Socially-Responsible Recruiting Paper -digital

A practical guide to employee retention,
growth, and building an inclusive business
for long-term success
Socially-responsible
Recruitment Report
2016
@mykindafuture #MKFCSR #CSR

Socially-responsible Recruitment Report 2016
01
Contents
Executive summary.....................................................................02
The case for socially-responsible recruitment..........................02
Socially-responsible recruitment and EVP:
Where’s the line?.........................................................................05
The stages in socially-responsible recruitment.........................06
1. Green house
• Attraction and outreach..................................................07
2. Green room
• The overall selection process...........................................10
• Pre-screening and online tests.........................................13
• Face-to-face assessment activities including
interviewing and assessment centres.............................14
3. Pre-boarding and Induction................................................15
Conclusion...................................................................................19
About MyKindaFuture.................................................................20
References...................................................................................21

02
Executive summary
It is widely reported that socially diverse workforces significantly improve
organisational productivity and overall company performance. Despite
this, research shows that white graduates are 10% more likely to find
full-time or part-time employment within a year of graduating than their
black, Asian and minority ethnic peers (BAME).
The Bank of England has recently indicated that the UK is near ‘full
employment’, which as a result means that competition for talent is
going to increase. Employers cannot rely on salary and employer brand
to attract and retain the best and most diverse talent. We are calling for
employers to adopt socially-responsible recruitment practices through
simple but effective actions that don’t just attract great talent, but also
level the playing field for young people in the UK.
Be socially-responsible
The case for socially-responsible recruitment
Diversity recruitment continues to be one of the hottest topics in HR today.
Recently trade press reported populace research firmly establishes that
the demographic make-up of the UK is changing rapidly. Many corporate
front-runners established diversity initiatives decades ago and seek to
measure bottom-line results as well as demographics of women, minority
group recruitment and retention. However, in an increasingly competitive
global marketplace, businesses cannot afford to miss opportunities that
will help them to succeed at home and abroad.
So how does having a diverse workforce progress a company’s ambitions?
A mix of backgrounds, values, experiences, and influences brings
contrasting perspectives to idea generation and problem-solving, which
drives innovation and competitive advantage.
This paper has been created to assist HR leaders evaluate recruitment
practices and evolve employer value proposition activities into sophisticated
socially-responsible recruitment strategies. We look at the full recruitment
life cycle: from attraction and outreach, interview, assessment and
selection, through to pre-boarding and induction. At each stage there are
tips and practical suggestions that build trust with candidates, remove
barriers and ultimately create parity in the recruitment process.
At MyKindaFuture, 16–24 year olds are central to our mission and so this
paper has a focus on this demographic.
Contents

03
Socially-responsible Recruiting – Definition
Socially-responsible recruiting can be defined as ensuring every
applicant, irrespective of their background, has the chance to
demonstrate exactly what they would bring to a role by making certain
every phase of recruitment is inclusive.
A diverse workforce delivers:
Deeper
connection
with customers:
The needs of diverse customers need to be understood and
integrated. There is a positive correlation between customer
awareness and increased financial performance.
Employee
motivation:
Employees maintain productivity when they are treated with dignity
and respect from the very first interaction, and arguably even prior
to that.
Employee
innovation:
A work environment open to diversity remains flexible and favourable
in fostering and encouraging employee innovation.
Employee
recruitment
and retention:
A workplace that emphasises interest and concern for its employees
as people first is able to attract a higher-quality workforce.
Continuous
quality
improvement:
An environment where employee talents are valued will help
to continually improve quality and performance:
• Companies with the highest representation of women on their
top management teams deliver 35% higher return on equity and
34% higher total return to shareholders than companies with the
lowest representation according to a Catalyst study into financial
performance of companies.
• Boards with majority women surpass all-male boards in their
attention to factors critical to performance, audit, and risk oversight
and control; essential for ethically operating organisations.
• Racial diversity within business is associated with increased
market share.
• 80% of respondents with a diversity strategy cited significant
improvement in business operations.
Contents

