11th November 2022 5 MIN READ •Recruitment Trends •Talos ATS
Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) is still one of the most prominent issues discussed in the world of HR, with many organisations striving to hire a diverse workforce. Simply put, D&I is about providing equal career opportunities for all people – regardless of their gender, race, sexuality, or socio-economic background.
Here, we explore Talos360’s simple steps that will help make recruitment more inclusive and offer tips on how to hire a diverse workforce.
What is workforce diversity?
A diverse workforce is characterised not only by a range of cultural backgrounds, but also by a wide range of skills, experiences, and opinions.
Diversity is a topic that most people have become familiar with in the 21st century; it’s now seen as one of the core values of modern society. We see it as a sign of equal opportunity for people of all cultural backgrounds – but in the workforce, it is much more than that.
Promoting tolerance in the workplace is not a surefire way to achieve workforce diversity. Instead, action must be taken to ensure that your recruitment strategy is geared up to attract and hire a diverse workforce.
Why is inclusive recruitment important?
A diverse & inclusive workforce is a powerful asset for your business, driving innovation, creativity, trust and can even see productivity rates improve by as much as 50%.
By attracting diverse talent through inclusive recruitment practices, you gain a wider range of opinions, ideas, and unique talents within your team. This helps your company think outside the box, and approach projects and campaigns with a strong, well-connected strategy.
Uncovering how to hire a diverse workforce helps to secure a fair job market for people of all ages, cultures, genders, and social classes. This benefits everyone – from job-seekers to your clients and customers – ensuring your company approaches business innovatively from every angle.
How to make recruitment more inclusive
Promoting tolerance within your workforce is one thing, but ensuring that you follow the best practices to achieve true diversity is another matter completely.
Here are some of the steps you can take to make your opportunities appeal to a diverse range of candidates and help you hire a diverse workforce.
1. Avoid ‘exclusive’ language in job advertisements
Your recruitment advertising strategy is what first attracts talent to your vacancies. Unfortunately, it’s easy to unintentionally deter valuable candidates by using exclusive language in job posts. This may include using gendered job titles, such as waitress or repairman, which can alienate a huge portion of potential applicants.
To make your recruitment more inclusive ensure language used in job titles and descriptions is inclusive; avoid gendered terms, as well as age-discriminatory language. This will ensure your vacancies appeal to a more diverse pool of talent.
2. Anonymise job applications to reduce bias
Unconscious bias is a huge obstacle when seeking to make recruitment more inclusive. This is the unintentional prejudice that affects the decisions of hiring managers and may relate to any aspect of race, gender, age, or cultural background.
In order to reduce the risk of unconscious bias and increase your chances of hiring diverse talent, it’s important to anonymise job applications by removing key candidate information – such as age, gender, and name. This means hiring managers can judge applicants solely on their skills and compatibility, rather than being influenced by additional factors.
3. Use recruitment software to anonymise candidates
Anonymising candidates can be difficult, especially in small-scale recruitment campaigns. By using simple hiring software tools, such as an applicant tracking system, you can automatically remove personal details from candidate profiles. This includes hiding names, age, and ethnicity of individual applicants.
By enabling anonymised hiring, candidates will be displayed and ranked in your database based on the strength of their application alone. This makes it easier to promote diversity & inclusion in the selection process – vastly improving your chances of hiring diverse talent.
4. Record interviews for unbiased analysis
Job interviews are the most crucial point in the hiring process; they allow both candidates and employers to assess mutual compatibility for the role in question. It’s important to approach this stage with a strong strategy to make recruitment more inclusive.
Unfortunately, unconscious bias can heavily affect your interview process with an estimated 60% of interviewers making a decision about a candidate’s suitability within the first 15 minutes of an interview. Hiring managers may be unintentionally influenced by candidates’ personal traits rather than their skills and compatibility. This may include aspects as simple as accent, ethnicity, or even tone of voice.
Recording video interviews is a great way to make your recruitment process more inclusive. This allows you to involve more key decision-makers in the review and selection process, reducing the risk of individual bias. Staging virtual interviews, such as video/voice meetings, promotes diversity & inclusion, as well as helping you to hire a diverse workforce.
5. Promote your diversity & inclusion employer brand values
Your employer brand is the first impression potential applicants get of your company and its ethos. With 86% of candidates looking to join a business with values that match their own, it’s crucial to get this part right.
Make sure to promote your diversity & inclusion values in careers website content, social media engagement, and job advertisements. This will help you hire diverse talent – reducing any fear of potential bias.
While inclusive recruitment may seem like a given in today’s society, it’s always important to promote your inclusive values when defining your employer brand. Whether this relates to ethnicity, age, gender, or cultural background, making candidates feel welcome is crucial when hiring a more diverse workforce.
6. – Review your recruitment process for diversity & inclusion challenges
No matter how effective you perceive your company’s D&I strategy to be, improvements can always be made to ensure best practices in line with current trends.
By reviewing diversity and inclusion in your recruitment process, you can recognise your strengths and make vital improvements where needed to make recruitment more inclusive in your organisation.
Diversify your hiring process…
Talos ATS: Discover how to hire a diverse workforce
Want an easier way to make recruitment more inclusive in your business? Talos ATS is the answer!
Talos ATS is the ultimate all-in-one hiring platform, giving employers a better way to attract, manage, and hire diverse talent. The platform provides a number of tools to promote diversity & inclusion:
- CV redaction
- Unbiased scorecards
- D&I reporting features
- AI-powered Interview Insights
- Science-based candidate assessments
- Anonymised hiring to reduce unconscious bias
- Video screening, interview, and recording platform
- Accessible candidate profiles for greater decision-maker involvement
- Job advertising posting and optimisation for D&I and maximum engagement
Discover the easiest way to promote an efficient and inclusive hiring process:
