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A diverse candidate pool will assist you in attracting and retaining the best talent, encourage innovation, and prevent expensive lawsuits, as well as a bad company reputation. So, how can you diversify your candidate pool?
Define some goals
First things first, before you begin the candidate search, it is important to set some clear goals you wish to achieve. This includes understanding what diversity means for your company because it can be defined in a range of ways and could differ depending on your industry or mission.
Firstly, you should start by clearly defining your diversity goals. What does diversity mean for your business, and what outcomes are you looking to achieve? For many of us, the phrase diversity can have different meanings.
With this in mind, once you have defined the meaning of diversity for you, you should set realistic goals for the business. These goals might include boosting the representation of particular groups of people or boosting the engagement of diverse workers. By setting clear goals, you will set yourself on the right path for entering the candidate search.
Tweak your job descriptions
To boost the diversity of your candidate pool you should look at tweaking your job descriptions to make them more appealing to a larger variety of candidates. You may be unaware that the description is biased to a certain demographic, which is why this exercise is so important because without tweaking the description you could be missing out on talented applicants.
Look at the language you are using in the job descriptions carefully. You could be using age-related expressions, or gendered words or be implying a candidate preference unintentionally. Instead, the description should solely be focused on essential skills and qualifications needed to fulfil the job. This will prevent certain candidates from being put off applying.
Use fair screening methods
It is vital that all candidates are screened fairly during the recruitment process. This includes avoiding unconscious biases that could influence the decision of who to hire. You should use a range of techniques to limit bias, such as using standardised criteria when interviewing, as well as structured assessments. It would be helpful to involve more than one evaluator to create a more diverse range of perspectives on the hiring team. By diversifying your recruitment team you are more likely to end up hiring based on fair screening methods.
Final Thoughts
Finally, to increase diversity within your organisation, as well as your candidate pool, you should make sure that you are evaluating your results to find more ways to improve in the future. This includes analysing your data on diversity efforts such as the percentage of diverse applicants that apply and that are hired.
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Categories: Rapid Insights
