Finding and recruiting new talent

Why consider diversity when recruiting?

To find the best talent for a role, you need to attract as wide a pool of applicants as possible.

Considering diversity when recruiting can reap numerous benefits for you as an organisation, both creatively and commercially.

See the Acas Guide Prevent discrimination: Support Equality for more information on the business case for considering diversity when recruiting.

In any recruitment process, there should be fair competition from beginning to end. The net should be cast as wide as possible during the recruitment phase, and the selection process should have mechanisms in place to reduce the effects of unconscious bias.

Together with the EHRC, Ofcom launched a brochure: Thinking outside the box: Supporting the television broadcasting industry to increase diversity (PDF, 4.1 MB). This document provides guidance for the television broadcasting sector on what actions can lawfully be taken to increase diversity in the industry, and aims to tackle some of the misunderstandings industry told us they had about what equality law prohibits and permits.

Here are some other practical steps you can take to ensure you have a fair recruitment process which will attract as diverse a range of applicants as possible.

Job description and person specification

What to consider	Why its important/what are the benefits
Does it have the potential to discriminate?	You should consider whether any job description and/or the person specification has the potential to discriminate against any particular applicants and notably those with one or more of the ‘protected characteristics’.
Is it concise and informative?	Good job descriptions should briefly set out the purpose of the role, the main tasks involved and where the role fits in the business.
Does the person specification focus on the skills and knowledge; experience; aptitudes; and personal qualities needed for the role?	The job specification should be very clear about the specific requirements of the role. For example, say “needs to give clear information to clients by phone” rather than “needs a good command of spoken English”, and avoid language that may be discriminatory.
Have you considered unconscious bias?	It is helpful to have more than one person compile and cross-check the job description, person specification and job advert so unconscious bias can be avoided.
Is it measurable?	The recruitment process should be designed to actually test the areas set out in the job specification
Have you been consistent?	Asking applicants to fill in an application form can help you to be consistent when assessing applicants (See How to make the interview process fair section below for further information). However, as with the job description and person specification, you should make sure the application form is not discriminatory.

Further resources:

Acas Guide Recruiting Staff

Acas Delivering equality and diversity booklet

Acas example forms and templates for hiring staff

Advertising the job

The advert

Plan your advert carefully; this will help you avoid discrimination and ensure that you have as diverse a range of applicants as possible.

Consider how applicants can respond - have you made alternative formats available, such as recordings or braille? Review the next steps in the process and consider whether any might be potentially discriminatory. For instance, is the audition accessible for those with a disability? Can a position be offered on a part-time, job-share or flexi-time basis?

As with the job description and person specification, the advertisement should be specific and to the point. It should be easy to understand, include all relevant information and be written in non-discriminatory language. Have more than one person compile and cross-check the advertisement, to help avoid unconscious bias.

Where to advertise

To ensure a diverse pool of applicants, you should use at least two different media when advertising a job. Try to avoid always using the same agencies, head-hunters or publications.

If you do use recruitment agencies or head hunters, check that their policies on recruiting to deliver diversity either match or are better than your own. Explain your organisation’s polices and specific requirements, and check that they adhere to them throughout the recruitment process.

You should be aware that using word-of-mouth to advertise a job through existing employees and managers is likely to result in a limited pool of candidates. This could well result in your organisation not attracting the best possible candidates for the role, and is also likely to increase any existing imbalance in your workforce.

See Acas Guide Recruiting Staff for more information on where to advertise.

If you’re considering using a new role as an opportunity to develop existing staff, make sure that all potential candidates, regardless of background or whether they have one or more protected characteristic, are given an equal chance.

How to make the interview process fair

Sifting applications

Be systematic when sifting applications. You could use a scoring system to ensure the applications are assessed consistently.

To avoid unconscious bias the sifting process should be performed by at least two people trained in recruitment and interviewing. See the Acas Guide Recruiting Staff for more information on where to advertise.

You may also wish to consider removing information about applicants’ gender, ethnicity and age before the sifting process, if it is not relevant to the role.

The interviews

Before conducting interviews, make sure any necessary ‘reasonable adjustments’ have been made to ensure all candidates are treated equally.

Interviews should be well planned and designed to find out whether the candidates have the skills and qualities essential for the role. It is OK for interviewers to probe some areas more, with certain candidates, to ensure that they have a full picture of all the candidates’ qualifications for the role.

To ensure a fair interview you should use more than one interviewer and ensure that all interviewers are appropriately trained.

Whether you use interviews alone, or set practical tests as well, each candidate should be given the same opportunity to demonstrate that they are the best person for the role.

