If your goal is to capture high-quality talent, it’s not something you should leave to chance.

More jobseekers than ever are considering DE&I as an important factor in their decision-making process. And organisations that don’t have an inclusive online presence are losing the best talent. In fact, 39% of candidates reject a role or do not proceed with a job application due to a perceived lack of inclusiveness.

If you’re struggling to find the talent you need, it could be that jobseekers don’t think your organisation is supportive of diversity, equity and inclusion.

The solution? Increase your organisation’s ability to hire great talent by authentically showcasing DE&I at each stage of the candidate journey. Positive imagery through your job ads, careers site and other channels will help you tell your DE&I story.

What is DE&I (diversity, equity and inclusion) and why does it matter?

More than a “set and forget” talent acquisition objective, companies with strong DE&I strategies create conditions where creativity, productivity and empathy thrive.

Truly diverse, inclusive and equitable workplaces are those with fair processes and an employee value proposition (EVP) that supports all people – regardless of age, gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, education, disability, beliefs and other attributes.

The benefits are clear. Gender-diverse companies are up to 21% more likely to experience above-average profitability than those that aren’t. Culturally-diverse companies are up to 33% more likely to outperform their less diverse counterparts. Inclusive teams have also been shown to make faster, better business decisions up to 87% of the time.

So, let’s talk about how the job search has changed and what this means for employer branding.

Today’s jobseekers do their homework

More than 75% of jobseekers state diversity is an important factor for them when evaluating companies and job offers.

Jobseekers search company channels for content that prioritises diversity, like:

• Videos, images and quotes on your website and careers site
• Employee-driven content, including social media posts and profile stories
• Statements about DE&I commitments and policies

That’s right. To attract DE&I jobseekers and diverse employees, companies need to share content that celebrates diversity and is inclusive of all people. Being deliberate with your imagery and language and showing how your company is committing to DE&I can help reinforce your identity as a company for diverse employees.

But remember: if your content doesn’t feature diverse perspectives and representation across all your channels, you run the risk of deterring high-quality candidates from applying. To ensure your content approach is authentic, rather than performative, use real photos of your employees instead of stock images. Candidates want to see content that’s true to a company’s core values and the initiatives it supports.

Are your job descriptions turning away certain applicants?

Often, a few word choices in a job description can unintentionally create bias and limit the size and diversity of your talent pool.

For example, underrepresented groups including women and BIPoC (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour) workers are less likely than others to identify as “experts” regardless of their experience or seniority. These demographics are also less likely to apply if they feel they don’t meet 100% of the listed role requirements.

The good news: there are plenty of modern solutions and tools available to assist. Online tools like Textio, can produce gender-neutral job listings. These flag areas for improvement by identifying problem spots in your word choices. (Think words like “competitive” which can be skewed towards males.)

While it’s great to use these tools and limit your list of “must haves”, it’s up to recruiters and employer brand specialists to review job ads carefully.

Does your website and careers site celebrate diversity?

Inclusive job descriptions are an important piece of the puzzle in the candidate experience. But the content on your website, homepage and careers site creates the bigger picture.

Let’s consider companies in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Women are doing incredible things in these industries and the number of females taking up these careers is on the rise. But a common question we hear from hiring managers is, “How can I attract more women to STEM roles?”

Share employee profile stories and other content that features women in STEM roles. This is a great tactic to organically attract women in these fields.

At the end of the day, there are many content pathways you can take to feature underrepresented groups. (Videos, images and stories all work well!)

Can you share employee quotes from BIPoC C-suite leaders on your careers site? What about a careers video featuring diverse team members in different roles?

Be authentic and creative in choosing the types of content you want to share. The possibilities are endless.

Doing the work is just as important

It takes time, effort and attention to build a diverse workforce. Yet diversity is only one part of DE&I. It’s only meaningful if you have the recruitment process and workplace culture to back it up. Providing employees with a sense of belonging, respect and support helps you retain the diverse talent you’ve worked so hard to recruit.

If there’s work to do, you might need to instil conscious inclusion efforts, like bias training, throughout your workplace. Or, embed diversity practices into your culture and everyday learning experiences. Programs, events, celebrations and mentoring are great avenues for this.

