How to Improve Diversity in Recruitment

Enhanced creativity. Fresh innovation. Increased profit potential.

The argument for workplace diversity has never been stronger – and odds are your competitors are already racing to adopt it.

Make no mistake – if you want to stay ahead in a rapidly changing world, diverse recruiting is a weapon you want on your side, and it needs to become your focus right now.

But what exactly is diverse recruiting, how can you implement it, and where’s the best place to start?

In this article, we’re going to dive into diverse recruiting as a whole and give you 4 tips you can action right now to help build a more inclusive, more engaged and ultimately more productive workforce. Read on to find out more.

 

First things first – what exactly is diverse recruiting?

It’s an uncomfortable truth of the industry that recruiters are fighting hard to fix – the traditional workplace recruitment process is inherently biased.

By allowing factors such as age, sex and race to play a part in the hiring process, employers run the risk of building a stagnant workforce that starves them of the creativity they need to grow.

Diverse recruiting aims to put an end to this.

By ensuring talent is hired based solely on skills and merit, employers can construct teams of qualified, diverse professionals that bring the perspective they need to drive ongoing innovation.

 

4 diverse recruiting tactics to implement – right now

Give your business the fuel it needs to stay ahead by implementing these 4 diverse recruiting tactics:

 

1. Build a benchmark for your business

Every business is different, so knowing where you currently stand in terms of diversity should be your top priority.

So, take the time to gain that much-needed perspective by working out what your current workplace diversity looks like.

Once you’ve got the data, it’s time to start analysing.

Ask yourself:

• What does your current workforce look like in terms of race, ethnicity, sex and skills?
• Where do your current strengths lie?
• Where are your current weaknesses?

Use your answers as the foundations of your diverse recruitment strategy going forward.

 

2. Remove bias from your initial hiring process

It’s an uncomfortable fact of recruitment – age, race and sex are still deciding factors in who gets hired and who doesn’t.

This absolutely shouldn’t be the case but sadly this bias is often completely unconscious. Whilst there’s debate as to the effectiveness of unconscious bias training, two effective solutions you can implement right now are:

a. Remove personal information from CVs

Dates of birth, names, race, sex – it’s time to blank them out. If you want to build that all-important diverse workforce, you need to stop hiring based on this information and start hiring based on skills.

b. Consider swapping to text-based initial interviews

Instead of booking face-to-face meetings, conduct initial application qualification using a quiz-like online form with text-based questions. Not only will you remove all bias from the initial hiring process (including interview bias), you’ll even free up HR resource and reduce time-to-hire.

 

3. Use referrals to your advantage

Already got some diversity within your current workforce? Build on it! In a competitive job market, a referral from a friend can go a long way to helping you secure highly skilled, hotly-contested talent.

To help encourage talent referrals from within your workforce, consider implementing a rewards program and communicating it to your employee. This doesn’t necessarily have to be monetary, either – you could consider offering anything from additional holiday to experience-based gifts and even simple social recognition.

To find out what will stick, survey your team and find out what kind of rewards they value. Trust us – the results will likely surprise you!

4. Build diversity into your brand

If you’re looking to bring diverse recruiting into your business, your end goal needs to be an automated, sustainable process that will provide your teams with the talent they need for the long term.

One of the most effective ways to do this – and to get the talent to come to you – is by building your cultural diversity into your brand.

We’ve seen this in recent years with engineering. More and more frequently, employers are celebrating the broad spectrum of skills, ethnicities and backgrounds of their valued team members across their digital and print marketing.

By broadcasting the fact that you’re an inclusive workplace that hires based on skills, not bias, you’ll distinguish yourself from your competitors and attract the diverse talent you need to drive your business forward.