Make Your Recruiting Process More Inclusive
And Attract a More Diverse Candidate Pool
When we work on inclusion first, instead of diversity, we have a greater chance to attract—and more importantly retain—top talent from diverse backgrounds. Companies often focus on diversity numbers as their first step in DE&I efforts, however time and time again hires meant to check this diversity box don’t stay, because the feeling of inclusion isn’t there.
Working on inclusion and psychological safety within our organizations is a huge piece of retaining a diverse workforce, but today I will talk about how to make your hiring process more inclusive, to mirror the culture that you have or are working on inside the organization. These steps are not a complete blanket to solving your diversity, equity, & inclusion struggles, but they are a step in the right direction.
Assess Job Postings
Remove gendered words
Remove requirements that aren’t actually necessary to do the job
Replace job requirements with job accomplishments when applicable
Ensure job postings include pictures of people doing the job from a variety of ages, genders, races, abilities, etc.
Use the Rooney Rule.
Interview pools for every job must include at least one person from the non-dominate gender and at least one non-white candidate; apply this rule to the hiring panel as well (however, make sure this doesn’t put extra work on underrepresented groups within your organization, ensure you have a large pool of potential interviewers to choose from). This rule can increase representation without a hiring quota.
Help Candidates Prep
When scheduling phone screens, send the candidate the screening questions in advance. You wouldn’t send someone off to work on the first day without any training. Show candidates how you will support them once they become an employee. Even if someone doesn’t get the job they are likely to have had a great interview experience.
Post Salary Ranges
Post the pay ranges for all positions, women and people of color are more likely to apply for jobs when they know the pay range. Pay transparency increases applicants and it is a cultural differentiator since Millennials and Gen Z have pushed for greater transparency in their workplaces.
Over-communicate
Communicate what is happening to candidates every step of the way. If you aren’t able to get back to the candidate for a week, let them know that. When it comes to response time, make sure you underpromise and overdeliver. If you can respond by Friday, let them know you will get back to them no later than Monday, this way if something comes up you have a little leeway.
Job searching is a hard and often demoralizing process, and the better we can make it for candidates, the more likely they are to have a positive experience. That experience can turn into positive word of mouth when they tell a friend about it. If they do get the job, having a positive experience through the recruiting process sets the foundation for their experience as an employee.
