How to create an inclusive recruitment process and build diverse teams.

How to create an inclusive recruitment process and build diverse teams.

It’s a well-known proven fact that diverse teams drive improved performance and revenue. It’s also true that many businesses fail to build a diverse workforce. Organisations such as McKinsey have been tracking performance over time, and have found that the business case for diversity has never been stronger.

To create diverse teams, you need to start at the beginning with your recruitment process. Creating an inclusive hiring process will remove barriers and ensure fair access to all, embrace differences and help build an inclusive workplace culture. 

What is diversity?

A common misconception is that diversity is only about visual differences – disability, gender, age and ethnicity for example. And it’s true that many well-established EDI metrics, such as the gender pay gap, monitoring BAME representation on boards etc focus on these. Of course, representation across these groups is extremely important, and whilst there is a lot of debate around the benefits and limitations of these measures, any move to improve diversity generally is a good thing.

But, these visual differences are merely the tip of the iceberg. We all have different characteristics, backgrounds and experiences. Many of these fall below the water line; they are invisible.

A workforce comprising of people with varying opinions and contrasting viewpoints contributes to businesses in different ways. Recognising and listening to new perspectives boosts creativity and innovation, builds an inclusive company culture and opens a business up to new exciting ideas.

Contrast that with organisations run and staffed by people who all have similar experiences and think in the same way, and you can see how this can stifle growth. Where are the new ideas coming from? Who will challenge existing processes? How will you encourage new ways of thinking? 

If your recruitment process is set up to hire more of the same, you will miss out on opportunities that will come from creative thinking outside the norm.

Bias in the recruitment process

It’s very easy to see how common biases creep into the recruitment process.

"This is cutting-edge technology, we need to find someone young who understands it."

"They’ve worked at the market leader before, they must be great."

"That university hasn’t got a great reputation, let’s not interview them."

"This is a really demanding role with lots of travel, it’s probably not suited to parents."

Every HR team and hiring manager is pushed for time and for roles with hundreds of CV’s to sift, it’s natural to want to discount candidates quickly. But, making assumptions based on factors such as name, age, parental status, disability, education or anything else means you are already starting to let your biases take control. 

It’s impossible to banish your biases…

Unconscious bias is inherent in every one of us. It’s impossible to eliminate it. We make hundreds of decisions every day that are driven by our subconscious. We are shaped by factors embedded in our personality over years, influenced by who we mix with, our family background, education, work experiences, the media, our interests, where we live and so on.

And yes, unconscious bias can lead organisations to hire similar people rather than opening opportunities to bring in a more diverse candidate pool. So, how do you get around this?

Instead of trying to banish our biases, we need to acknowledge them and take steps to mitigate them.

…but you can reduce them through an inclusive recruitment process

So, if it’s not possible to eliminate biases, how do you create an inclusive, welcoming recruitment experience which minimises bias and creates a level playing field for all applicants, regardless of their background?

1)    Work with an inclusive recruiter

One of the best ways is to work with a recruitment agency experienced in running inclusive processes, such as Boston Hale, a certified Inclusive Recruiter.
Every stage of our process has checks and objectivity baked in. From sourcing methods to shortlist presentation, inclusive interviews to candidate evaluation, our process is designed to encourage people with the right skills to apply. And importantly, to avoid discouraging people with the right skills to apply. 

Want to find out more about how we do it? Contact us for details.

2)    Elevate your listening skills

No one has ever criticised anyone for listening too much! In our fast-paced world, with the sheer volume of distractions and communication channels at our fingertips, we have shorter and shorter attention spans. 
If you and your recruitment team colleagues are not fully engaged at all stages, you are in danger of biases creeping in and missing out on good candidates. Elevating your listening skills will benefit your recruitment efforts, and more besides.

3)    Training and development

Providing relevant training for your internal HR and hiring teams can play a key role in attracting a more diverse range of talent. Equipping people with the right skills will help build confidence in delivering inclusive hiring methods. And rolling out more broad ED&I training will help reinforce internal efforts to foster a company culture that welcomes all.

4)    Be open to change

A good starting point to minimising the effects of unconscious bias in yourself is to recognise that it exists and consciously try to challenge your own way of thinking. Take a pause and question the status quo  - ask why things are done in a certain way. Is there a better approach, or a different solution? 

Try to encourage others to listen to new ideas and perspectives, encourage people to challenge accepted ways of thinking. Lead by example – be curious, reflective and open to change in your every day decision making.

5)    Act on feedback about your candidate experience

First impressions matter. Delivering a positive candidate experience is essential to building your reputation as an inclusive employer. Communicate carefully, be consistent and honest.

Candidates won’t expect you to know everything about their background and lived experience, but they will expect to be treated with respect regardless of any differences. Gathering feedback from candidates, successful and unsuccessful, can provide valuable insights you can use to improve the process for future candidates and create a positive impression of your brand.

Building diverse teams takes time

There are likely to be some quick wins you can implement straight away to improve your hiring processes, and we can help with this. However, like any business change, to fully embed best practice will take time. 
Start by evaluating your current practice, identify areas for improvement and assess the capability of your teams. Use this information, along with advice from an Inclusive Recruiter like Boston Hale, to implement improvements.

Once you’ve developed robust, inclusive recruitment practices, set goals, track and measure results.   

A key point to remember, though. Embedding inclusive hiring techniques will guarantee an inclusive process - welcoming to all candidates regardless of their differences, creating a level playing field and ensuring you meet all candidates with the relevant skills. It won’t guarantee a visually diverse shortlist.

Building diverse teams starts with an inclusive recruitment process.

If you want to retain diverse teams and keep them motivated and engaged? Well, that’s another topic entirely!

To find out more about our inclusive hiring process, contact us.

Follow Boston Hale on LinkedIn for more insights on how to build, retain and motivate diverse teams.
 

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