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Inclusive hiring is one of the most important steps your company can take to create a diverse and inclusive workplace. By following some fundamental principles, you can develop a process that will help you identify and hire the best candidates for your organization, regardless of their background or identity. In this guide, we'll discuss what inclusive hiring is, why it's important, and how you can start implementing it in your own organization.
What is inclusive hiring?
The way we hire is one of the most important decisions we make. It shapes our company culture, and it has a lasting impact on the people who work for us. Hiring inclusively means that we care about diversity and inclusion and that we want to create an environment where everyone can thrive.
The Importance of Inclusive Hiring:
Creating an inclusive and equitable workplace is important for many reasons. Not only is it the right thing to do, but it can also help you attract and retain top talent. Employees want to work for companies that value diversity and inclusion. By creating an inclusive workplace, you can show your employees that you value their unique perspectives and experiences.
Principles of Inclusive Hiring:
There are a few key principles that should be followed when implementing inclusive hiring:
1. Make a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Inclusive hiring starts with a top-down commitment to creating a more diverse and inclusive workplace. This means that your organization's leaders need to be on board and committed to making changes.
2. Define what diversity means for your organization.
Once you've made a commitment to diversity, it's important to define what that means for your organization. What groups of people do you want to focus on recruiting? How can you make your workplace more inclusive for everyone?
3. Define your ‘employer’ brand.
When we think of branding, one might readily consider how an organization appeals to its clients or consumers. However, your brand as an employer is just as important. Every organization has an employer brand, regardless of whether or not you are intentional about that brand and what it represents. In defining your brand as an employer, you want to do so in a which ensures that your organization appeals to candidates from underrepresented backgrounds.
4. Create a recruitment plan.
Once you know whom you're trying to recruit, you need to develop a plan for how you're going to reach them. This may include attending job fairs that focus on diversity, partnering with organizations that support underrepresented groups, or using social media to reach a broader audience.
5. Train your hiring managers and interviewers.
It's important that everyone who is involved in the hiring process is trained on how to identify and assess candidates fairly. This includes understanding their own biases and being aware of the different types of privilege and oppression that exist in our society.
6. Implement blind or anonymous screening.
One way to help reduce bias in the hiring process is to remove names and other identifying information from resumes when they are first being reviewed. This can help to level the playing field for all candidates and ensure that everyone is being assessed on their qualifications rather than their identity.
7. Conduct outreach to underrepresented groups.
Reaching out to communities that are traditionally underrepresented in the workforce is essential for inclusive hiring. This can be done through things like attending job fairs hosted by community organizations, partnering with diversity-focused Recruitment firms, or creating targeted advertising campaigns.
8. Review your job descriptions and requirements.
The language you use in your job descriptions and requirements can make a big difference in who applies for your open positions. Make sure to avoid unintentionally exclusive language or require unnecessary criteria that may eliminate otherwise qualified candidates. For example, you might consider experience, skills, and potential instead of GPA or school name.
9. Be aware of your own biases.
We all have unconscious biases that can impact our decision-making. It's important to be aware of these biases and make an effort to overcome them in the hiring process. In the 6th principle of inclusive hiring, we mentioned the benefit of blind screening to reduce the risk of bias. Another method is to have a diverse interview panel that consists of people who are all willing and able to hold each other accountable for hiring the most suitable candidate(s) without letting their implicit biases get in the way.
Becoming an employer of choice and attracting talent from traditionally underrepresented groups can be a challenge for some organizations. These challenges range from insufficient data gathering and flexibility to identify and source diverse talents, to retaining those talents once they are hired. Organizations must be mindful to not fall into the trap of viewing diverse hiring as a quota-driven process to appease stakeholders. This line of thinking is counterproductive to creating an inclusive hiring process. Your ultimate goal should not simply be to hire diverse candidates; it should be to advance diverse representation at every level of your organization, which in turn, also benefits your bottom line, as was found in a 2018 study by McKinsey&Company. A large part of advancing diverse representation involves having the right infrastructures in place to promote equity and inclusion for candidates and employees from underrepresented groups.
If you're looking for support as you work to build inclusive hiring practices, please get in touch with The Seen and Heard ProjectⓇ at support@seenandheard.com to schedule a consultation.