6 Unconventional Hiring Strategies for Inclusive Recruitment
In an increasingly competitive job market, the biggest goal of most companies is to attract the best talents. However, being able to find the most skilled people is also one of the biggest challenges faced by hiring managers and companies on a daily basis.
Breaking through the competition is not an easy job and it often forces companies to opt for the most mainstream channels and platforms, to then end up in a closed circle where no space for unconventional strategies or innovative approaches is given.
When it comes to involving a diversity and inclusion lens in to recruitment, it starts to become even more difficult, if not impossible. The inclusive-driven factors are often “sacrificed” and omitted from the process, as time, budget and urgency to hire take over.
Well, I believe that unconventional hiring strategies can represent a great solution when it comes to combining disruptive and inclusivity-informed strategies.
These six unconventional hiring strategies for inclusive recruitment I’ve come up with bring more creativity into the process, while at the same time allow hiring managers the space for a more inclusive approach that will benefit both the needs of the companies and the job seekers out there.
#1 Partner Up with Talent Incubators Working with Under-Represented Groups
When it comes to hiring, usually the first step is to look for the right platforms to advertise your vacancies and attract candidates. The choice typically falls to the most popular channels, like Linkedin, Glassdoor, Indeed, etc… . These channels collect a large pool of candidates and help to easily reach the desired audience. However, this pool may turn out to be too large and thus create an inconsistency of what you want versus what you find.
With LinkedIn, for example, we should not forget that it is a social media platform and that not everyone wants to access it. Linkedin’s one-click application may turn out to be too easy to drown out the real valuable candidates, as it may lead to receive loads of applications of candidates that may not entirely match your criteria.
By posting the job ads onto bigger platforms, no matter how much you customize your ads, you operate through what I call a “fishing” outreach process: You throw the fishing rod into the sea and wait (and hope) for the best candidates to take the bait. Therefore, this approach allows almost no proactivism in targeting your audience more specifically.
To be proactive in the talent search, while also incorporating a more inclusion-driven perspective, partner up with talent incubators working with specific groups, particularly from under-represented categories, such as refugees, womxn, BIPoC groups, LGBTQIA+ groups, youth from disadvantaged backgrounds, to name a few.
You can proactively decide to build strategic partnerships and hire from their networks. Especially if these groups provide education in the fields you need to employ a new workforce in (e.g. Tech, Marketing & Sales, Design…), you can familiarize yourself with their alumna community and search for candidates from their pools.
#2 Organize Hiring Events Online and Offline
Another unorthodox strategy for inclusive recruitment is to create chances to meet your potential candidates in person through online and offline events.
Networking is one of the most recommended techniques to look for a job. Potential candidates are motivated to show up when brands they like organize an event and when they feel that these occasions may turn into strategic opportunities. As hiring managers, you should consider following a similar path. If candidates understand the potential of networking to look for a job, why not use the same potential for your talent search?
Furthermore, events will attract people who are part of your community already, and your community offers you the most reliable group of potential candidates. They know your product or your service, they like it and use it and, as users, they may even understand better what is required to improve it. However, your community may still be quite homogenous and reproduce the attraction-mechanism for specific groups only.
Before relying on your community and brand ambassadors, make sure to adopt a strategy that allows you to meet the diversity in your users’ community. Furthermore, do not forget to be inclusive when you decide to organize an event: accessibility is the key, both physical and figurative. Make sure your event venue is accessible by individuals with disabilities, those in wheelchairs or those with strollers. Opt for a parallel online event, so people that cannot attend it physically have the same chance to be involved in the initiative.
Advertise your event with diversity in mind: share it where a diverse audience can see it, work with employer brand ambassadors to spread the word in diverse channels and platforms and try to be proactive in spreading the word beyond your standard network.
#3 Simplify and Diversify Your Application Process
Application processes need to be thought through and make sure that they support the recruitment by being compliant to the most relevant criteria for selection. However, from the candidates’ side, application processes can be intimidating and discouraging.
Especially in the initial stage, if your application process requires candidates to reply to too many, perhaps irrelevant questions, or to go through very time-consuming and complex tests, it can be exclusive and discouraging.
