5 equality diversity and inclusion steps to hit your recruitment goals

Your organisation may be keen to improve its equality, diversity and inclusion strategy (ED&I), and you may even have developed a set of targets. But how do you take meaningful action to achieve these goals? In short, how do you walk the walk?

The important thing to realise is that real change won’t happen overnight. It requires commitment, investment, and real drive to trigger culture change. This takes time and requires buy-in from as many stakeholders as possible.

But there are some tangible actions you can be taking right now. Let’s take a look at how equality, diversity and inclusion recruitment transformation can be kickstarted in the workplace, to bring about real, lasting change.

Review your current recruitment strategy

A great place to start is with hiring. Take the time to review your entire recruitment process from start to finish, putting it under the ED&I microscope. Identify where improvements are needed in order to attract more diverse talent into your hiring pipeline.

The next step is to introduce checks and balances along the way. This ensures you stay on track, and that everyone’s singing from the same hymn sheet. For example:

• Make use of inclusive imagery and storytelling when advertising roles and ‘selling’ your employer value proposition
• Include diverse and inclusive language in job postings and advertisements to attract a diverse candidate pool
• Utilise diverse recruitment sources, such as employee referral programs, diversity job boards and jobs fairs to reach underrepresented groups
• Consider alternative qualifications and experiences, rather than only traditional qualifications, to broaden the candidate pool and increase diversity
• Provide a video interview as an alternative to accommodate the preferences of the candidate
• Ensure a diverse panel of interviewers to provide different perspectives and avoid bias
• Create a welcoming and inclusive interview environment to make all candidates feel comfortable
• Use objective and standardised assessment tools to evaluate candidates, such as skills tests and behavioural interviews, to reduce bias in the selection process
• Provide clear communication and feedback to all candidates throughout your process
• Regularly review and evaluate your process to identify and address any areas possible indicators of bias

Audit your job ads

One effective strategy for attracting diverse talent is to review old recruiting ads and revise them to be more inclusive. Some of the language may be more appropriate for your targeted skills sets. If that's the case, find ways to be more inclusive to appeal to candidates from all backgrounds.

Using AI tools which help detect biased language is a useful way to make sure you aren’t using any discriminatory or bias language. Additionally, these tools can be used to analyse data from CVs and applications to identify any patterns of bias in the hiring process. For instance, AI algorithms can analyse data on who is being selected for interviews, who is getting offered jobs, and why. This data can provide valuable insights into where biases may be present and help organizations to develop strategies to eliminate them. At CAST, we use job advert posting software that includes a tool that automatically flags potentially discriminatory language.

Include a panel of interviewers to offer multiple perspectives

Using a panel of people in an interview is a smart move when it comes to hiring. With multiple perspectives, it becomes easier to assess a candidate's skills, experience, and cultural fit.

Additionally, a panel can help minimize bias, as each person brings their unique background and expertise to the table. It also allows for a more efficient hiring process, as multiple people can ask questions and evaluate the candidate simultaneously. All in all, using panel interviews are a great way to ensure you're making the best hiring decisions for your company.

Improve hiring managers' knowledge of ED&I

Continuously improving the ED&I knowledge of hiring managers is essential for fostering a more inclusive and equitable workplace culture. This training can assist hiring managers in recognising and addressing unconscious biases, resulting in more diverse candidate pools and better, more informed recruiting decisions.

Additionally, an inclusive recruiting process may improve the applicant experience, boost employee happiness and morale, and decrease turnover. Companies may give training sessions, workshops, and other educational tools to enhance the skills of their hiring managers, and it is crucial that ED&I is a constant part of the dialogue in order to support continual learning and development.

Communicate any progress

Your employees (and potential hires) want to know what progress you’re making towards your ED&I commitments. Transparency is key here.

Not communicating actions and achievements – along with obstacles and challenges – is a missed opportunity. Put measures in place to accurately capture the data you need to demonstrate progress. Then, work on the best ways to communicate this clearly to your in-house team, and build it into your recruitment marketing strategy too.

Consistency is key – you need to do this regularly to prove that you’re serious with your intentions to improve ED&I.

Need specialist help to build a more diverse, creative and productive workforce? Hire with our expert recruitment team here at Cast UK. Get in touch to start your search.