Inclusive recruitment practices for your tech business

Looking to improve diversity and inclusion in your recruitment? Discover ideal inclusive hiring practices for your tech brand in this bite-size guide.

Inclusive hiring is integral in today’s working world. From a business perspective, inclusive companies produce 2.5x higher cash flows per employee, while diverse management can increase revenues by 19%.

And it’s an essential requirement for candidates too. A recent study revealed that 86% of job seekers say a company’s inclusion and diversity are important factors when evaluating offers.

But knowing the importance and implementing change are two different things.

So, what’s the solution? How do we establish diversity in our inclusive recruitment? What are the best practices?

And how do we translate the inclusive running of our businesses into the initial enrolment of new employees?

Let’s explore.

How to improve diversity and inclusion in recruitment

While the DE&I (diversity, equity and inclusion) flag has been flying high for several years, more is needed to create a level playing ground, especially in the tech industry.

In 2020, the UK tech workforce had just 18% minority representation. And as 50% of workers in the labour market are female, only 26% belong to tech.

Whether you wish to bring more women into your workforce or provide minority groups with equal opportunities, the first step in bridging this gap begins with inclusive recruitment.

Here are some essential inclusive recruitment practices to get the ball rolling for your business:

Display inclusive language in job descriptions

It’s not always easy to see, but the language in job descriptions can sometimes be too gender-specific.

For example, the following terms can be gender-biased or offensive when read in the wrong context:

• “Become our next hot new team member”.
• “Join our tribe”.
• “Manpower”.
• “Assertiveness”.
• “Competitiveness”.

We know it doesn’t come from a malicious place, but it’s vital to consider every word on the page. Even using gendered language can appear non-inclusive to someone from the LGBTQ community.

Fortunately, there are plenty of free gender bias language checkers that you can use for your job descriptions from brands like InclusionHub and DataPeople.

Provide inclusive application forms

With your job description ticking all the boxes, we move on to the application process.

Here, you must guarantee you don’t leave out talented candidates who have not had prior equal opportunities to gain relevant experience in employment.

You should include competency-based application forms that accommodate the necessary skills required through other experience examples, such as volunteering, community group leadership or personal and extracurricular achievements.

Conduct inclusive interviewing

When interviewing, always provide flexible arrangements to accommodate all types of candidates. Whether it’s making sure you provide access to disabled people or offering the option to perform the interview remotely, every candidate should receive an equal opportunity to attend an interview.

Once the interview is underway, be sure to focus your interview questions on capabilities that are equal across all candidates. Regardless of the candidate, all your questions should remain specific to the position requirements while avoiding any language that may infer bias.

Finally, don’t make assumptions. And give all candidates a fair and equal opportunity to answer each question to the best of their ability.

Want to learn more about creating an inclusive recruitment process?

Whether it’s developing your EVP & employer brand, or improving your talent attraction strategy, it’s no easy challenge.

So, if you’re after an extra helping hand, why not head over to our blog for more insights on how to develop an inclusive hiring process or contact us today for one-on-one advice?