Inclusive recruitment

from November/December 2024 Acoustics Bulletin

Many employers are starting to understand the benefits of having a diverse and inclusive workforce. Employers aiming to be more inclusive should also have inclusive recruitment processes in place.

By Ismail Alli-Balogun, member of the IOA EDI Working Group

A barrier to inclusive recruitment is the tendency to hire for ‘cultural fit’, which employers may see as assessing how closely a candidate’s beliefs align with the existing norms and culture. However, this is best avoided because of the potential affinity bias, where people who are similar to current employees (in terms of their background, how they present themselves or what hobbies they enjoy outside of work) get an unfair advantage. ‘Cultural fit’ is subjective and can undermine diversity.

Awareness of the potential biases is not sufficient to reduce their impact on the recruitment process. The process itself needs to be structured and objective to help improve inclusivity and diversity. This leads to the question of what constitutes good, inclusive recruitment practices. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development have published a guide on practical, evidenced-based changes to recruitment processes, called A Guide to Inclusive Recruitment for Employers . I encourage all those involved in making hiring decisions to read and implement some, if not all, of the advice given in the guide. Here are some highlights from the guide relating to job advertisements and the selection process:

Writing inclusive job adverts
Make the role requirements clear, specific and behaviour-based. For example, instead of stating character traits (such as ‘you are a natural leader’) state competencies that can be evidenced (such as ‘you have held line management responsibilities’). This way of defining the requirements of the role should also help with the next recommendation, below, to remove biased language. Seek to identify and reduce stereotypically masculine language (for example words such as ‘decisive’ and ‘ambitious’) and stereotypically feminine language (for example words such as ‘empathetic’ and ‘compassionate’). Advertise specifics relating to policies and benefits, particularly where these exceed legal minimums. These might include parental leave (shared/maternity/ paternity) annual leave, sick pay, pension contributions etc. Some benefits are associated with increased inclusion and diversity.

[IMAGE: A GUIDE TO INCLUSIVE RECRUITMENT FOR EMPLOYERS]

Right: Download the guidance document here https://tinyurl.com/CIPDguidance 

The selection process
Anonymise applications by removing identifying information before hiring managers review them. This could include:
• names (as this could infer race and gender);
• contact details;
• dates of qualifications (as this could infer age);
• names of previous employers (if previous employers are well known, it could lead to a halo effect, whereby this single fact has an undue influence on the perceived quality of the candidate); and
• names of schools and universities (as this could lead to an affinity bias and/or halo effect).

It could be time-consuming to anonymise CVs received by candidates and doing so may lead to errors. To avoid this, employers should consider using application forms. This would allow information relating to personal characteristics to be removed before applications are seen by hiring managers. An added benefit of application forms is the opportunity to have standardised questions, making it easier to compare multiple candidates against each other with more consistency. Avoid asking candidates for the dates of their previous employment (for example 2020-2024). Instead, ask for the length of time spent in previous roles (for example four years). This helps to remove the biases faced by people who have gaps in employment, which may be due to having caring responsibilities, ill-health or a disability.

Do not wait for applicants to request reasonable adjustments to the interview process. Instead, ask all applicants if they would like to request any reasonable adjustments. Being proactive can promote inclusivity and increase the diversity of candidates. Conduct interviews that are structured and have predefined questions for all candidates. Responses can then be scored using pre-agreed criteria. This is an effective way to make interviews more consistent and unbiased because it allows for direct and fair comparisons between candidates, using objective criteria.

Final thoughts
Some of these recommendations may be very different to current procedures within your organisation, which could make the suggested changes challenging to implement. There seem to be no shortcuts when it comes to improving inclusivity. We must all seek to learn and do the work required to promote positive change for the good of society.