04
Despite the clear benefits from building workforces that reflect society
at large, some companies are a long way from achieving equal
representation and the rewards that this brings for individuals, business,
and society overall. This is substantiated by the fact that currently, in the
UK, on average 78% of company partners are male and 86% of company
partners are white. A focused study on recruitment agencies revealed
that BAME applicants were less likely to be offered a job (29% of successful
applicants) in comparison to white applicants (44% of applicants).
Specifically in the youth recruitment sphere, we have seen that graduates
who went through private education receive higher starting salaries
and benefit from faster pay rises in comparison to their colleagues from
different backgrounds. Employers have a duty of care to ensure that
processes within their attraction and recruitment operations help to create
equal opportunities for all.
We see employers attempting to reach and recruit a wider and more
diverse audience and they face significant operational challenges in
the process.
Barriers to
adopting
socially-
responsible
recruitment
practices
The degree to which internal stakeholders are willing to change and
adopt unfamiliar recruitment practices
Openness to accept the presence and impact of individual biases
The time it takes to change organisation-wide processes
Inaccurate data grouping affects the quality of analysis and ability
to reach target audiences
Lack of strategic direction to diversity-minded activities
We also work with companies who focus on defining and communicating
their ‘value proposition’ to potential hires in order to attract diverse groups
of individuals. This represents significant progress and internal drive in these
organisations towards addressing the imbalance of representation in their
workforce. More recently, and promisingly, we are now seeing organisations
with ambitions to take further action by supporting their employer value
proposition (EVP) with tangible, effective ‘socially-responsible recruitment’
strategies. We believe this is the way forward to address the diversity
imbalance and ultimately bring strategic talent pipeline programmes
together with corporate social responsibility initiatives.
86%of company partners
are white.
78%of company partners
are male
44%of white successful
applicants offered a job
29%of successful BAME
applicants offered a job
EVP
Contents

05
Socially-responsible Recruitment
and EVP:
Where’s the line?
Employer Value Proposition (EVP) is a unique set of offerings, associations
and values to positively influence target candidates and employees.
Organisations who have embarked on the process of defining their
employer value proposition have taken a vital first step towards
communicating with and reaching target diverse audiences. In our
current world of transparency and demanding consumer behaviour,
from which future employees come, companies must take a proactive
approach to managing their employer brand. Companies face the
challenge of ‘define or be defined’. They must sell themselves to
prospective employees, describing the ‘how’ both parties match in terms
of values and ambitions. When handled well, an effective EVP significantly
helps to attract and recruit the talent it requires and desires, including
diverse individuals. Socially-responsible recruitment is the next step for
organisations with a well-constructed and managed EVP in tackling
diversity imbalances. Where companies have yet to achieve this clarity,
building a socially-responsible recruitment strategy can be the practical
catalyst for going on to define your EVP.
A socially-responsible recruitment strategy is the cornerstone for bringing
change for the benefit of individuals and organisations. We conducted
research in 2014 that provides valuable insight into the perceptions of
students about their potential future employers. The majority of the young
people we surveyed (300) shared a perception that organisations could
do more to create an inclusive workforce. Furthermore, 76% of respondents
felt the workplace could be more diverse if companies recruited through
different methods.
Employers have the opportunity to make a difference and take
responsibility for their recruitment ecosystems. Many enlightened
organisations are aware of the value of diversity, and many struggle
to translate this into effective, meaningful practice. Where companies
have implemented EVP practices and socially-responsible recruitment
strategies, there is often a disconnection between the day-to-day
operations and the reasons these practices are important. Furthermore
there are significant barriers that inhibit the likelihood of diverse
candidates successfully navigating the multiple stages of competitive
recruitment processes. This paper explores practical tips to overcome
these barriers at each stage of recruitment, leading to the foundation
of a socially-responsible recruitment strategy.
It is vital that young people are able to access routes into a
wide range of employers to ensure the widest possible skillsets
are tapped into by organisations. It is great that companies are
working on improving diversity, and widening the pool of schools
and universities they recruit from; this is a great way to start.
William Akerman, Managing Director of MyKindaFuture, said:
2014
Research
76%
…felt the workplace
could be more diverse
if companies recruited
through different methods.
of respondents…
Contents

