Purpose

It is important to hold meaningful conversations with those that will work with your new hire about what expectations and assumptions people hold about the role. You may already have an existing job description if you are filling an existing role, but it is vital to enter a new cycle of recruitment with a clear shared understanding so that you shape the role to compliment the present team and you encourage openness to new ideas and approaches.

Questions to consider

☐ Who will be working closely with the new hire? How does this role fit with their role?

☐ What skills and qualities are you looking to see and at what level?

☐ Would someone from a different field or with little experience be able to thrive in this role? What sorts of experiences might not be directly relatable but demonstrate potential?

☐ What tasks could allow the above skills and qualities to be demonstrated and assessed?

☐ Could you be holding assumptions and prejudices as to how skills and qualities show up in a person? Have you had an open discussion with other hiring people in the panel?

Useful tools

At the start of all of our recruitment we recommend running a Role Workshop with everyone that might influence hiring decisions. This then serves as the basis for job ads, task/interview plans and how to assess the suitability of candidates. It also opens up candid conversations around how your biases may show up when you meet candidates.

You can access a workshop template here:

• Role workshop template

And sign up to our training workshop to learn facilitation techniques for ensuring thought-provoking conversations among your team.

Purpose

Job ads are usually the first place where people will be interacting with the role and imagine themselves in it. Spend time ensuring you write in plain english so that people outside of your company or sector feel like the role is a possible fit for them. This is also where you can show your enthusiasm and desire to be inclusive and open-minded.

We strongly recommend asking people to answer application questions rather than sending you their CV - it tends to reduce bias, be a more enjoyable candidate experience, and give you an easier way to compare candidates like-for-like. We also find that this is one of the main drivers for the diversity of the talent pool you are able to attract.

Questions to consider

☐ How rigid are your requirements and how can you convey their flexibility to others?

☐ Does the language used in the job ad match the level of knowledge/experience you would want someone in the role to have? Is there anything you can move to desirable rather than essential?

☐ Have you given enough insight into the org, the specific team and the role to the potential candidates to enable them to tailor their application to what you are looking for?

☐ What are the main qualities or experiences ALL candidates need to demonstrate? How can you devise an application process that ensures you are assessing for these first and foremost?

☐ Is your job ad gender-coded?

Useful tools

• Job Ad Template

• Example application questions

• Look back at your role workshop outputs to make sure you have covered the most important aspects

Purpose

Investing time and money into promoting your role in spaces and on job boards that actively reach different audiences is hugely valuable. While posting on generic job hunting spaces like Linkedin or Indeed will reach lots of people, investing time in reaching out to different networks and avenues you’ve not considered before will give you a better range of candidates to consider.

Questions to consider

☐ Who do you normally attract and where from (i.e. where have people applying usually seen your job ad)?

☐ Who in your network has a more diverse workplace? Can you ask them what channels they use or for support promoting your role?

☐ What signals does it send to candidates by where you choose to promote your role?

☐ How can you use communities and networks to spread your opportunities rather than just job boards?

☐ How can you encourage people to connect with you and the team if they are uncertain about the role?

Examples of platforms and communities we might work with to promote roles:

• Run the check

• BYP Network

• YSYS job board

• Regional & sector focussed slack groups or facebook groups (e.g. Birmingham Design / Tech Nottingham / Digital charities)

• The Dots

• Ada's List

• Muslamic makers

Purpose

Interviews and tasks are not meant to catch people out but be an opportunity for candidates to demonstrate their skills, thinking and qualities. We always encourage recruiters to make sure you are really clear about why you are asking questions or setting a particular task, and reassure candidates through transparently sharing what you are hoping to see and understand about them.

There are all sorts of reasons why someone might not bring their best selves to an interview so being really open and accomodating, as well as offering lots of different ways for people to demonstrate their potential, can ensure you see the best of someone.

Questions to consider

☐ If you are setting a task is the timeframe provided appropriate? How will candidates who will not have all that time to invest be impacted?

☐ Have you shared information about your practices and personal ways of working that will let the candidate articulate how they would work in your team?

