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Darren Jones

Darren Jones

Finding Diverse Talent

Tags – Finding Diverse Talent

Events of the last 18 months have added extra urgency to the need to create greater equality at work.

Developing a diverse workforce and actively hiring for diversity will introduce fresh and alternative perspectives into your business. This will generate new ideas and potentially help your business appeal to new markets and clients that have not previously been considered.

Instinct HR offers 5 practical steps to help you find diverse talent.

1. Look at your employer brand

You employer brand can be a powerful tool when attracting the right talent to your business, but it can also put people off.

Do candidates with marginalised backgrounds see themselves when they look at your company?

What content are you putting out there, and what does it say about your company?

What is your communication style; is it inclusive?

Your job adverts should say as much about the business, as the job itself. Create a warm and welcoming message that gives prospective applicants a really good feel for the culture of your business, its ethos, and your values.

2. Share your diversity initiatives

Just talking about it isn’t enough. Can you demonstrate that you are a diverse company? Having robust diversity and inclusion policies is one thing; but are you talking on social media about the good work you are doing internally?

If you’re not too sure where to begin, perhaps you could use a multicultural calendar to learn about new events, and explore and embrace them. By doing so, this knowledge will expand the wider team’s understanding and bring people closer together.

And as team members learn more about each other, they can build stronger relationships which will lead to a more productive team overall.

When done correctly, finding common ground and celebrating unique attributes will create an inclusive work environment where everyone can thrive.

3. Increase time to hire

Filling vacancies quickly can allow bias and preconception. Instead, invest more time in really understanding each candidate and assess the potential of a ‘different’ choice.

Have a range of candidate selection activities that go beyond the regular interview, and that enable you to see candidates in different situations.

Taking your time with the hiring process will allow you to see more of each candidate, and them more of your business, and your teams. Helping both parties to develop a greater mutual understanding.

Hire fast, repent at your leisure!

4. Revise ‘must have’ criteria

What do you base this criteria on? Typically, employers apply ‘must have’ and ‘desirable’ criteria when selecting and interviewing. Both important for sure, but keep an open mind and be curious to new possibilities.

Having diversity of thought, innovation, creativity, and customer needs, could really grow your business.

5. Change the interview process

Set yourself a target of interviewing a minimum amount of ‘diverse’ candidates to interview, and have multiple interviewers, ideally with a diverse background.

Anonymise CVs with candidate A, B, C etc, as studies show where candidates have identical CVs, the non-English sounding name is more likely to be rejected.

Closing thoughts

Creating a diverse workforce is not a “one-off” job. It needs to be developed and cultivated over time, it needs to be the way you recruit.

Focus on employee and customer needs, and use that to drive a strong diverse culture.

Be open minded and don’t be afraid to try out new approaches. If you’d like to learn more, or just want a chat, then don’t hesitate to get in touch with us today.

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