06
The four stages of socially-responsible recruitment
Applicants move through varying degrees of
psychological and emotional connection with
employers during the recruitment process. At
every step of the recruitment journey, candidates
are evaluating their career options, deciding
which employers to engage with, submitting
applications, taking part in recruitment activities,
deciding which offers to accept, aligning to
new organisations post offer, deflecting counter
offers, and getting ready for their first day, all the
while growing deep and lasting engagement
with an organisation. Each of these points
presents an opportunity for employers to support
diverse candidates whilst helping all applicants
move through the psychological process of
connecting with an employer.
At
MyKindaFuture
we see these
activities grouping
into four distinct
phases.
ONE
‘Green Housing’
TWO
‘Green Room’
THREE
Pre-boarding
FOUR
Induction
This refers to the period of time before a
candidate applies i.e. pre-application. At this
point, people are finding out about career
options, making career decisions, evaluating
individual employers, and considering
specific roles to apply for. The opportunity
here is for employers to cultivate early
interest in your company and start
building brand awareness with
a wider pool.
The time between accepting
an offer and start day. It is worth
thinking of pre-boarding as similar
to the customer lounge experience of
your favourite airline. In the highly competitive
travelindustry,thisiswheretheairlinewelcomes
travellers, offers refreshments, prepares them
for their flight, and immerses passengers in
the brand experience. This period of time is
crucial in establishing deep fondness and
connection with that carrier as well as making
sure that everyone is equally ready for the
journey ahead. For employers, the equivalent
in recruitment terms is the essential time in
which to cement company loyalty, to create
and clarify expectations of the career paths
and opportunities on offer, and to support
personal development. All of this takes place
before they “board” their “aircraft” for their
“flight”, ensuring that new starters are primed
and ready to succeed.
This is derived from the idea of the waiting
room where performers stay before they are on
stage. In recruitment this is the period between
application and offer where candidates
have time between each stage in the
recruitment process. The opportunity here
is to communicate with applicants
to deepen brand employer
engagement, minimise dropouts,
and critically assist diverse
candidates to be successful
through each stage.
Referring to the period of
settling into new roles and
new organisations. This is a
more familiar phase to many. Here,
employers construct a first 90-day period
where new joiners can safely find their feet
in their roles, assess their vulnerabilities in
terms of knowledge and skills, work out how
to leverage their strengths, understand the
organisational culture, and find out the ways
‘things get done around here’. Pre-boarding
and induction experiences are remembered
– for better or worse – for the entire duration
of an employee’s tenure and are a significant
component of decisions around retention and
application of discretionary effort throughout
the employee life cycle.
Contents

07
Green Housing:
Attraction and outreach
Fruitful socially-responsible outreach activities have a clear aim in
encouraging students from backgrounds that are under-represented
to understand and pursue available opportunities within organisations.
This is achieved by building close working relationships with schools,
colleges and universities and ensuring meticulous standards in employer
outreach materials. We see first-hand how successful socially-responsible
recruiting strategies result from investment in activities with young people
that are conducted in-person, particularly when the audience can relate
to the individuals delivering the sessions. Face-to-face channels are
fundamental for word of mouth marketing and for inspiring generations of
young people, and should be delivered alongside social media activities
for maximum impact. When you consider that 95% of Generation Z visit
social sites hourly, this could form a significant proportion of socially-
responsible recruitment strategies.
In this paper, we evaluate how to recruit in a socially-responsible way
through each of these stages. We focus on attraction and outreach
activities in the green house stage. In the green room stage, we take a
holistic look at the overall selection process followed by specific analysis of
pre-screening and online testing, and face-to-face assessment activities.
Lastly, we combine pre-boarding with induction to provide a seamless
experience for your candidates in the final stages of the recruitment
process as they transition into their roles.
Generation Z were born between 1995 and 2012 and are entering
employment between 2011 and 2028.
Their generational traits in terms of social media behaviour are
expecting instant responses, knowledge craving with a high degree
of channel selectivity.
They are the first generation to grow up with easy, 24-hour access to
the internet, smart phones, and social media.
They expect employers to mirror this in interactions with them.
They consume and share content simultaneously.
DID
YOU
KNOW?
Generation Z
Contents

08
01
Removing
corporate
‘speak’:
Advertising
vacancies without
jargon and
acronyms aids
applications from
target groups, as it
removes confusion.
Test your ad copy
with a range of
diverse individuals.
03
Adopt
skills-based
recruitment:
Describe the
strengths and
skills needed to
be successful, not
just the experience
required. Candidates
who may have had
social or educational
disadvantages to
gaining specific
experience should
still be encouraged
to apply, as they may
have developed
the skills required
in other roles they
have had.
02
Conduct
objective job
analysis:
Clearly stating key
competencies can
lead to a more
easily relatable
job description
where candidates
can envisage
themselves in
the post and feel
encouraged to apply.
04
Communicate
induction and
training support:
At an advanced
level of socially-
responsible
recruitment, this is
developing skills
and languages
or, at a more
fundamental level,
is giving examples
of how you will
support candidates
to develop missing
skills when they
reach the role.
A social approach, combined with face-to-face campaigns, provides the
strongest method for breaking down perceptions and barriers in attraction
and recruitment processes because you can have real conversations
in real time, directly with the people you want to reach. Examining
outreach materials is a strong first step for those new to this way of building
recruitment activities. Through these, employers have the opportunity to
make a significant impact on the perception of their organisation and
to encourage specific groups of individuals to consider opportunities
within their business. The fundamental starting point is not simply the
message that you communicate, but the impact that you wish it to have.
Use research methods - focus groups, surveys, with external input - to
understand the mindset of the audience, their perceptions, fears, and
ambitions to define how they could and should relate to your employment
proposition. From here, you can prioritise the message that you wish to
convey to them through a mix of mediums and visual metaphors
or representation.
Including an overt pro-diversity statement is a long standing and effective
method of sending a clear message to potential candidates. Progressive
organisations go further by creating and publishing ‘candidate charters’
or ‘candidate contracts’ that lay out their commitment to candidates and
the applicant experience. Ensuring your statement supports your wider
company vision and is consistent across your online and offline activity
is a central element of a socially-responsible recruitment strategy, as
candidates check numerous sources for validation and seek indicators
that they will be successful in that business.
QUICK WINS:
Four simple socially-responsible recruitment practices:
Contents