☐ If you are looking for something specific in any answer, is it clear to the candidates that that is what you are wanting to explore?

☐ How will you support candidates and adapting to their needs? What have you found anything challenging about doing so and why?

☐ Have you made your best attempt at creating welcoming and reassuring environment? Do you have explicit ways of doing it?

Useful tips and tools

• Example Pre-interview task brief

• Creating inclusive interviews (includes example interview plans & questions!)

We have extensive experience of creating inclusive interviews and can provide training to your team to create a really enjoyable and insightful experience for both the candidates and the hiring panel. But our main tips are:

• Provide a copy of the questions to candidates 24 hours before the interview

• Ask candidates if they need you to make any adjustments for them to ensure they feel confident on the day.

• Ensure there is enough time for candidates to undertake the task (and possibly spread it over 4 days to a week) and ideally pay them for their time completing this task.

Purpose

While we recommend questions are sent to candidates beforehand, it’s also important for interviews to be conversational and relational rather than overly rigid. When a candidate shares something it may spark some thoughts you want to share or further questions you want to ask. We suggest that follow-up questions are asked mindfully and that they do not take the conversation on too much of a tangent or make the candidate feel anxious. If you do ask follow-up questions we suggest you note them down so that they can be taken into consideration in the decision-making.

We also recommend each panel member has a place to score without others seeing it as hiring panels may be influenced to change their perspective on a candidate - diversity of opinion on a hiring panel is super healthy. The score you give to each candidate is more about remaining conscious of how you are perceiving candidates and provoking conversation between hiring managers rather than an exact science.

Lastly, scoring candidates and making notes as you go makes it much easier to provide feedback to unsuccessful candidates at the end of the process.

Questions to consider

☐ Have you made space for discussing and agreeing how to score people? Do you all know what are you looking out for?

☐ How will you introducing yourselves, explain the interview process and create a welcoming environment for your interviewees?

☐ How will you mitigate your biases and remain open to seeing positive attributes that you might not have considered before?

☐ Is there anything about the candidates that you did not incorporate into your role profile and scoring but you think would be a great addition to your team?

Useful tips and tools

• Example Scoring Sheet (Notion)

• Example Scoring Sheet (Google Sheets)

• Interview Plan Template

Purpose

We always recommend that hiring decisions are made collectively. That way the entire team will be behind that new hire and will be more likely to champion them in that role.

It is also really important to acknowledge all of the things that might be influencing your decision. Remember that it is okay to say things out loud and call out different things you are noticing (both your own thoughts and feelings and those of others) - it is natural for people to be triggered by or resonate with particular people and talking through it will make you more certain whether that is a fair assessment or your own personal reaction.

Questions to consider

☐ Going back to the initial role workshop, is there anything that is biasing your view of candidates that is not relevant to the role?

☐ Could your perception of a candidate be influenced by your own projections?

☐ Where do your scores differ most? Does that represent a difference in what you value as a person or was there a misinterpretation of what the candidate said or presented?

☐ How do you encourage and value the input of each member of the hiring panel?

Useful tips

• Get someone outside of the hiring panel to facilitate your conversation about the candidates to ensure everyone’s perspective is considered

• If you change your perspective on what is needed within the position as a result of meeting new people, be honest and acknowledge this

We often play the role of external facilitator for our partners. Through working with us we’ll introduce you to practices that support your team to have honest conversations together and make the best decisions.

Purpose

The purpose of this recruitment process and style is to create a positive relationship with each candidate - this will ensure they want to work with you and talk positively about your organisation even if they are unsuccessful in this process. Maintain consistent communication and provide feedback to ensure you have left a lasting impression on the candidates.

Questions to consider

☐ Have you responded to all questions posed to you by the candidates?

☐ Do candidates have all the information they need timely and in advance?

☐ Is your feedback clear, honest and actionable for the candidate?

☐ Have you invited the candidate to keep in touch with you and your organisation?

Useful tips

• Schedule emails about the process to be sent within usual working hours

• Check your scoring sheet for simple points of feedback to share with candidates - you might want to offer to do this over a short phone call so they can understand the nuance to your feedback.