Encompassing a diverse workforce means that your organisation benefits from different perspectives, experience, ideas and opinions. Which in turn results in improved creativity, increased innovation, better customer experience and productivity.

There are many ways in which your business can promote and attract a diverse workforce through the hiring process, from creating inclusive job adverts, identifying unconscious bias in interviews, and promoting a culture of inclusivity.

Diverse and inclusive job descriptions

Attract a wide range of candidates by promoting diversity and inclusion in your job descriptions.

Use inclusive language

Use gender neutral terms for job titles such as ‘Waiting Staff’ instead of gender-specific terms like ‘waitress’. Avoid using gender-coded words which can stereotypically be considered as being more targeted towards males or females. For example, male-gendered works include ‘dominant’, ‘Superior’ and ‘persistent’, whilst female-gendered words include ‘cooperative’, ‘polite’ and ‘compassionate’. Use the Gender Decoder to check that your job ads are gender neutral.

Avoid corporate jargon

Use plain language in place of corporate jargon and acronyms to appeal to a more diverse range of candidates.

Avoid an exhausted list of ‘essential’ qualifications

By listing every single ‘essential’ qualification you automatically put people off applying for the job. Studies have found that men will apply for a job if they meet 60% of the criteria advertised, whilst women will typically only apply if they meet 100% of them.

Avoid prejudice statements

Avoid stating that candidates must have specific qualifications from certain institutions, for example ‘You must have a 2.1 degree from a Red Brick University’ is discriminatory against people who may hold them same qualification but attended a ‘less prestigious’ University but are more than qualified to do the job.

Include your organisation’s statement on its commitment to diversity and inclusion

Including a statement at the end of your hob adverts to highlight your organisation’s commitment to diversity and inclusion shows applicants that you are an equal opportunities employer.
For example; “Pin Point Recruitment considers all qualified applicants for this position, regardless of their age, race, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, disabilities or other characteristics.”

Diversity and Inclusion in the interview

Ensure the interview process promotes diversity and inclusion by:

Using a diverse interview panel

Use an interview panel made up of people of different ages, gender and experience levels to prevent any bias. Get the panel to discuss their impressions and thoughts on the candidates after the interview to get an overall rounded impression.

Do a skills test

Ask candidates to complete a skills test before you interview them. This way you will test your candidates’ abilities before you make any judgements on their character.

Ask candidates questions about diversity and inclusion

Asking questions such as, ‘Why do you think diversity and inclusion in the workplace is important’ and ‘How would you handle a situation where a member of staff is culturally insensitive, racist or homophobic?’ Their answers will give you a good understanding of how they will work within a culturally diverse team and how much value they place on inclusivity.