5 ways to make your recruitment process more inclusive
Creating an inclusive recruitment process is not just a matter of fairness but also a strategic move that allows businesses to tap into a wider talent pool.
By welcoming diversity and reducing bias, companies can create a more creative and vibrant workforce. Whether you want to improve gender balance, support underrepresented groups, or ensure every candidate feels respected, there are practical steps to make your hiring process more inclusive.
Here are five simple ways to make your recruitment efforts more open and equitable for everyone.
Set inclusive goals
Start by assessing your current workforce to identify any gaps in diversity or areas for improvement. Use this analysis to set specific, measurable goals that align with your recruitment strategy.
By setting clear goals, you can ensure your hiring process actively seeks to address these gaps, creating a more diverse and equitable workplace over time.
Engage others
Creating and building inclusive goals and a plan of action to implement them shouldn’t be done alone. You should consider looking at engaging with your existing team and involving them in the process.
It’s ok to openly say that you feel your team lacks diversity and that you plan to adopt a more inclusive way of hiring to address that. Actively ask different members of your team at different levels for their ideas and opinions.
Broaden your search
Simply posting job openings and hoping for a diverse pool of applicants isn’t enough to attract a wide range of talent.
To truly foster inclusivity, you need to be more strategic about where and how you promote your job opportunities. Assess the platforms you use to advertise roles. Consider expanding to job boards, social media groups, or organisations that focus on underrepresented communities.
Proactively sourcing candidates from diverse backgrounds will help you create a more varied and inclusive talent pipeline.
Take a look at your language
When you’re working in an industry it becomes common practice to use certain terms/acronyms. Including these in a job advert may put people off applying for your role.
This also applies to the use of certain systems. If you use a certain software at your business, consider whether the new hire needs experience using this or whether experience using a different software could be transferred.
You should also make sure that your advert uses inclusive terms and doesn’t refer to any specifics around the applicant’s gender, race, ethnicity or anything else that could be seen as discriminatory.
Blind sifting
Some applicant tracking systems have the ability to anonymise applications received. This means that the recruitment team or hiring manager will only see information relevant to their experience, skills and abilities.
Sadly, according to research by Oxford University, candidates in the UK are up to 60 per cent less likely to receive a call-back for a job if they have a “foreign sounding” name.
Whilst you may be fully onboard with inclusive hiring and not one of the companies making a judgement call based on someone’s name, blind sifting can help to strengthen your commitment to inclusivity.
If you would like more information on how to foster a more inclusive culture, visit the Inclusive Employers website.