Diversity and inclusion aren’t just a product of some nanny-state initiative.
It is proven to reward businesses and institutions with many benefits. ✊
It’s also a major factor for jobseekers, with 67% deeming a diverse workforce as an important factor when applying for jobs.
With this in mind, it’s vital to make sure you are including this in your recruitment process, or you might lose out on the ideal candidate.
So without further ado, here are some proven methods to improve diversity and inclusion with ease.
How to Improve Diversity and Inclusion in Recruitment 🏳️🌈
- Measure Your Diversity and Inclusion Progress 📏
Setting goals with clear Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) will solidify and verify your diversity and inclusion recruitment process.
For example, you will set short-term and long-term KPIs to measure your progress.
This will include things like:
- A gender-balanced applicant pool ✅
- A percentage of diverse applicants ✅
- A percentage of hired diverse applicants ✅
- Using inclusive language throughout job advertisements ✅
Being able to measure and monitor your performance will help you structure and improve your diversity and inclusion recruitment strategy.
- Recruitment Bias Awareness 🧠
Unconscious bias is a tricky customer when it comes to recruitment.
Seeing as it is on an unconscious level it’s much harder to detect and rectify.
These unconscious biases come in different forms, including:
- Geographical bias – Making assumptions based on an individual’s culture, community, or origin of birth. 🌎
- Educational bias – Stereotyping someone on their academic background, be it highly educated or a lack of. 🧮
- Gender bias – Placing expectations on a person due to their gender. ♀️♂️
- Affinity bias – Preferring someone because they’re like you or have things in common outside of the workplace. 🧑🤝🧑
A great way to counteract unconscious bias in recruitment is to utilise popular automation tools.
- Widen Your Scope of Diverse Groups 🔭
Diversity doesn’t just involve race, gender and sexuality.
There are so many more social groups to consider, some of which are disadvantaged.
These communities include:
- Disabled people – Many disabled people are more than able and unwilling to work but face unfair biases and discrimination. 🦽
- Religious people – There are thousands of religions that aren’t always respected during the recruitment process. ⛪
- Lower/working-class – Too many managers or recruiters will judge someone socioeconomically, deeming someone to be less intelligent or capable due to their lower class standing. 🎩
- Cultural experience – There is such a range of cultural experiences that may not be respected or represented in the recruitment process or workplace. ☘️
- Avoid Exclusive Language 💬
The use of exclusive language comes down to unconscious bias again.
Words you’d assume are harmless may actually be off-putting to others.
For example, ‘Strong’, ‘Confident’ and ‘Competitive’, may apply to men well but not always women.
As a man, you may write with a masculine tone which for you is completely normal.
To help with this process you can:
- Create tone of voice (TOV) guidelines and specifications.
- Avoid complicated terminology or unnecessary language for entry-level jobs.
- Use an accessible font for people with dyslexia.
- Include a statement of your commitment to diversity and equality.
- List Your Job Ads on Diversity Job Boards 🌈
Many candidates who consider themselves to belong to diverse communities will most likely be using diversity job boards to find a job.
By placing job ads on these types of job boards, you will tap into a new spectrum of people.
A list of popular diverse job boards include:
- Diverse Jobs Matter – This job board is popular with job seekers and recruiters. In fact, 6,000 website visitors a week. It covers a wide range of job roles, communities and industries.
- LGBT Jobs and BME jobs – High profile organisations are known to advertise work to LGBT and BME communities.
- Investing in Women – This job board offers working mothers greater flexibility and understanding of their circumstances.
- Ex-Military Careers – This diverse job board helps ex-military men and women back into civilian life, with over 25,000 registered candidates and 600 registered businesses.
Why Diverse Recruitment is Important ✌️
The importance of diversity and inclusion in the recruitment process isn’t just a moral and social issue.
It’s also based on the successful results of diverse workplaces.
For example, companies with a diverse workforce are 43% more likely to gain higher profits.
So, whether you’re part of an in-house recruitment/HR team or an established recruitment agency, it pays to invest in a better diversity and inclusion strategy.
A good place to start is to take a look at AdBuilder and AdGrader.
These innovative platforms are the key to writing inclusive job adverts in a matter of minutes.