Successful DE&I programs don’t have an expiry date. But they are something to sustain and build on as an organisation. Not only will your continuous effort improve financial outcomes and business performance, it will enable you to attract diverse, high-quality candidates in a tight talent market.

This article originally appeared on PageUp, and was republished here with permission.

Marion Robinson is responsible for spearheading global growth for PageUp in all its forms. She provides strategic direction across PageUp’s client advocacy, partner alliance, marketing and brand-building programs, ensuring total alignment between them so as to deliver on the PageUp growth strategy. Leveraging a wealth of experience in client management roles across a range of industries including Banking, Human Resources and IT, Marion understands the daily people challenges of clients first-hand. 

The post What jobseekers really think about your DE&I practices appeared first on Recruitment Marketing.

It’s no secret that a diverse and inclusive workforce brings with it a multitude of benefits. In fact, you could wager that the vast majority of common business challenges could be solved by simply having a more diverse team to offer different perspectives, ideas, and solutions.

Yet for too many organisations, diversity and inclusion remain little more than buzzwords – and those who most want organisations to genuinely change can feel that. New research from Indeed reveals that there’s a considerable disconnect between how Australians believe workplaces treat minority groups and the lived reality of these groups. Our research found that 57% of working Australians understand ‘diversity and inclusion’ in the workplace to mean a scenario where all staff can be their true selves at work. However, two thirds (62%) of them admit to concealing part of their identity all or some of the time from their colleagues. And, almost a quarter (23%) say they can’t speak openly in the workplace without fear of criticism.

The findings are alarming and reiterate the fact that many organisations still have a long way to go when it comes to workplace diversity and inclusion. So, what can leaders do to ensure these concepts are more than just meaningless slogans in the workplace?

There are a number of ways to foster authentic diversity and inclusion. Building these strategies into your recruitment process is arguably the most important place to start. After all, a diverse workforce begins with a diverse candidate pool.

So, for those looking for some assistance on where to begin, here are some simple, practical ways to successfully build a diverse and inclusive recruitment process.

Broaden your search

When it comes to increasing diversity in your organisation, you need to try something different. Relying on the same recruitment strategy that you’ve used in the past may be limiting your business’ ability to recruit from a larger and more varied group of candidates. In addition to recruitment agencies, consider partnering with organisations dedicated to enabling greater diversity and inclusion in the workforce. The Australian Network on Disability helps connect your organisation to job seekers with a disability. Also, organisations like CoAct and Shine People Solutions work to find employment for refugees, Indigenous Australians, and the long-term unemployed.

What’s more, thanks to the growth of remote work and talent distribution outside traditional hubs, you can look for candidates located just about anywhere. When geography no longer limits your talent pool, you have more opportunities to attract great candidates. You can also focus on finding people with the skills and experience that most align with your company’s mission, rather than the right person for your postcode. This is a much better use of a recruiter’s time and is more likely to result in a successful hire.

Make your job descriptions more inclusive

The language you use in job descriptions could be limiting your talent pool. In fact, a study conducted by Harvard University found that women were less likely to apply for a role when the job description used words predominantly associated with masculine stereotypes.

For example, words such as ‘tough’, ‘dominant’, and ‘competitive’ are often associated with masculinity. Conversely, words like ‘nurturing’ and ‘supportive’ are associated with femininity. These gender-coded words may impact the likelihood of job seekers applying for roles within your company. Thus, a lack of gender diversity continues. Instead, opt for gender-neutral words like ‘motivated’, ‘professional’, ‘responsible’, and ‘quality’. This increases your chances of attracting a wider range of candidates.

Also, potential applicants shouldn’t have to conduct extensive research to discover the perks and benefits your company offers its employees. Be sure to list any benefits in your job postings so that you’re not limiting your talent pool. Include benefits like paid parental leave, flexible work options, or on-site childcare. Similarly, if your organisation has fully equipped parents’ rooms, accessible or unisex restrooms, or a variety of different lunch options in the cafeteria (i.e., halal, kosher, vegan, etc), it’s worth highlighting these too.

Use inclusive interview panels

During the recruiting process, the employer’s focus is often solely on the candidate pool. After all, the goal is finding the right talent for the role. However, this often means little attention is paid to the people who sit on the other side of the table during the interview process. Are they able to make decisions free from bias and favouritism?