As well as checking that any practical tests set are necessary and relevant to the role, you should ensure that the they are not discriminatory in any way. For some candidates, this may require a ‘reasonable adjustment’ to be made. For example, someone with dyslexia may need to be given more time to read a document before answering questions about it.

Interviewers should avoid asking candidates for personal information that is irrelevant to the role, or asking questions that are potentially discriminatory.

It is good practice for interviewers/assessors to score candidates’ responses to core questions and make notes on key points, and to write up these notes up as soon as possible after the interviews. Doing this can help to ensure a consistent selection process.

See Acas Guide: Recruiting Staff

As with all stages of the recruitment process, you should ensure that when selecting a candidate for the job you do not discriminate against other candidates who have one or more of the ‘protected characteristics’.

However, where there are two or more candidates who are equally qualified to be recruited, you may select a person because they are from a protected group which you believe to be under-represented or disadvantaged (for Northern Ireland broadcasters see here). In other words, a specific candidate’s ‘protected characteristic’ may be used as a ‘tie-breaker’, if you can show that the candidate with the ‘protected characteristic’ either experiences disadvantage in the workplace because of that characteristic, or is disproportionately under-represented in the workforce or the particular role.

See Acas guide, Equality and discrimination: understand the basics, for more detailed information on the use of protected characteristics as a ‘tie-breaker’.

Making reasonable adjustments

You should also ask applicants if they need you to make any ‘reasonable adjustments’ for any part of the recruitment process. See Acas Guide Recruiting Staff and Acas guide Disability Discrimination

You should only ask health-related questions in specific circumstances. In brief. these are:

when assessing if an applicant can carry out a function that is essential to the role;
when taking ‘positive action’ to assist disabled people; and
to monitor whether the candidate is disabled and to check that a candidate has a disability when this is genuine requirement of the role.

Considering unconscious bias

What is unconscious bias?

'Unconscious bias' is bias that we are unaware of, and which is outside our conscious control. It happens automatically; the brain makes quick judgments and assessments of people and situations, influenced by our background, cultural environment and personal experiences (Equality Challenge Unit 2013)

Ofcom has worked with the Employers' Network for Equality and Inclusion (ENEI) on some of its internal work on unconscious bias. You can view the ENEI video below for more information about unconscious bias.

Impact of unconscious bias

Research has found that unconscious bias can heavily influence recruitment and selection decisions.

There are a number of ways in which bias could be embedded within your organisation’s recruitment and selection processes. For example:

Falling into the ‘mini-me’ trap: We all know that first impressions count. Interviewers form opinions about candidates within the first few minutes of meeting them, leading to bias in decision-making.
Organisational fit and recruitment filtering: Organisational fit operates when employers, recruitment agencies and head hunters seek individuals, taking into account not only their ability for the role, but also the extent to which they would fit into the culture of the organisation.
Informal networks and word-of-mouth recruitment: We know that informal networks can act as a way of excluding certain social groups from taking advantage of recruitment opportunities. The "it’s not what you know, but whom you know" attitude still operates within the recruitment business today.
Sector-based stereotyping: Excluding people from employment opportunities because of sectoral norms and stereotypical perceptions exaggerates ingrained bias.

How to identify and avoid unconscious bias

Review your specifications: Ensure that your person specification and job description is free from bias – remove all unnecessary requirements that simply act as job filters or ways of narrowing your talent pool.

Ensure that you use diverse routes of entry, such as apprenticeships and trainee schemes, which are advertised openly; this will widen the talent net.

Review your images: If you want to attract applicants from a wide range of backgrounds, use images and text that will appeal to a broad range of candidates. Research shows that minority groups respond to adverts that reflect their social identity.

Set diversity targets for recruitment agencies: If you don’t ask, you don’t get. Without direction from their clients, recruitment agencies have little motivation to field a wide range of talented candidates.

Remove bias within selection tests: Ensure that the types of case studies you use as part of any selection test do not favour any particular group. Similarly, ensure that you use psychometric tests that are free from bias.

Be aware of the ‘halo effect’: The halo effect operates at an unconscious level and allows candidates to pass through a ‘favourable filter’. For example, if, as the interviewer, you have a positive first impression of the candidate (they have a neat application document, the same set of A levels as you, grew up in the same town as you, etc.), you will constantly notice evidence of their capability, and may ignore their weak points. This is called the ‘halo effect’.

While it is not possible to eliminate unconscious bias completely, providing training for interviewers can help them to become more aware of it, and make more effort to overcome it.

Acas offers more details on unconscious bias during recruitment, and a range of other advice on unconscious bias can be found online.

Finding and recruiting new talent

Why consider diversity when recruiting?

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