Diverse recruitment: Diversify your recruitment strategy

Increasingly, companies are appreciating the importance of a diverse workforce and the many benefits it brings to businesses.

In a recent study, 85% of UK employers said that increasing diversity in the workplace was a priority. By hiring candidates from a wide range of backgrounds, companies can gain access to a variety of skills, and perspectives, opening up new opportunities.

If you need more evidence of the benefits of diverse recruitment, just check out these statistics:

Teams that are geographically, gender and age-diverse make better business decisions 87% of the time.
Businesses with a healthy balance of men and women are 15% more likely to outperform their competitors.
Companies with employees from a mix of ethnic backgrounds are 35% more likely to outperform their competitors.
Diverse teams are shown to make decisions 60% faster than non-diverse teams.
Having a diverse workforce can increase job acceptances – 61% of women and 48% of men assess the diversity of a company’s leadership team when deciding to accept a job offer.

How can you create an effective diverse recruitment strategy?

Understand what ‘diverse recruitment’’ means.

In the workplace, diverse recruitment means hiring people with a variety of different characteristics, including different:

Ethnicities
Genders/Gender identities
Physical abilities
Ages
Social backgrounds
Educational backgrounds
Sexual orientation
Religious beliefs

Write better job descriptions

The language you use in a job description is important - it can often attract or deter specific groups of people.For example, words such as ‘dominant’ and ‘competitive’ can typically be seen as positive traits for men, but as negative attributes for women; so, a job spec with this type of language might deter some candidates from applying.

Keeping your writing balanced with appealing language to all groups of people can encourage a wider response to your vacancy and help you find the perfect person for the role.

Look for talent in different places

Only posting job adverts through traditional avenues can exclude some people. For example, posting job adverts online through social media or job boards can exclude those who don’t have social media, or even those who are visually impaired.

Don’t assume that everyone uses the same platforms to look for jobs - make sure to advertise through many avenues to encourage a more diverse range of responses. These can include referrals, recruitment events, press advertising and more.

Use assessment centres

Assessment centres are a great way to improve diverse recruitment - they give candidates a more equal opportunity to demonstrate their skills to the employer. Sometimes, face-to-face interviews aren’t enough to know if the candidate is right for the role - assessment centres can help employers to discover candidates’ skill sets, such as presentation, leadership and teamwork skills.

Assessment centres also assess people on their personality and motivations, rather than their educational background or work history alone. Learn more about assessment centres, their benefits and what’s typically involved.

Make your physical environment accessible to everyone

Companies should provide safe and accessible workplaces for all employees. That includes physical workspaces, if you require your employees to spend any time in the office (or at another physical work location).

For example, if your office space has multiple floors, it may be necessary to install a lift for those who can’t use stairs. Likewise, the building should be accessible, so a ramp or any other form of wheelchair access at the entrance is needed. Take a look around your workspace and ask yourself if it’s accessible for people with different impairments; if not, a renovation might be in order.

Record interviews

Making interviews accessible for others in the company to view can lessen the impact of unconscious bias. As Euan Cameron, CEO of video interview tech company Willoexplains: “Interviewers are less likely to make biassed decisions if they know others have access to the same data as they do.

Promote an inclusive workplace

Inclusion means treating employees fairly, providing everyone with equal opportunities, and helping them to show up authentically at work. Learn more about how to be inclusive in the workplace.