6 Recruiting best practices to optimize your diversity & inclusion strategy

Did you know that 83% of Gen Z candidates say that a company’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion play’s a pivotal role in determining whether they choose to work there? Not only is D&I an important tickbox for attracting the right talent to your business, but the benefits of creating a more inclusive workplace are endless. Stats show that diverse teams contribute to greater innovation, boost creativity, increase the likelihood of profitability, and create employees who are more adaptable and possess improved capacity to handle competition. 

While almost every business wants to reap the rewards, reducing bias and altering long standing methods of recruiting and talent attraction takes radical action and introspection.

How can you alter your talent acquisition strategy to reduce bias and ensure a fairer, more inclusive, team of future employees? Here are 6 starting points to implement in your recruitment process:

#1 Target diverse candidates

It may seem like an obvious – and often overlooked – first step, but using traditional methods to advertise a new job opening (such as job boards, referrals and web recruiting platforms) often limit your scope when it comes to attracting the diverse candidates you so desperately seek.

Leveraging alternative methods like posting job ads on social media sites like LinkedIn or Instagram may broaden your candidate pool. Using platforms specific to the niche diverse pool you want (like exploring an online group restricted to women in the pharmaceutical industry) could direct you precisely to the candidates you desire.

Exploring passive talent pools through partnership with an established talent acquisition agency can do wonders for boosting diversity in your candidate pool.

#2 Reduce unconscious bias

Whether we admit it or not, unconscious bias slips in for all of us in a number of situations. Awareness of this bias and seeking out methods to reduce it is key to optimizing diversity in your talent acquisition strategy.

Some tangible methods for reducing this bias include:

• Training of all parties involved in the recruitment process concerning their biases (because awareness is the first step to change)
• Using blind CVs to remove any and all personal information such as names, marital status, schools, dates of birth, locations etc from the application
• Conducting initial ‘blind’ interviews with candidates by use of text-based questions to reduce prejudice
• Use of tech and AI tools to replace the manual shortlisting of candidates. These tools can rate and rank candidates based on set criteria, reducing unconscious bias and any potential human error, placing applicants on a level playing field
• Avoiding the use of social media for candidate screening early on in the recruitment process.

#3 Consider diversity in job descriptions

Job descriptions are often the first taste a potential employee has of your business; either functioning as your greatest ally or largest foe when it comes to attracting the broad talent pool you desire. 

Begin by auditing your job description to ensure it is aligned with your D&I requirements:

• Eliminate any language indicating you are in search of candidates of a particular gender, ethnicity or background. For example, using words like ‘salesperson’ instead of ‘salesman’ and avoiding discriminatory terms like ‘native English speaker’
• Avoid stereotyping, for example, assuming that women are associated with domestic activities such as caregiving. 
• Avoid age restrictions such as ‘recent graduates’ or ageist language like ‘young’ or ‘energetic’
• Avoid language that discriminates against persons with disabilities, for example ‘walking to the warehouse floor’ or ‘able-bodied’ and ‘healthy’
• Steer clear of gender-specific role generalizations. Change terms such as ‘maternity’ for ‘parenthood’ to avoid assuming that raising children is merely the responsibility of women
• Establish clear selection criteria by understanding the core values of your company and aligning them with specific behaviours instead of personality traits.

#4 Standardize interview procedures

Interviews are common places where discrimination creeps into the hiring process and creates unconscious bias and preference among interviewers. How can this be avoided? 

Start by not going off script. This makes it easier to compare and contrast different interviews and give a fairer benchmark for weighing up the pros and cons. 

• Have pre-prepared set questions for all candidates
• Don’t allow panelists to deviate from the set structure 
• Give all candidates the same time allocation for interviews and assessments.

#5 Build a diverse recruitment team

We all know the undeniable shortfalls of unconscious bias (even post-diversity training) within the hiring process. So what more can be done to create a more diverse talent pool? The answer is creating a diverse panel of assessors from the start of the hiring funnel (from the writing of job descriptions to the creation of selection criteria and the interviewing process). 

Some facts to consider:

• More diverse hiring panels result in diverse perspectives and opinions
• Creating a hiring policy that requires underrepresented groups to join interview panels has the potential to create a positive step for change in organizations lagging behind
• Aligning with an experienced talent acquisition partner with a broader perspective on the talent pool which seeks out passive candidates through the adoption of a long-tail approach to hiring.

#6 Create an inclusive brand

Before candidates even begin the application process, they are likely to conduct a thorough audit of your organization to assess your inclusivity. Focusing on D&I in your employer branding is key to creating a more inclusive talent acquisition strategy.

Candidates may review the following brand content:

• Employee reviews
• Website content and images
• Company messaging and values
• Photography and imagery
• Job adverts
• Blogs
• Newsletters
• Podcasts and more.

Recruiting teams need to ask themselves the question: Does my company branding show that we not only embrace but celebrate a diverse team and create a sense of belonging for all employees? 

Driving a long-term, inclusive talent acquisition strategy can be a tall order for many established and start-up companies. That’s why partnering with a reputable talent acquisition agency is key to springboarding your recruitment efforts in the right direction.