09
Socially-responsible recruitment demands an offline and online approach
to tackling the underlying social issues that affect your organisation
or sector. This means balancing digital messaging and social media
campaigns with face-to-face and in-person outreach. We recently
researched the power and value of a face-to-face approach as a strategy
alongside digital recruitment activities, revealing a surprisingly high level of
demand for this type of interaction with employers.
OnlineOffline
Some 55% of 16 to 24-year-old respondents expressed a desire to receive
employment inspiration and guidance with individuals from companies.
They want this to help to build their confidence to apply for roles and
shape the skills to be successful in the application process. Our research
revealed that 94% of young people surveyed want employers to come to
their education space and run interactive workshops, give advice, and
promote career opportunities. Digging further into these initial findings, we
found that these young people were seeking ‘mentoring’ and help from
employers. In turn, this is fast becoming one of the top mechanisms for
addressing diversity issues. Where it is geographically difficult for face-to-
face meetings or there are resource challenges, technology can achieve
this mentoring support in a digital format. We are increasingly delivering
online mentor matching and digital chat forums for our employer partners
to help young people, including under-represented target groups, to forge
relationships with potential employers. These often complement face-to-
face sessions that employers run with graduates via our university career
societies, for example, that dispel myths about daunting career routes,
such as science, engineering and technology careers.
55%
of 16 to 24-year-old respondents
expressed a desire to receive
employment inspiration and guidance
with individuals from companies.
94%
of young people surveyed want employers to come to their education
space and run interactive workshops, give advice, and promote career
opportunities.
Contents

10
Green Room:
The overall selection process
Providing “green room” support means offering advice and information
to enable candidates to be their best at each stage of the process and
helping to grow the connection that is forming between candidate and
employer. It is also an important space for sharing key EVP messages,
raising general employer brand appreciation. Most critical of all, this is
where the selection decisions take place and is the stage most susceptible
to derailment in terms of social inclusion.
Socially-responsible recruitment activities in the green room phase help
applicants prepare for each assessment stage, thereby levelling the
playing field and creating equal opportunities for all. We hear consistently
from university careers services that confidence when applying is still an
issue for undergraduates, be that ‘why would X company want to hire me’,
or ‘I will never get through the recruitment process’. If we are successfully
going to attract and recruit a more diverse talent pool, we have to address
this issue.
For many recruiters, the reason that diverse candidates drop out of the
process is not always clear. It is a common situation for candidates to
provide a generic reason rather than the real reason, or they simply to fall
off the radar, becoming unresponsive to communication, and eventually
drop out of the process altogether. We work closely with candidates on a
day-to-day basis and have spotted a few common trends:
• Candidates drop out when their confidence in their suitability for the
opportunity dips.
• Candidates doubt their match with the organisation in terms of values or
their potential to flourish in that organisational culture.
• Candidates doubt career decisions as a result of unclear
communication in the process.
These could be avoided through closer contact from the employer.
Dropouts have obvious implications for organisations as they miss out on
the perfect potential employees as well as hidden recruitment costs. Across
all sectors, this trend is greater amongst women.
This gender trend plays out across the application process, for example
it can take eight phone calls to persuade female candidates to submit
an application in comparison to approximately two calls for male
candidates. When you transcribe this to youth recruitment, particularly
with volume programmes, these contact points are largely through online
communication pushed out in the form of adverts and the information that
is available in online portals. Companies who are ambitious for the benefits
of diverse workforces can evaluate their communication and contact with
diverse candidates, providing more of what the candidates need to ensure
that they are motivated and offered support and encouragement.
Around 50% of
women believe
they would
have advanced
further in their
career if they
had deeper
confidence
around their
contributions
and value to the
organisation.
50%
Contents

