An Inclusive Approach to DEI Seeking Collaborative Experts to help Shape my new Search Delivery Training Programme

Welcome to my first newsletter of 2024, each month I’ll be providing helpful advice and tips to help you amplify your hiring processes. This month we’ll be looking at DEI and how to promote inclusion in the workplace.?

But before we begin…

I need your help. I am looking for beta testers for the Search Delivery Training Academy.?

Can I help you? I also have capacity to take on a new search project towards the beginning of March.

50th celebrations

Let’s take a break from business for a second, I need inspiration and ideas!

How do you celebrate the BIG 50?

?

My 50th is in March next year, so I’m either planning ahead or planning behind on this. But I’m not really sure what to do, I know it’s a milestone, so I want to do something, but how do people celebrate their 50th? Any ideas would be GREATLY appreciated, I need some inspiration.?

Need Help with a Challenging Project?

January was a busy month and February hasn’t slowed down either. However, I do have room to take on a new project towards the beginning of March.? So, if you need my help, or want to discuss upcoming projects, get in touch.?

BETA Testers Needed

2024 is an exciting year and with the upcoming release of

The Search Delivery Training Academy.

I’m looking for volunteers who would be interested in user testing and giving feedback. The program is in modular format focusing on how to identify top talent, proactively attract and engage with candidates, assess them and much more!?

I’m looking for delivery consultants or researchers with?

0–2 years’ experience

2-5 years’ experience

5+ years’ experience?

Email me at [email protected] if you want to help.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

My first exposure to DEI in a hiring process was early in my search career as a delivery consultant. We were working with a well-known pharmaceutical business who were looking for Clinical Development Directors. They wanted to improve the gender gap in their organization and so for this role we were asked to only identify, attract, engage and assess women, and if they were African American, that was a bonus.

Despite being relatively new to my job, I thought that this isn’t the way to close the gender gap, I mean imagine if you were being interviewed for this role. How would you feel if you found out you got the job just because you were a woman and were African American?

After raising a few concerns about this, they gave the project to someone else??!!!!!

I now realise that DEI is way more complicated – but I still feel strongly that positive discrimination isn’t the answer, but awareness and inclusion is.?

So let’s just include everyone regardless of their gender, age, disability, religion. It sounds easy right?

HOWEVER:?

How confident do you need to be to apply??

The Harvard Business Review found that women will only apply for a job if they meet 100% of the criteria, whilst men will apply for a job when they meet 60% of it. But the real question is, does anyone really fit the criteria 100%?

Could a degree affect your chances?

Your school, college, or university choices could positively or negatively affect your ability to find a new role.?

Even if you have a proven track record for more than 10 years, if you don’t have a university degree, you might not be considered for the role. Let’s say you’ve been a successful recruiter for more than 15 years, the fact that you don’t have a university degree could prevent you from being interviewed at some large corporate organizations.?

Do you think the lack of a degree should affect your ability to progress in a role???

Is it better to show or tell?

Let’s talk about job interviews. If you interview well, you are more likely to find a new role quicker. But not everyone interviews well. Whilst communication is important, do you think the interview process should be more about what you have done and can do, rather than what you can say??

These are some of the issues that work against DEI so what can we do about them?

How you can be inclusive:?

• Bias Awareness: Acknowledge and address your own unconscious biases. Check out the Harvard Implicit Association https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html?

• Inclusive language: Craft job descriptions and communications using inclusive language. Check out this tool to help you write an in more neutral way. https://gender-decoder.katmatfield.com/?

• Diverse Panels: Ensure diversity in interview panels to minimise biases during candidate assessments. Ask the same questions to every candidate and use a scorecard to validate the outcomes. Consider:? Would it make a difference if you sent the interview questions to all potential candidates before the interview, so they have time to prepare??

• Did you know that if you have LinkedIn Recruiter you can change the settings, which means you can hide names and photos when you are identifying candidates to help reduce unconscious bias??

• Consider innovative approaches to identify candidates that otherwise wouldn’t be found. Be prepared to challenge and question skill and knowledge requirements and the impact it may have in creating a diverse workplace.

Finally, I also wanted to share this powerful graphic designed by Jamie Shields…

Diversity is the heartbeat of innovation and success. Building an inclusive workplace begins with diverse hiring processes that celebrate differences. (You don’t want everyone in the office choosing to wear the same pair of shoes, do you?)

Don’t believe me? Let’s take a look at the stats…

(87% better decision-making)

Research from the Project Management Institute (PPM) reveals that teams with diverse members exhibit 87% better decision-making capabilities. This underlines the notion that a spectrum of perspectives leads to more comprehensive analyses and, ultimately, better choices.

(41% more revenue)

Clear Company's findings add another layer to the diversity narrative, suggesting that companies employing equal numbers of men and women can generate up to 41% more revenue. This underscores the importance of gender equality as a powerful driver of business success.

(140% more productive)

A study highlighted by the Harvard Business Review introduces a novel perspective – professionals with autism can be up to 140% more productive compared to an average worker when placed in a job aligning with their abilities.?

So, with search agencies being employed by many US corporate businesses to help them create a more diverse workforce and new EU Diversity Legislation coming into effect between the two-year period 2023-2024, there is lots of work to do.?

For a more detailed version of how to be more inclusive and to identify, attract, and engage with more diverse candidates in your hiring process, sign up for the Search Delivery Training Academy or contact me [email protected]

Get in touch!?

Thank you for joining me on my latest newsletter, I really do appreciate your support.?

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