Traditionally, a candidate typically only deals with one or two members of staff from the potential employer. This limits the likelihood of them meeting someone they can identify with. The more a candidate can see themselves working at your company, the greater your chances of hiring diversely. This is why it’s worth considering who sits on your interview panels. A panel of interviewers from different genders, ages, races, and professional backgrounds paints a picture of authentic diversity and inclusion. Allowing the candidate to see themselves represented in the team well before they’ve started their first day.

Use interview techniques designed to reduce unconscious bias

Stereotypes can play out in ways you’re not even aware of. This is why a gut instinct isn’t always reliable, as it’s often influenced by unconscious biases.

For example, if you have a good feeling about a candidate, it may be because they’re similar to you. Perhaps you live in a similar area or they did the same course at university. Ultimately, what may seem like a great personal connection doesn’t always translate to high job performance though.

Work to reduce unconscious biases in the recruitment process by conducting structured interviews with predetermined questions and a rubric for how to evaluate a good response. This way, you have the tools to objectively evaluate future job performance.

To make sure your structured interview runs smoothly, follow this best practice approach for diverse and inclusive recruitment:

1. Prepare a list of open-ended questions to ask candidates, considering both the hard and soft
   skills you’re looking for.
2. Provide interviewers with the questions and evaluative criteria before the interview so they can
   ask clarifying questions of the hiring manager ahead of time.
3. Ask candidates the same questions in the same order.
4. Evaluate candidates using standardised evaluative criteria, such as a rating scale or rubric (what
   a “poor,” “acceptable” or “great” response to each question looks like).

Consider supplementing structured interviews with blind reviews of resumes or cover letters. In blind reviews, the candidate’s personal information (including their name) isn’t revealed until near the end of the selection process. Withholding this information helps reduce the influence of unconscious bias from the hiring manager, which can lead to more diverse and inclusive recruitment practices.

Prioritising and actively cultivating diversity, inclusion, and belonging isn’t just good for your staff and employer brand. It can also help your business succeed. Companies with a diverse workforce are more likely to excel in productivity, performance, innovation, and even revenue. Put these tips into practice the next time your company is hiring and you’ll be on track to cultivating a truly diverse and inclusive workforce.

With more than 15 years of experience in the recruitment industry, Jay Munro has worked in a variety of roles in agencies and job boards, from consulting and recruiting, to leading the product development of new sourcing technologies. As an Employer Insights Strategist with the Indeed Employer Insights Team, Jay pairs platform data with industry trend analysis to share Indeed’s story and bring the value of the company’s programs and solutions to life.

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By now we’ve all heard the advantages of diverse and inclusive work environments. We know businesses who aren’t embracing inclusion in a meaningful way are being left behind, both as employers and marketplace performers. So how do we begin to craft diversity and inclusion strategies for our organisations that actually work?

There is no one-size-fits-all solution for a successful diversity and inclusion strategy, but here are some top tips to ensure your efforts genuinely attract, support and allow underrepresented groups to thrive in your workforce:

DO start by collecting all the data you can 

If you’re considering crafting a diversity strategy for your business, knowing where to start can seem like an overwhelming task.

But like any journey, you need to understand where you are before you can start plotting a way forward.

We have access to more data than ever before to measure what’s happening in our companies. And more channels of communication to ask deeper questions. Go beyond an audit of the race, gender, sexual orientation, age, nationality and disability already within your organisation. Investigate the family status, the languages spoken, the education levels, personality types and other defining life experiences.

From there, encourage your teams and employees to express their needs, to point out their barriers and what DE&I would look like to them. They can do this through regular feedback events or town hall-style meetings, or through one-on-one sessions where they have a safe space to share their feedback.

By opening up dialogues your employees are going to do most of the hard work for you.

DO implement strategies that cover the employee lifecycle 

An inclusion strategy should be (by definition) inclusive. Inclusive in regard to the respect and opportunities given to every employee, and inclusive across every aspect of the employment lifecycle. Yet too often, DE&I strategies are mistakenly deployed and targeted exclusively within the recruitment stage of an employee’s experience.