11
Common biases experienced in selection activities:
• When male and female assessors rate male candidates more
favourably than female candidates.
• Where assessors are drawn to candidates that reflect their own styles
and values.
• Interview fatigue typically sets in when conducting back-to-back
assessments and confirmation bias or ‘selective hearing/reading’
occurs.
• Unstructured assessment activities lead to inconsistency in selection
decisions based on personal preferences.
• Where applications are identical apart from the candidate name,
those with typically ‘white’ names are more likely to be called back
for the next stage.
As this is the stage where the selection decisions are made, eliminating
unconscious bias is essential. The government is increasingly outspoken
in its support for organisations and educational establishments who
are removing names from application forms. For example, UCAS will be
introducing this approach from 2017 as a step towards broadening the
diversity of students being accepted into universities. This is significant shift
towards overtly socially-responsible recruitment practices as well as part of
a proactive employer branding activities. Our employer partners who have
adopted this approach have seen successful candidates from a broader
spread of universities and an increase in successful black, Asian and
ethnic minority candidates. This change is a step in the right direction, but
other alterations to the process still need to be addressed visibly and across
the industry to make a substantial difference.
Bias awareness training is an integral part in a socially-responsible
recruitment strategy. Assessors must be trained to understand, spot, and
manage their own and others’ unconscious biases.
Everyone involved in selection should learn to recognise their own and
others’ biases. Arguably, some biases may be helpful in identifying
candidates that will or will not be successful in your culture. Others are
deeply unhelpful and require careful challenge and management.
1
Assessor
training
practical ways to eliminating unconscious bias
Starting with the job description, define the competencies required to be
successful in role. Then decide which competencies to assess at each
stage. Then select the most appropriate method – for example situational
judgement tests, cognitive tests, video interview, telephone interview,
presentation, group assessment, or panel interview.
2
Tiered
assessment
criteria
5
Contents

12
Ensure that decisions are not based on subjective impressions, but use
calibrated data across a number of observation points through the
process. This will ensure that individual biases are challenged according to
the assessment criteria.
3
Data-driven
decisions
The assessing team should represent the desired target groups to minimise
groupthink and social norming. Specifically, involve others who were not
in the early assessments to help with the final hiring decision. Focussing
on collecting information from the assessments, rather than making the
decision during the assessment, allows for objective analysis afterwards
rather than relying on unconscious filters.
4
Mixed
assessors
Responsibility for inclusion needs to be supported from the very top
of an organisation. If employees are expected to change, then top
management must lead the way. Diversity cannot be delegated to Human
Resources, yet Human Resources is a powerful tool for helping the business
to understand ethical and commercial drivers.
5
Senior
Role Models
Rounded, socially-responsible recruitment strategies draw insight from
candidate demographic data through applicant tracking systems or
equivalent, and from activities delivered by external recruitment partners.
This informs immediate near-term actions as well as changes to longer-
term strategies in terms of target audiences, and evaluating successful
or unsuccessful online or offline recruitment activities. For example,
monitoring the progress of diversity candidates through the recruitment
process is critical in order to evaluate the impact of the steps put in place
and to focus attention on poorer-performing areas of the process. Annual
recruitment campaigns should commence with a review of the previous
year’s performance alongside strategic ambitions for the organisation.
A heavy practical focus on the immediate impact is crucial whilst at the
same time building year on year for sustained change towards the best
practice socially-responsible recruitment operations.
Top tip: Use Precise Data.
Where applicants live, rather than their individual circumstances, is the
data most commonly used to segment geographies and reach target
audiences.
This presents an issue as these data sources group together thousands
of households.
Organisations can draw on markers such as parental occupation and
eligibility for free school meals for more precise assessment rather than
‘neighbourhood’ data.
The solution – across your green house and green room activities – is
to openly provide tips and recommendations, with examples of what
successful behaviour during the process looks like, alongside creating
channels for dialogue between staff and candidates. Support this with
training staff on unconscious bias, the importance of socially-responsible
recruitment, and the impact of these on the organisation.
What:
Why:
How:
Contents