Candidates apply for many jobs, sometimes while working full-time jobs. Even if they have the best intentions and they want to impress the hiring panel, sometimes they might find themselves in a situation of emotional and physical stress that prevents them from performing well in the initial application steps. Furthermore, candidates may have specific conditions like dyslexia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or autism spectrum that may automatically and unfairly preclude their chance to access the next application stages.
In order to make your process more inclusive, it’s important to focus on which are the most relevant criteria candidates need to meet in order to be suitable for the job and for your company culture. Based on this, you can simplify and diversify the initial stage of your application process to make it accessible to a wider, and more diverse group of candidates.
You can opt for creative yet clear questions which can give you a rounded impression of the applicants like:
“If you could pick a song to define your professional attitude which one would it be and why?” (*not suitable for individuals with autism spectrum disorder)
“What are three working experiences that make you a great choice for this role and why?”
“What is your greatest professional failure (aka learning) and how does it make you a great candidate for this role?”
Try to avoid asking for personal, irrelevant details like marital status, date of birth, nationality. Even asking for a picture, gender and name might, at the initial stage, be irrelevant for your purpose.
*If you are aware of candidates with autism spectrum disorder, you need to opt for further adjustment, e.g. direct and context-related questions and providing multiple questions to clarify the framework. Check here to learn more about interviewing candidates with autism spectrum disorder.
When advancing in your application process and after shortlisting the most promising candidates, keep the diversification and simplification approach in mind. It does not mean you have to do it superficially or be radically creative, rather just open up to unconventional approaches that may help you and your candidates unveil their skills in a fairer and more transparent way.
#4 Turn Your Job Ad into a Video
Job ads seem to be copy-pasted from one platform to another, from one company to another. There is very little space to add a personal touch in your job ad when you only share it in writing. Sure, you can always promote your workplace by adding a description and the list of benefits you offer, but candidates will still be full of questions about the person behind the online ad.
By recording a short video to promote your vacancy, you literally put your face on it and create an opportunity for candidates to visualize who they can look forward to meeting and working with. You get the chance to share the uniqueness of your company’s environment and put some creativity into how you advertise it. Although virtual, you give the candidates a sense of connection. They will see the “real” people behind the advertisements and they will more likely feel closer to your mission and research.
Furthermore, a multimedia format will turn out to be more accessible for candidates with hearing or reading issues. It can easily be posted on social media and YouTube, which are among the most used online platforms by a diverse range of people.
#5 Use a Social Media Platform
Don’t forget to involve your social media platforms in your recruitment and outreach process. Instagram and YouTube are among the most popular ones and they have the potential to act as a catalyst and create a cascade effect within a larger network.
Social media allows you to try out unconventional approaches, like visual and multimedia material. Nice illustrations, design work or quotes can be inspirational and attract diverse groups of candidates that you would not normally reach through conventional approaches.
Of course, you should not assume that all candidates are active on social media (it can, thus, result in exclusion for specific groups of people!) and therefore it should not be your only hiring platform. However, social media has this ability to accelerate the sharing and reposting process and - if used smartly - can open new doors.
#6 Focus on Your Employer Branding Strategy
Hiring strategies don’t only involve job ad postings, talents searches, application processes and interviews. To set up a successful recruitment process, you need to consistently curate your employer branding strategy.
It is not enough to attract candidates through a competitive salary or cool benefits. Today, employees look for good places to work, for environments where they can feel accepted and welcomed. They make their own research before applying and this is why you need to put a big effort in how you cultivate your company culture from within and how you create awareness around it.
By working on your employer branding strategy you are halfway through a successful hiring process. If run smartly, candidates will end up unsolicitedly excited to work for you and feel motivated to apply for your open positions, not (only) because they need a job, but mostly because they will associate that vacancy with an opportunity to work for a good employer.
Diversity and Inclusion plays a crucial role in how you design your employer branding strategy: A workplace that explicitly values and promotes its employees’ diversity and uniqueness, actively makes a safe space and acts inclusively towards them will have increasing chances to be competitive.