Yes of course it is important to have a strong recruiting selection and screening strategy free from biases for/against any individual or group of society and promotes a broader range of skills and experiences in your teams. But your inclusion strategies shouldn’t end as soon as they’ve signed the employee contract.

Inclusion is ongoing — not a once-off training video.

Similarly, for real change to happen, every employee whether they’re a temporary intern, a senior manager or the CEO, needs to buy into the value of inclusion — both intellectually and emotionally.

Visionary speeches and glossy corporate brochures have little impact alone. The CEO and other senior leaders should be visible at workshops, training programmes and during Q&A sessions on diversity. If diversity goals are set top-down, it is more likely they can be implemented company-wide.

DO example your language 

To be effective recruiters and diversity practitioners, we need to stay abreast of new words, concepts, and trends impacting our work and the people we work with. Language has the ability to build relationships and forge connections, but it’s equally capable of creating barriers and impacting someone’s sense of belonging.

Ensuring all your initiatives, campaigns, and marketing collateral are written to reflect the world around us takes a precise use of language and means acknowledging the intersectionality of people’s identities.

What is intersectionality? It describes the multiple layers of people’s identity. Take for instance the term “colourblindness” — a practice in which racial identity is avoided — this term denies the intersectionality of people identity by ignoring how perceptions, thoughts and experiences are shaped by identity. Like many other factors – gender, religion, socio-economic status – race is a basic ingredient to the make-up of our being, whether or not you consciously acknowledge its role in your life.

The idea is if you start with this idea of intersectionality, you embrace the complexity of your employees, and your strategies no longer focus on quotas and tokenism, but by the question ‘who might this phrasing be excluding?’

DON’T aim for equality – equity should be the goal 

Another nuance of precise language lies in the definition of the ‘E’ in your DE&I strategy.

While the terms ‘equity’ and ‘equality’ may sound similar, the implementation of one versus the other can lead to dramatically different outcomes for underrepresented people.

What’s the difference? Equality means every individual or group of people is given the exact same resources or opportunities. Whereas Equity recognises the different circumstances of each person, and allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed for everyone to reach an equal outcome.

Think of it like feeding a tyrannosaurus rex, a tortoise and a gecko lizard. Equality would give each reptile the exact same meal of the exact same size. Whereas Equity understands the dietary needs of each individual species and gives them each what they need to survive and thrive.

There are no quick fixes to creating effective DE&I strategies

Diversity and inclusion aren’t just marketing trends like adopting Tik Tok or Snapchat into your recruitment strategy. These strategies are vital to shifting systemic disparities. This requires a willingness to continually examine and address the data you collect, the people involved and the language you use.

Jane Bianchini is the Founder & CEO of Alcami Interactive, an online, data-driven video interviewing platform promoting Diversity & Inclusion and minimising bias in the recruitment process for positive impact. With more than 20 years’ experience in the IT/HR/Recruitment industries, Jane has held senior executive positions in large organisations and SMEs across the Asia Pacific. She is well known for her courage, resilience and boundless positive energy.

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Once, people teams had the luxury of time to plan, test and tweak approaches. Now, many of us are taking it day by day: ten-year plans have been scrapped, and ‘business as usual’ is a distant memory. Many TA teams and HR leaders are looking for guidance.

In times like these, we look to the experts for advice and predictions in an unpredictable landscape. Industry commentators like Hung Lee have their finger on the pulse of what it means to recruit in 2021, and can help make sense of a landscape that’s shifting every day.

Speaking in a recent PageUp webinar, Hung Lee outlined his 8 key talent acquisition trends for the new year. This is by no means an exhaustive list – but it is a good way to check that your organisation is on the right track.

Here’s what we know so far about what matters in recruiting in 2021:

• Everyone is an international recruiter
• Digital transformation and automation take centre stage
• There are new challenges and considerations for diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I)
• Alumni (former employees) become an organisation‘s greatest asset
• Employer branding becomes a non-negotiable
• Internal mobility evolves into a key source of quality talent.

2020 was the year that HR truly stepped up and took a seat at the table. In 2021, it’s time to continue that momentum and take the lead in transforming workplaces for the new world of work.