13
Green Room
Pre-screening and online tests
Organisations and educational establishments are moving away from
screening applications based on A-Level and degree results and moving
towards assessing candidates based on their own specific criteria to
avoid missing outstanding talent who have not followed traditional routes.
Recently publicised examples include PWC, EY and Clifford Chance. Such
a trend has been prompted due to increasing evidence that academic
entry criteria can disadvantage certain groups and is a change that we
actively encourage employers to consider as a part of a wider socially-
responsible recruitment strategy.
Often employers rely on online tests to filter candidates, particularly in
high volume recruitment. Serious consideration should be taken with this
approach as research has shown that online methods of assessment
disadvantage candidates from lower socioeconomic and BAME groups.
Unfortunately online tests, including cognitive and situational judgement
tests, often have different validity measures for various subgroups that may
therefore be disadvantaged in the process. Typically, adverse impact is
much greater for reasoning tests than is it for situational or competency
tests in the selection process. Situational tests themselves can reduce the
level of adverse impact although are not completely free of bias. Robust
socially-responsible processes evaluate pass rates against demographic
data to make sure there is not an unfair elimination process occurring. Of
course, correlation does not necessarily mean causation, but where issues
arise it is critical to investigate further.
Another vital factor to consider is ensuring that any assessment technique
used during a selection process must, as far as is reasonably possible, be
free of any requirement that places a disabled person at a substantial
disadvantage, unless that requirement can be justified. Most assessment
techniques have some aspects that are likely to present difficulties to
candidates with particular types of disability. To ensure assessment
techniques are fair and available to all, there are several procedures that
can be utilised:
• Voice recognition software or screen readers can make online tests
and exercises accessible to candidates with some aspects of visual
impairment.
• For those with visual disabilities, abstract and spatial tests should
be avoided.
• In the case of specific learning difficulties (e.g. dyslexia), an employer
should find out how an individual’s disability affects them and if this can
be accommodated, such as by allowing extra time.
Online
Contents

14
Green Room: Face-to-Face including
interviewing and assessment centres
Four main types of bias in face-to-face recruitment activities that can be
addressed through socially-responsible recruitment activities:
Confirmation bias – a tendency to seek out information that
supports your pre-conceived belief about the applicant.
Affective heuristic bias – where assessor decisions are influenced
by superficial evaluations, such as attractiveness, race, or gender.
Anchoring – the tendency to place an arbitrary anchor of
expectation of a candidate, which influences the evaluation of the
individual.
Intuition – this is a huge part of the decision process but is
unfortunately unreliable as it is susceptible to being affected by
emotion and memory.
Simple processes can be put in place to minimise the impact of these
biases, such as allowing enough time for objective evaluation after the
assessment itself reduces the occurrence of these biases. Structured
interviews provide specific comparison criteria to evaluate judgements
against, adding rigour and objectivity and thereby reducing bias.
Creating assessment processes based on objective job analysis minimises
the opportunities for personal biases to inform decision making. Another
opportunity to increase accuracy and to reduce bias is by recording
the interviews; this discourages assessors from acting on their biases,
creates the opportunity for others to be involved in the decision, and
enables decision makers to refer to ‘actual’ candidate responses rather
than interpretation. It is essential that assessment panels are diverse and
balanced. The challenge for organisations is to ensure that all these
simple processes are consistent and rigorously applied.
Assessment centres form an important part of recruitment processes
and are subject to the same biases listed previously. In group activities,
research reports lower confidence in women during team work and that
female candidates are talked down in group work. To combat this, set out
the standards of behaviour expected in your workplace and the standards
that are expected to be exhibited during the assessment when welcoming
candidates to your assessment centre; politeness and respect towards all
other participants. Be explicit that you will be assessing these behaviours
and then do so. Prior to the assessment, spend time thinking about how
you will allocate candidates to groups ensuring that when there is a small
representation of minority individuals, the temptation may be that they are
spread evenly across groups. In actual fact to avoid instances of being
talked over or confidence dips, aim for 25-30% representation in a group,
even if that means there are some groups with no representation.
Affective heuristic bias
Anchoring
Intuition
Confirmation bias
Contents

