How do you create an inclusive talent acquisition process?

In my experience, creating an inclusive talent acquisition process is vital for nurturing a diverse and vibrant workplace. This begins with defining clear diversity goals that align with our organization's values. Next, reviewing and expanding talent sources ensures a broader candidate pool. Making sure that job descriptions are inclusive and assessments are fair plays a crucial part in attracting diverse candidates. Communication must be open, respectful, and engage candidates throughout the process. It's an ongoing effort that requires attention and commitment. "If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together." - African Proverb #TalentAcquisition #Teamwork #OrganizationalCulture

Creating an inclusive hiring process starts by setting clear goals for diversity that reflect a commitment to fairness and opportunity for everyone. Looking at who works here now to understand diversity across different areas like gender, age, and more. This helps set specific goals, like having more diverse leaders or making sure there is a mix of different people applying for jobs. Involve everyone from the manager to relevant team members to make sure these goals matter to everyone. The goal should be to make a workplace where everyone feels valued and able to bring their own ideas and skills.

I have provided training to the HR and TAC teams on inclusive onboarding and awareness/accessibility for Disabled candidates and new employees. For interviewing, pre-hire/post hire and on-boarding. I understand what it feels like to apply as a disabled (deaf) person and what the process is like, and how it can be fixed to improve awareness and understanding for everyone involved. You rarely see a deaf/disabled person work in HR/TAC capacity so I can be a tool for your company to improve accessibility and awareness from an unique point of view and experience.

Cultivate candidate pools with talent who bring varied perspectives and capabilities. This reflects in advertising, photos, job descriptions and careers pages. Candidates respond to language that includes them.

Consistently look at where you're finding your talent and make sure it's diverse and inclusive by tapping into various networks, communities, and platforms, job boards etc that welcome everyone, and keep checking to see what's working best, recruiting changes so quickly.

I challenge organizations to move beyond the job description format. That is the format that basically lists the 10 to 15 activities (how to move your hands and feet) to do. Rather, look at developing an interesting role description that focuses on accountabilities and commitments that can be achieved through an individual's unique and authentic being. Share a role profile that recognizes, a hopefully, positive culture and how a person can contribute, create and work with others. Focus on highlighting the strengths needed and the opportunity to belong. I find job descriptions boring and not motivating.

Make sure job descriptions AND job adverts use clear language that highlights a variety of transferrable skills and backgrounds. Really emphasise the value of transferrable skills so that everyone feels encouraged to apply, creating a more inclusive and friendly hiring process.

Unconscious bias in language affects the candidate pipeline. Candidates respond to inclusive language. I've used Textio to optimize job descriptions and help hiring managers articulate skills needed for the role.

In a forward-looking company, AI transformed talent assessment. They prioritized fairness by defining unbiased criteria and using diverse data. Through rigorous preprocessing and feature development, they trained a generative AI model. Mitigating biases with regular checks, they combined AI-generated assessments with human insights. Feedback loops, transparency, and legal compliance ensured an unbiased process. The result: a talent acquisition future that values potential over prejudice.

Try and communicate at each stage as much as you can.... simple. this ensures a positive experience and reinforces the commitment to them