Recruitment: Diversity and how to make a start

by Rohan Shah

Diversity in a corporate setting starts with the hiring process. When it comes to best practice, the system needs to allow for just outcomes – for every individual, for every race.

You’ll learn:

• How biases can result in a restricted talent pool for hire

• About augmented writing platforms, text analysis, diverse job boards, blind hiring processes and 

software

• How to create an exceptional blind recruitment process

The beauty of recruitment is that through a well thought out process, every single company can increase diversity. 

Here are my top tips.

Educate and train every employee 

A basic recruitment process/system which hasn’t been scrutinised will almost certainly be littered with bias. 

There are no fewer than 12 common hiring biases and it’s imperative an organisation puts systems in place to drastically reduce or eliminate them. 

You can do this by providing unconscious bias training and a great place to start is to have employees take an Implicit Association Test (IAT) by Harvard University. This is available here and should be taken on an annual basis: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html. 

Closed spec = closed door

It’s astounding how predictable the answers from hiring managers are when you ask them what they’re looking for in a suitable candidate. It goes something like this:

“I’m looking for an experienced account manager, who totally understands the B2B tech sector. They will be working for a direct competitor and will have managed accounts such as XYZ. They must have agency experience otherwise I think they’ll find juggling multiple clients hard work and they’ll need to have a degree – ideally from a Russell Group University.” 

Admittedly asking for a degree from a Russell Group University is slowly dying down. 

It’s important to note that whenever the word “ideally” is used, unconsciously or consciously, the hiring managers is seeking an ideal rather than what is required. 

What starts as a relatively open spec (“I’m looking for an experienced account manager”) finishes as a closed spec that leaves a very small talent pool once sector experience, client management, degree and location has been taken into account, let alone those actually open to new opportunities or not. 

Furthermore, the opportunity or appeal for diverse talent to apply or even be considered is now likely non-existent, leaving the company with limited options – one of the likely reasons why diversity hasn’t changed much over the years.

Closing a job specification to a handful of qualified people is absolutely fine if it is totally necessary, but the size of the possible applicant pool will naturally affect the amount of diverse applications received. Below is a funnel diagram which allows you to understand the possible applicant pool size against the type of job specification and requirements:

FIGURE 1 Applicant pool size against the type of job specification and requirements.

dia17.jpg

Tools and processes

I briefly mentioned earlier what tends to happen when the word “ideally” gets used. Unfortunately eliminating all layers of bias is next to impossible, especially where the human brain and emotions are involved. Software, systems and process (correctly implemented) in this instance can help with this. 

To increase your chances of your job appealing to as many people in the possible applicant pool, you need to utilise technology in a smart and efficient way. This is where augmented writing platforms and text analysis can help, as well as diverse job boards for advertising positions and blind hiring processes and/or software. 

Augmented writing platforms

I mentioned earlier how the word ‘ideally’ can trigger a certain bias and ultimately will shape behaviours and outcomes; many other words will have a similar effect too. 

Unfortunately, we’re not always aware that some of the words we use in our job specifications have a profound impact on the thought process and actions of possible applicants. Certain words fall under masculine or feminine text, which studies have shown are then likely to be associated with masculine or feminine roles. 

In addition to single words, there can also be problematic phrases or buzzwords which create doubt, may exclude people of certain ages, can indicate belonging (or not) and may very likely prevent people from different socioeconomic backgrounds applying. 

There are some fantastic applications today that will really help you get your job specifications on point. 

Diverse job boards and more

It goes without saying that you need to go where the people are to find and ultimately engage with them. 

While I would encourage you to advertise your jobs through as many diverse channels as possible, diverse niche job boards generally attract a higher concentration of qualified diverse applicants because ultimately that job board helps the candidate address their main concern, which is the ability to compete fairly for jobs. 

Blind recruitment 

A lot of people think blind recruitment is as simple as taking the name and education off a CV as well as any photos, but this doesn’t get anywhere close to creating a just recruitment process. There is software available today that can help you do blind recruitment properly but it can be very expensive and vary depending on what you are looking for. 

An alternative is to bring in a specialist who can help you create your very own process, which in many instances can work better and can be cheaper. 

Blind recruitment done well should eliminate a number of the 12+ recruitment biases such as confirmation bias, the halo effect, expectation anchor bias and even the horn effect to name a few. Here are few ways to start creating an exceptional blind recruitment process: 

• Anonymising CVs - taking off personal information, educational institutions and in some instances names of companies worked for.

• Segmentation – segment every section of each CV received and group all segments to relevant section. Each section is then assessed independently rather than as a whole CV.

• Randomisation – when having multiple people involved in the hiring process (highly recommended) ensure that they are not receiving the information in the same order. 

• Scoring – have a fair and just scoring system (scorecard) in place. Ensure scoring is not subjective but factual and incorporate scoring against your company values and purpose. 

Diversity involves inclusion

Involve a diverse selection of your employees in the hiring process – they do not (and should not) have to be a manager - I call this Divolvement. If you do not have a diverse selection of employees currently, include people externally who understand your business, your clients, mentors, coaches, NEDs and maybe even family – if you dare! 

Being diverse and collaborative in your recruitment process allows you to get different opinions from people with different needs and wants and importantly eradicates the possibility of homophily. 

Do not shy away from candidates just because everyone in the hiring process does not agree. Studies have shown that diverse teams have discussions that are more cognitively demanding. There will naturally be more debate but this in itself allows you to understand the genuine suitability of a candidate for a role by exposing blind spots (positive or negative) that may not have been spotted otherwise. 

Try to include a diverse team in as many stages of the recruitment process as possible, not only because this helps in the selection process but also because its encouraging for the candidate being interviewed. 

Always look at the interview process as a “two way street”. The candidate is interviewing you just as much as you are interviewing them - and that is exactly the way it should be. For this reason, you must ensure you start with my first point – educate and train your all your staff on why there is a need for a just recruitment process and what that might look like. 


FP4-bios-web-17.jpg
 

Rohan Shah co-founded Reuben Sinclair with the vision to introduce exceptional PR, Marketing, Sales & Digital professionals to businesses around the world whilst also changing traditional recruitment practices.

Today, Rohan is responsible for the overall growth and direction of Reuben Sinclair whilst helping a number of global and national clients transform their talent acquisition strategies. Rohan has worked tirelessly to ensure sound ethics and practices run throughout his business which has been instrumental for Reuben Sinclair in developing exclusive Talent Partner status with the PRCA and CIPR.

Rohan is a selected Chair for the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) Sales & Marketing Sector forum group aimed at leaders within creative staffing companies and was selected as an external panel member for the validation process of University of East London’s (UEL) Professional Development Certificate (PDC) where he continues to give on-going feedback on the modules covered and, in particular, the relevance to the workplace.

Twitter: @rohmi44
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rjrshah/
Web: reuben-sinclair.com/