Talent acquisition trend 1: The global talent pool

COVID-19 has accelerated once-distant trends and forced the world’s biggest work-from-home experiment. Even laggards have been forced to adopt remote tech – and organisations are realising it can work. In spite of organisational complexities and the challenges of remote work, up to 37% of jobs can now be done fully remotely. In the US, there was a 150% increase in remote jobs from 2019 to 2020. In the UK, there was a 342% increase in the same period (Iain Moss, Adzuna, 2020). In Australia, there was more than a 200% increase in remote work in some states (NSW, ACT and Victoria).

Organisations are getting into the groove of remote work, and this has opened up possibilities for a global network of talent. No longer constrained by brick and mortar offices, organisations can hire the best people in the world – not just their city. In 2021, everyone is an international recruiter.

“Moving the job to where the people are is increasing,” says Hung Lee, curator of recruitment industry newsletter Recruiting Brainfood. Lee observes that “remote means anywhere” – and with technology improving and C-suite leaders enjoying the cost reduction of work-from-home arrangements, TA will shift from on-premise to remote hiring.

This brings about major changes:

• Moving away from the traditional full-time hiring cycle, remote workers can be freelancers and contractors. This trend lends itself to a “try before you buy” approach, according to Lee.
• There is zero friction for talent to move from company to company – which means the employee experience is more important than ever
• Compensation is set by elite organisations. No longer confined to local salary benchmarks, smaller players may struggle to compete with salaries offered by large organisations. For many jobseekers, the ability to live in their hometown but get paid a New York-level salary is appealing – and makes it hard for local organisations to compete
• Competition for top talent is global.

Talent acquisition trend 2: Digital transformation and automation becomes a priority

In a year of constant disruption, even the most progressive companies have had to think on their feet. They’ve achieved this agility through workforce automation. Research shows that 92% of senior executives agree that the lockdown period has made digital transformation a priority.

COVID-19 has forced the automation of in-person human roles, where possible. At the same time, remote working has flourished and given way to a raft of digitisation and automation. RPA (recruitment process automation) has delivered unparalleled efficiencies in the recruiting process, spurred on by reduced TA headcount and recruiters simply having to do more with less. What was once paper-based, manual and resource-intensive (multiple recruiters and interviewing rooms, onerous rounds of shortlisting and assessments) has become streamlined and fully digital.

Talent acquisition trend 3: Alumni form part of the talent community

“Retain the relationship, not the employee” recruiting guru Bill Boorman advises. This year, cash-strapped and time-poor recruiting teams are turning to the ‘talent community’ – alumni, silver-medalists and internal talent – as a source of pre-vetted, quality hires.

The return of the talent community creates a new job for recruiters – engaging talent even after they’ve left the organisation. In the past, once someone walked out the door they were often gone for good. Now, HR teams are acquainting themselves with the concept of ‘Boomerang employees’ – those that leave the business then eventually return. These people are an invaluable source of qualified talent, external referrals and, when treated well, should become lasting employer brand champions.

As people flow through the company from candidate to employee and eventually alumni, someone has to own and track this experience to ensure it’s a great one. Some organisations are approaching this by having a community manager that manages and engages people outside of the company. Others are developing alumni networks and using their career site as a leveraging point to attract alumni back.

Hung Lee shares key ways to engage alumni:

• Make relationships the entire point
• Bridge community & company. Careers sites are a great way to do this
• Treat talent mobility the same as career development
• That development might exist outside the company
• Not a single career path but career optionality

Talent acquisition trend 4: DE&I

In a year that’s brought us a global pandemic, political unrest and a worldwide shift to remote work, it would take a lot to capture our attention. And yet in 2020, DE&I did just that. As Black Lives Matter protests spread awareness and action around the world, the importance of racial equality, diversity and inclusivity in our own organisations captured the spotlight.

Lee says “DE&I has gone from being de-prioritised to re-prioritised” as organisations do the work in “rebuilding institutions that have been historically unfair.” Technology is helping to attract diverse candidates and reduce systemic bias in the hiring process, helping organisations to meet their DE&I goals at-scale.

Remote working increases accessibility for roles, but it also presents new hurdles to overcome. Technology opens the door for people from different backgrounds, geographies and ability to land roles, but access to good technology is not universal. Digital inequality – poor internet connection or older tech – can introduce a new set of unconscious biases for candidates.

