Page 17 - Anti-Racism Pocketbook for Schools and Academies
P. 17
Good practice for inclusive recruitment
As a recruiter, it should be a main priority to ensure that bias is
not prevalent in the recruitment process. Building inclusive and
diverse teams is important for every organisation due to the fact
that they provide different opinions and perspectives within an
organisation.
Unfortunately, bias can prevent the development of diversity
within the workplace. It is commonly known that ethnically
diverse candidates for jobs are less likely to be chosen when
considering small aspects like names and ethnic background.
A job applicant with a name that sounds like it might belong to an
ethnically diverse individual – Lakisha Washington or Mustafa
Mahmoud or Bukunmi Bankole – can find it harder to get a job.
Despite laws against discrimination and the desire for some
businesses to enhance profits by hiring those most qualified
regardless of race, 66% of ethnically diverse people were in
employment in comparison to 78% of white people in 2019.
However, there are many practices that can be put in place to
ensure that ethnically diverse candidates are receiving the same
opportunities as their white counterparts in the recruitment
process.
Here is a list of things to consider when discussing good practice
in recruitment:
• Write inclusive job descriptions
• Avoid making generalisations such as using the term BAME,
as it encompasses too many backgrounds and cultures
• Widen your search to include diverse groups and pools of
talent
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