The Importance of a Consistent Recruitment Policy

The RAF has admitted that its recruitment policy was wrong and that it should not have prioritised female and ethnic minority candidates over others. We follow up on our previous blog to take a look at why having a clear and consistent recruitment policy is essential for all businesses.

A leaked internal email has exposed that RAF officers were concerned that an IT recruitment metric that ranked candidates by merit could be problematic in reaching their diversity targets. As such many candidates were overlooked in favour of others who matched arbitrary targets. An incident like this has massive PR ramifications for an organisation and is a painful reminder of why getting recruitment right is crucial for any business.

Ensuring that all candidates receive fair, unbiased treatment is a must in recruitment. All companies want to attract and retain candidates of the highest calibre and this starts with the hiring process. The experience of prospective employees must be positive no matter the outcome of the selection process, and all candidates must be treated fairly, with queries answered promptly and appointments kept on schedule.

The cornerstone for building a thorough recruitment strategy is to outline and enact the philosophy or core principles behind the procedure. These should emphasise a commitment to an open selection process that seeks to determine the best candidate for the job. This procedure is a fundamental public relations exercise and all staff should be appropriately trained in order to safeguard a business or organisation’s reputation.

In this policy, the approach to positive action needs to be clearly defined. Companies should want to make hiring accessible and to promote roles to candidates from all backgrounds. This can mean advertising roles in the appropriate channels, making clear the company’s commitment to diversity, screening applications blind and a host of other techniques. This part of the policy is crucial to avoid situations such as the one the RAF and Ministry of Defence have found themselves in.

Having a clear and concise approach will help to make certain that positive action never oversteps its mark to become unlawful positive discrimination. Outlining a precise job description that clearly states the required skills for a post.?Care must be taken when outlining the person specification to ensure that criteria used do not indirectly discriminate against certain groups of applicants. Ultimately, this is the criteria against which candidates will be assessed during the recruitment process so clarity is key to ensure fair selection.?

In conclusion, having a consistent recruitment process will ultimately make sure that your business hires the best candidates for each role. Making sure that your policy is open to all will also help you to hire candidates from diverse backgrounds who will bring with them a wealth of experience that can inform your business decisions and maximise growth. If employees are treated fairly and respectfully from being hired, to working and growing within a company, they will work more effectively, contributing to a healthy and positive business environment.