Nowadays, recruiting and diversity management are inextricably linked. The company ultimately decides which candidate is best suited to a vacancy during the application process. This step is crucial to the company’s success and the company’s working environment in general. But what exactly is diversity management and what is the role of diversity during recruiting? Diversity management is about involving and organizing staff members from all walks of life while avoiding discrimination on the basis of ethnic, cultural or socioeconomic background or on the basis of sex/gender or age.

Why diversity pays off

You benefit from a team with very different backgrounds on many levels: mixed teams not only improve creativity, they are also more creative. Because people with a different approach to work in addition to another vocational or cultural background can contribute important new ideas and methods to teams. This will increase your company’s general capacity for innovation.

Furthermore, several studies have shown that a working environment with satisfied and motivated employees from different backgrounds ensures that these employees have a stronger sense of belonging toward their company [1] [2] Fair hiring procedures and communicating the fact that your company promotes diversity also creates a corporate image characterized by uniqueness and worldliness. This will also give you a clear competitive advantage. So it is high time to address the importance of diversity in recruiting, and in your company.

Diversity in your company through fair recruiting

Diversity in your company will be influenced first and foremost by the recruiting process. This is why as a recruiter you have a great deal of responsibility when it comes to promoting diversity. Take advantage of the opportunity to increase your company’s success and have a positive influence on its productivity and climate by hiring a diverse group of people.

To ensure a fair and transparent recruiting process, always keep in mind that all applicants should have the same chance of making it to the next round of interviews or filling the vacancy, regardless of their sex/gender, age, nationality, appearance, etc. This will allow all applicants to prove their talents and skills and to show why they are a good fit for a vacant position.

A step-by-step guide to diversity in recruiting

In order to ensure that your entire recruiting process is done in a manner which promotes diversity, you should take a careful look at every step of the recruiting process and, if necessary, adapt it accordingly. The following 5 steps will help you in this regard:

1. Know the labor market

Knowing the labor marketing is essential to making sure your recruiting process promotes diversity. When dealing with people who have different nationalities or cultural backgrounds, you should make sure, for example, you formulate things appropriately so you don’t exclude or discriminate against anyone. You could set out your analysis of the labor market in writing, for example, and create a written list of do’s and don’ts in-house. This will prevent you from accidentally putting your foot in your mouth or saying something inappropriate.

2. Offer employees sensitivity training

Despite its increasing importance, diversity still continues to be a delicate topic. That is why not only recruiters but also employees from every department should attend sensitivity training courses. Show them why diversity is more important than ever before and why it is not only the entire company but also every individual employee who benefits from it. Trained recruiters who know what most effectively promotes diversity in a company can also improve how they come across when they do this. Because nowadays sales talent is also a very important part of recruiting.

3. Adjust your search criteria

You should have a clear idea of which sort of people will be attracted to your job advertisements and your corporate image; you should also have an idea of how that might change in the future. Examine your search criteria and demands critically, and make any necessary additions and adjustments. For example, you could also think about which channels you could use to reach out to new target groups of applicants. A targeted analysis of the labor market will help you.

4. Tweak the selection process

To ensure that you promote diversity from the beginning to the end, you should also take a closer look at the selection process and tweak it so that it meets your demands. You should not only think about which criteria are used to select candidates, but also, for example, which questions will be asked during interviews.

5. Benefit from a recruiting process which promotes diversity

Take a careful look at your entire recruiting process. Adapt it so that every candidate has the same chance of filling the vacancy, regardless of sex/gender, origin or educational background. Ultimately, you want your company to hire people from as many different backgrounds as possible to create a working environment characterized by diversity and productivity.

Implement targeted measures to promote diversity

In addition to adjusting your recruiting process, there are a few other important measures which are easy to implement and will promote diversity during the recruiting process:

• Job advertisements that are non-discriminatory: Review your job advertisements on a regular basis to make sure that nobody will feel excluded or discriminated against.
• Anonymized recruiting process: Anonymized personal data allow you to automatically focus more on applicants’ skills and abilities, which counteracts subconscious biases you may have toward certain people.
• Standardized recruiting procedures: A recruitment software can also be very useful here.
• In-house training courses: Highlight the importance of diversity by addressing it during in-house training courses on employee development.

Express diversity through Marketing and Sales

Are you a company that promotes diversity and equal opportunities, regardless of sex/gender, age, origin or nationality? Then you should definitely communicate this to the public! Show them why you are an attractive company to work for and how you promote diversity in general, not just during recruiting. Use your authentic and unique image to appeal to many potential employees and see how the most promising candidates start to apply for positions.