Our last blog post talked about diversity and why it is so important. This week we are diving into how you can improve your diversity through clever recruiting.  

Having different perspectives and backgrounds in your team will contribute to new and more diverse ideas. This helps to drive innovation in your company. The development of a diversity recruitment strategy is one way to do this. On top of this, it is our belief that all companies should be striving for diversity regardless of business benefits. Building teams from qualified candidates regardless of their gender, orientation, race, religion, socioeconomic background, or disability is long overdue, and a step toward true equality in the workplace. 

We recommend doing a diversity audit initially to see where you need to focus your efforts. You will probably find your HR department holds a lot of relevant information. However, an anonymous survey can be an invaluable tool for collecting information on diversity.

Let your employees know you are working to improve your diversity and need their help to build a diversity recruitment strategy. You can quickly and easily create anonymous online surveys using tools such as SurveyMonkey. 

 Spend time Auditing Job Ads 

As an extension of the diversity audit of your company as a whole, you should spend time doing an audit of your previous job advertisements. Two main areas to consider are: 

• Language use: It is important to find ways to be more inclusive in your language to appeal to candidates from different backgrounds. Many advertisements have language geared toward a certain demographic which inadvertently excludes others. 
• Qualification criteria: Consider less focus on specific degrees or schools and instead, concentrate on competencies. For example, critical thinking, or the ability to work as part of a diverse team.  

When it comes to writing new ads, slow down and be methodical in your approach.  Take time to think and strategize over the design. Try to use gender neutral terms and identify skills that are not currently present in your organization, and include new criteria to attract a different set of candidates. 

Reduce Unconscious Bias with Blind Recruiting 

Blind hiring allows you to gear all your vacancies toward unbiased processes from the very start of your recruitment process. By intentionally removing any details that can give the reader insight into the applicant’s background, you can screen the applications on job-related issues only thereby reducing bias. 

CVs are edited to include only skills, and job-relevant experience and abilities. For example, age bias can be avoided by removing graduation dates and dates of previous employment and years of experience (as long as they are not relevant). All you need to include is what type of qualifications candidates have and how they rate themselves in the skills you set out in your advert. Try asking for them to rate experience as basic, intermediate, or expert for example. 

You could use screening tests to help remove unconscious bias like geographic, education, affinity or gender biases.  

Agencies Can Help Improve Your Diversity 

Another thing you need is a diverse talent pool to source candidates from. Focussing on only the sources that you know best can result in a talent pool of similar candidates and a lack of diversity. So, how can you make sure you are casting the net as wide as possible?

• Consider using a recruitment agency. With their own pool of people each with their own candidates sing an agency can really help you with your outreach.
• Source your candidates from a variety of different places.
• Think about including internships to candidates from specific backgrounds.

Use Your Existing Employees’ Networks

Try reaching out to some of the employees on your team who might be part of the demographic you are looking to hire. You can encourage them to share job advertisements with their networks and make sure you support them and provide them with the tools to promote your company properly. This approach is great for company culture and makes employees and candidates feel valued. Creating a diverse referral program is a great way to boost your diversity recruitment strategy.

There’s No Reason You Can’t Improve Your Diversity 

 In short, there is no excuse. From both a business perspective and a moral one you need to be taking steps to make sure you have a diverse and inclusive working environment. 

As a creative agency it can propel your innovation and problem solving to new heights as well as making you and your product more relatable.

Don’t fall behind, get ahead of the pack and start today.