Lee points to a recent study by researchers from USC, who found that audio quality has a direct impact on perceived reliability and expertise. When they presented identical conference presentations in high and low quality and asked participants to evaluate the researcher and the research, people evaluated the researcher and research less favourably when the audio quality was low. As we enter a new remote world, new biases appear which require attention and awareness. According to Lee, addressing these issues of inequality requires “mitigating with more tech, not less”.

Talent acquisition trend 5: Employer branding becomes a non-negotiable

Where once a great employer brand was seen as a “nice to have”, it is now a necessity for organisations to compete for talent on a global stage. Lee says that “This is a once-in-a-lifetime period for organisations looking to fortify their employer brand.” The way organisations respond to this crisis will affect and define their brand for decades to come. This means providing a great experience: caring for employees with trust and transparency, and caring for your candidates with open and regular communication. Maintaining this level of care will become a core TA responsibility and expectation — and technology will help time-poor hiring teams to facilitate this at scale.

Talent acquisition trend 6: Internal mobility

With lockdown restrictions forcing widespread layoffs, and with reduced recruiter headcount forcing hiring teams to do more with less, organisations are redeploying staff to cut costs and keep valued skills within the business. According to LinkedIn insights, internal hires increased by 19% in April-August 2020 compared with the same time period in 2019. Internal hires now make up almost 20% of an organisation’s workforce on average.

But according to Lee, “COVID revealed we don’t do internal mobility well.” In a recent survey by HR.com, over a third of respondents say that no one owns the internal mobility process. And over a quarter of employees are unaware of available job opportunities.

In 2021, it will be up to TA teams to gain full visibility of their workforce and identify hidden skill sets or opportunities for development. Technology can help to provide this visibility, and a powerful ATS can even provide smart recommendations for redeployment opportunities.

Lee posits that “TA will be known as ‘Talent Access’ – they will ensure the availability of the entire talent universe to the employer.” Managers will transform into ‘career coaches’ and rely on performance management technology to facilitate everyday feedback and on the go learning opportunities. According to Lee, TA will take ownership of internal mobility and talent delivery, signalling a move away from hiring-manager led placements.

Final thoughts

These six talent acquisition trends point to a future of work that’s tech-enabled and automated, but that also uplifts the human aspects of Human Resources. With technology automating manual and repetitive tasks, TA teams are freed to do the real work: building meaningful DE&I programs, engaging valued alumni, raising up internal employees to greater heights. As we embark on this uncertain journey together, go safe in the knowledge that the HR world and your talent communities will always be there to share wisdom, support and guidance.

Marion Robinson is responsible for spearheading global growth for PageUp in all its forms. She provides strategic direction across PageUp’s client advocacy, partner alliance, marketing and brand-building programs, ensuring total alignment between them so as to deliver on the PageUp growth strategy. Leveraging a wealth of experience in client management roles across a range of industries including Banking, Human Resources and IT, Marion understands the daily people challenges of our clients first-hand. Her experience ranges from sales and marketing, change management, consulting and people development.

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From basic to in-depth tasks, AI is capable of reducing the workload for HR professionals. It is capable of analysing resumes for certain data in order to rank candidates against job requirements, giving recruiters time to discover top matches first. But what’s interesting to consider is how it can work in tandem with your attraction endeavours.

If you are interested in attracting diverse talent to build a more inclusive company culture and increase the creativity and productivity of your business, AI has the capacity to remove biases in your recruitment advertisements.

HR Dive reports:

To eliminate bias in job postings, AI can [analyse] job descriptions for words that skew for or against protected classes. On the flip side, AI can block data suggestive of gender, ethnicity and more on resumes.

 

Recruiters are presented with skills and experience from which to choose interviewees, potentially removing even unconscious bias from the selection process.

While it’s an interesting technological advancement to consider, AI may only be useful or cost-effective if it is deployed to solve a specific identified problem. If you input biased information, it will deliver biased results.

Source

Is your recruitment team ready for AI?

Riia O’Donnell

HR Dive

The post The role of artificial intelligence in reducing unconscious bias in attraction and recruitment processes appeared first on Recruitment Marketing.