If you’ve never prioritized inclusion in the workplace before, it’s only natural that you won’t know how to attract a diverse range of candidates to your business. Fortunately, not being experienced in this task doesn’t mean you can’t have great success.
Before you create a job ad and start fielding job applications, take note of the strategies below to ensure you’re attracting the best people for the role.
Advertise Where You’ll Find Your Target Audience
Some HR teams repeatedly use the same job advertising platforms whenever they need to hire new employees. While there’s nothing wrong with using media you know and trust, you might like to take a different approach if inclusivity and diversity are your goals.
Advertise your vacancies where your ideal applicants are known to be. For example, you might actively advertise on a ‘women in tech’ platform if you’re looking for more women to work in your tech company.
Connect with Experts
Deciding to prioritize diversity and inclusion in the workplace can be daunting when you’ve never given it much thought before. However, you can make your hiring decisions confidently if you align with experts in this area.
Organizations that focus on creating positive social procurement outcomes for businesses can assist with helping you create inclusive workplace cultures where employees thrive. Institutions like the National Disability Institute in the US, INclusive Employers in the UK, and Jobsbank in Australia are great places to start.
Establish a Candidate Referral Program
A candidate referral program is a recruitment strategy that encourages employees to refer people they know to apply for jobs within your organization. If they are successful, the new and current employees can be rewarded with cash bonuses and other incentives. Candidate referral programs can be helpful when you want to expand your workforce with like-minded people.
Make Diversity Part of Your Brand
People who appreciate diversity want to work for companies that value it as much as they do. When you make diversity part of your brand and engrain the values in your team, you can build a reputation as a diverse company that people want to work for.
Don’t be afraid to engage in discussions with your team about the benefits of diversity and how important it can be. The more they know about workplace diversity and inclusion, the more they might benefit from it.
Prioritize New Company Policies
Most companies already have policies for time off work, health and safety, ethics, and disciplinary action. Most companies also already have an equal-opportunity policy that protects applicants and employees from being discriminated against based on their race, age, gender, color, and other factors.
However, you can go one step further by creating policies that protect employees’ rights to celebrate religious holidays and religious events. You might also explore more flexible work hours to ensure everyone’s needs are met.
Use Artificial Intelligence
Sometimes, it’s hard not to be biased when reading through resumes. You might unintentionally see someone as a better candidate because they attended a better school, even if two candidates share similar skill sets.
Consider using artificial intelligence to remove bias during the screening process. Your chosen resume-screening platform can then look for specific skills and experience rather than allowing you to make decisions based on factors like age, gender, and learning institutes.
Attracting a diverse range of candidates is not always straightforward when your company hasn’t prioritized inclusivity and diversity in the past. However, by taking the actions above, you will be strongly positioned to hire highly skilled and talented employees while taking your business in a new, more positive direction.
