Introducing best practice in recruitment
Only when an open recruitment process is in place, diversity in the workplace can be accomplished. But for this to happen, all stakeholders involved must move from good intentions to tangible action.
Organisational cultures and recruitment practices should be constantly reviewed to allow the creation of an inclusive workforce. The principles of diversity and inclusion must be reflected throughout and extended to all levels of the organisation – in all internal and external communication, activities and the employer brand.
While considerable work has been done to stamp out misguided practices, there are still a number of ways in which organisations can improve their hiring procedures, and rule out biases and inequalities for both entry-level and more senior roles.
The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) have released a Good Recruitment Campaign Practical Guide, covering diversity in recruitment processes, employment and business, an excerpt of which is shared below.
At a glance: Introducing best practice for recruiting diversely
DO
Ensure that job adverts are written in neutral language.
Advertise jobs using a wide variety of platforms to reach out to a larger and more diverse pool of talent.
Proactively offer flexible working arrangements to all applicants for as many roles as possible.
Clearly define a salary range for a role and include this in the job advert.
Use name-blind and context-blind recruitment processes.
Determine impartial, skills-based selection criteria to be used for all candidates.
Train hiring managers and other screening and interviewing staff in dealing with unconscious bias.
Regularly assess the success of the recruitment process, and form an action plan to improve future actions.
Set diversity and equality targets and measure your progress against these.
DON’T
Use loaded or gender-coded language in job adverts.
Hire exclusively through recommendations from current staff or personal networks.
Advertise roles as only full-time and office based, and discard flexible working at first encounter with candidates.
Focus on candidates’ pay history or use complex pay systems.
Shortlist candidates purely based on personal information or quotas.
Conduct one-on-one, unstructured interviews with candidates.
Hire like for like or hire solely based on working experience and personal assumptions.
Fail to request feedback from both successful and unsuccessful candidates.
Fail to regularly monitor the composition of your workforce and identify areas that must be improved.
To find out more on how to recruit diversely, and why diversity is good for business, visit REC’s Good Recruitment Campaign hub here.
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