much easier than managers think to fall foul of the law.

If managers are untrained, it is likely that the liability for any discrimination that occurs will fall to the employer and can lead to high-value pay-outs at an employment tribunal. Our CMI Inclusive Recruitment has been designed to support employees who are actively involved in developing the diversity and inclusion recruitment process in your workplace.

5. Standardise your approach to recruitment

As well as standardising your approach, ensure you regularly review how effective your diversity and inclusion recruitment process is. If everyone in the organisation is doing recruitment in their own way, it’s likely there is more room for bias, inconsistency and exclusion in the process.

6. Collect and review data continuously

Where possible collect, monitor and analyse data that tells the story of your diversity and inclusion recruitment process.  Where do applications tend to come from, are the approaches you implement leading to change? And of course, reach out to Inclusive Employers, we are always here to support you as you continue your inclusion journey.

How Inclusive Employers can support your diversity and inclusion recruitment process

After reading our top tips, we hope that you feel more confident to develop your diversity and inclusion recruitment process. If you would like to talk to us about the specifics of your organisation’s diversity and inclusion recruitment process our experts are here to listen and guide you. If you’re a member, why not speak to your Account Manager and explore our inclusive recruitment guide.

If you’re not a member, it’s still easy to talk to us. We can support with everything from a recruitment audit and training through to developing and writing recruitment policies. Start the conversation of getting support for your diversity and inclusion recruitment process by filling in the form below. We’d love to hear from you.