15
As an echo of the themes throughout this paper, all employees involved in
an assessment process should be trained on the importance of diversity
and the impact of unconscious bias. Even a simple instruction to the
interviewers before they make their decision around “judging on merit
alone” and “making a fair decision”, could make a gentle nudge towards
recruiting responsibly.
It is also important to look at assessing in non-traditional ways because
we see how low confidence or fluctuating confidence in the process is a
barrier to performance. Extremely stressful situations can disrupt cognitive
performances. The situation consumes the candidates’ mental resources
reducing their capacity to think quickly, articulate their thoughts, and
adjust to the environment. This means they may not perform as well as in
an interview as they would do in the role itself. Other research reported
in the Journal of Experimental Psychology demonstrated that those most
qualified to succeed are more likely to be affected by performance
pressure, as their high working memory capacity is what drives the
individual’s performance and is the first faculty affected by pressure.
Obviously, it is a competitive process at the same time, and we want
to support all candidates to be their best. The intention underpinning
socially-responsible recruitment is to enable the best candidates for your
opportunity to rise to the top whilst keeping the important competitive
element and also removing inappropriate barriers.
There are ways to reduce this pressure and increase the likelihood of
achieving the best from your candidates. Familiarity with the context and
the situation helps to lessen anxiety, for example. Digital and face-to-face
familiarisation of culture, location, norms, and key individuals all help
candidates to align to the context prior to the assessment activity. Using a
mix of assessment interactions - online assessments, situational judgement
tests, real world simulations, interviews, presentations, group work, or
individual project tasks - covers all of the essential assessment criteria
without a heavy reliance on bias-prone interviews and more closely
replicates the job itself.
Pre-boarding
and induction
One in four graduates
anticipate leaving their
first job within 12 months of
starting it, according to new
research by the CEB.
One in four graduates anticipate leaving their first job within 12 months
of starting it, according to new research by the CEB. Their findings reveal
that 20% of graduates take jobs whilst they are not 100% certain about
those career decisions. Retention problems can arise even prior to the first
day in a role for new graduate and apprenticeship employees. Findings
show that the average turndown rate for graduates was 14% in 2015, which
has a considerable impact on business operations. Employers then face
“sunken costs” on their recruitment programmes, as they pay a premium
to attract target candidates. Then downstream, they face costs to replace
candidates when they move on after a year, fail to meet performance
expectations or fail to start. These all support the case for pre-planned
pre-boarding activities to ensure that organisations do not lose the diverse
candidates that they have worked hard to find, engage and recruit.
Contents

16
A report carried out by independent global advisory firm Oxford
Economics reveals that replacing members of staff incurs significant
costs for employers at an average of £30,000 per person (lost
performance plus recruitment fees are included in this). Many of our
partner employers report that regular contact with new recruits is
essential to deepen the relationship that has started to form during the
green house and rreen room phases of recruitment. Research by the
Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) recently revealed that one
employer from the accountancy and professional services sector talked
about their “keep warm strategy” for graduates, which involved inviting
recruits to work functions, linking them to university ambassadors, and
maintaining telephone communication with them at regular intervals.
At MyKindaFuture, we are conducting practical studies – the results of
which will be released in 2016 – into innovative methods and activities
during this critical period to retain key hires and further the connection
between recruit and recruiting organisation. The value and power of early
engagement should not be underestimated: it can improve performance,
increase speed to value, support long-term retention, and increase
individual engagement with the organisations’ core purpose. Recent
studies show that 77% of new hires that hit their first performance milestone
had received formal pre-boarding and induction training. This is too
important to be missed in the quest to retain diverse candidates.
It is clear that multifaceted socially-responsible recruitment strategies
include pre-boarding and induction activities. In its lightest form,
companies can start by ensuring that recruitment personnel or line
managers call and email new starters monthly to stay in touch and answer
specific questions. More advanced strategies incorporate information
sharing around ‘what to expect’ from the role and impart key materials on
the company history and values. Our employer partners tell us that whilst
emailing documents with this type of content ‘ticks the box’, it does not
deliver the value required at this stage in the recruitment cycle. The most
sophisticated strategies use technology to distribute light-touch, engaging
pre-training for the new recruits around skills. This includes insight and
education that new starters typically feel they lack whilst also reemphasise
critical information about company culture and work etiquette – the latter
being particularly pertinent for early careers candidates. This type of
digital content supports the objectives of induction programmes as well
as company competency or behaviour frameworks. It can even reduce
induction costs by bringing content up front and online, digested before
day one rather than in precious face-to-face events. In terms of socially-
responsible recruiting, this is also the opportunity for organisations to
restate their diversity and inclusion principles that, through its consistency
across the recruitment journey, reinforces the company’s integrity to new
hires. Leveraging technology to make connections between new hires
and buddies or mentors can help to minimise candidates that are at risk
of dropping out as well as forging deeper connections and helping young
people start to visualise their career in the business.
77%
…of new hires that hit their first performance milestone had received formal
pre-boarding and induction training.
Contents

