Diversity and Inclusion: Obligatory or Optional?
Starting from zero in a +1 world
It’s 2019. You’re a graduate, or a young adult new to the workforce, and you’re researching a company you’re interested in working for. You head to the ‘About’ section of the corporate’s website, your cursor poised to select the ‘Careers’ tab. The next section you’ll head for is ‘Our People’.
You’re expecting to see a glossy selection of photos, artfully chosen to ensure the company is put in the best possible light when it comes to the diversity of their workforce. You’re anticipating a set of cookie cutter images, showcasing an artificially ‘representative’ group of people, with a carefully calculated number of ‘diverse’ individuals scattered clinically amongst a group of polished, predominantly Caucasian workers. And that’s what you get.
You feel despondent; seeing clear evidence that a company employs a diverse workforce often provides you with that extra motivation to apply. If you’re going to fight your way through a faceless recruitment process, you want to do it with as much of a guarantee as possible that it’s going to be worth your while. Disheartened, but not thwarted, you decide to research another company you’ve been interested in working for.
They’re a young FinTech company. They’re not a startup, but they’re pushing boundaries, and they’re entrepreneurial risk takers. You’ve heard mixed reviews from friends about what it’s like to work there — it’s fun, and fast-paced, but competitive — and you’ve heard about the latest internal company drama at a networking event. You’ve searched through their reviews on Glassdoor, and there’s a pretty polarised mix of opinions.
But when you get to their website, you’re blown away.
It’s not like any other FinTech, corporate bank or challenger bank website, where you have to sift through useful, but alienating, technical jargon before being able to view what roles they offer that might just fit your skillset. Their copy is inclusive, engaging and inspiring, and communicates their message with clarity and ease. The UX is open, transparent, and appealing.
The company website actually has a section for how they have created a supportive environment for their employees, and is describing this in the detail that clearly shows how much their HR department cares. The photos of employees are not polished, bland stock photos of a ‘diverse’ group, but real, honest and authentic photos of a varied range of individuals, showing individuals from a wide range of backgrounds, including those who may identify as non binary or transgender. You’re seeing people on this page who look like you, and represent you — a sign that, if hired here, you wouldn’t be the only ‘minority’.
You feel emboldened, and inspired, and decide to explore their recruitment processes, and their available jobs. You reason that even if you’re unsuccessful, to go through the recruitment process for this organisation would be beneficial to you. You would be recognised, treated with fairness, and given helpful feedback on your performance. You would grow, not regress, from the experience. And so would the business.
Now, let me ask you a question: is this your company?
Perhaps you wish it was.
This may be your ideal experience for potential candidates coming into your organisation.
You may want any existing blockers that impede the flow of talent into your business to be removed.
You want your candidates to be fully aware that you, as a business and as a community, are aware of how important it is to screen candidates fairly; to ensure that analysis of role-fit and culture-fit for an individual is done expertly, and, crucially, that the candidate is able to gain as much from the process as you intend to gain.
Headstart is an innovative, disruptive diversity recruitment software, transforming the way organisations hire through machine learning and data science to transform the recruitment process. They enable clients to find the right, high potential employees regardless of gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation or age.
Recruitment, as it stands today, is not equipped for the workforce of the future. Soft skills, culture fit, diversity of thought, personality and approach to innovation and disruption are all very important qualities that those entering the workforce need to possess, and that those currently within our workforce need to gain. The way organisations currently hire cannot be expected to cater to unique individuals, with specialised areas spanning across a wide range of areas.
Innovative software, such as Headstart, and thriving online communities, are leading the greatest revolution of all: making recruitment worthy of the Fourth Industrial Age.