17
From the first day in a role, the induction period plays a powerful role in
the retainment of a diverse workforce. Incoming talent who receive a
structured, welcoming, and personalised pre-boarding experience are
60% more likely to stay for three years or longer. Induction programmes
that build on the messaging and communication during the pre-
boarding phase, give new starters a comprehensive view of the
organisational culture and work ethics. They equip them to quickly
establish critical networks and to better integrate into the workplace.
Socially-responsible recruitment strategies that include pre-boarding
and induction are devised to support mixed learning styles, adopt adult
learning techniques, are focused on just-in-time information sharing
for immediate application. They also draw in a diverse mix of business
sponsors as inspirational role models.
Top 10 skills
graduates lack
when they join
their workplace
06
01
05
10
04
09 03
08
02
07
communication
skills
team working
time
management
to taking
responsibility
the ability to cope
under pressure
resilience
to setbacks
taking initiative
in a new role
self-awareness
work etiquette
level of business
knowledge
60% more likely to stay for
three years or longer
Contents

18
Suggested typical
pre-boarding content -
How pre-boarding and induction fit together:
Suggested typical
induction content -
• Introduction to the company’s
organisational structure and history.
• Explanation of company values and how
they manifest in day-to-day operations.
• Enabling self-reflection on the skills the new
starter has and needs to develop – linking
the recruitment process, and all that was
learned through that, with their personal
development.
• Insight into personal learning styles.
• Tips on how others have made the most of
the opportunities in the organisation.
• Short learning bursts that convey the
essence of the professional skills those
new starters need for their roles and to be
successful in your company.
• Overview of necessary legal requirements
and procedures (e.g. health and safety
training).
• Introduction to specific job-role training
• General overview on company guidelines
such as rules pertaining to email,
computer, phone, and social media.
• Forge links to their buddy and also
their mentor.
• Fostering relationships with other grads
and key staff members.
• Practising key professional skills such as
communication, project management,
influencing skills.
• Inspiration sessions for new starters to build
a vision for their future careers.
• How to make career goals happen – youth
talent need to understand quickly that
the need to drive and manage their own
career is key to success in today’s workplace
(and they need the skills to do this!).
• How to set their own development goals
and fulfil these through development from
‘on the job’ experiences.
• Deeper exploration of the attitudes and
mind-sets of successful individuals in your
organisation.
• Overview of necessary legal requirements
and procedures (preferably in an
e-learning or m-learning format).
• Strategy insights from senior leaders from
across the business and representing a
diverse workforce.
• Specific job-role training.
• Guided tour of the company premises and
key locations such as amenities, places
to eat, break out area, meeting rooms,
parking, transport, and first aid location.
• Arranging security and access to the
building.
• Recap work health, hazards and safety
information (e.g. evacuation plans and
instructions, fire and earthquake drills, etc.)
Contents

19
Conclusion
This paper has explored each stage of attraction, recruitment, pre-
boarding and induction, highlighting simple and more complex changes
that organisations can put in place to ensure socially-responsible
recruitment is centre to your talent strategy. Organisations have an
opportunity to embrace these measures to address the much larger
national issue of imbalanced workplaces whilst reaping the rewards
of these efforts in terms of commercial and market performance.
Complementing established employer value proposition with a socially-
responsible recruitment strategy enables businesses to consistently recruit
diverse candidates.
Important takeaways are:
• Progress has been made towards more diverse and balanced
workforces, but there is a long way to go.
• A socially-responsible recruitment strategy at the centre of organisation’s
talent plan with supporting employer value proposition strategies
provides the practical framework to drive change in workforce diversity.
• Socially-responsible recruitment is the next step on from defined and
managed employer value propositions.
• Candidates go through different psychological stages as they engage
with companies – green house, green room, pre-boarding and
induction – and it is important to adjust recruitment activities to reflect
these.
• Socially-responsible recruitment activities in each of these stages are
made up of simple steps, repeated consistently.
• Sophisticated technologically enabled solutions simplify implementation
through the four stages from attraction to recruitment, through to
preparation for the first day in role and induction.
• Managing biases is at the heart of resolving organisational challenges
around diversity and inclusion.
• Contextualising recruitment tackles biases by focusing on the context
in which an applicant’s previous experiences or grades have been
achieved.
• Practical changes with a commitment to the underpinning philosophy
around socially-responsible recruitment can lead to a substantial
impact and a huge step towards our combined goal of a more diverse
workforce in the UK.
• Internal measures of successful socially-responsible recruitment
strategies can be seen in increased retention, individual recruits
delivering value faster, and longer-term engagement.
• Socially-responsible recruitment delivers diverse workforces that increase
an organisation’s competitive edge through its ability to understand and
relate to its global customer base.
Contents

20
About MyKindaFuture
MyKindaFuture’s mission is to level the playing field for young people in the
UK by inspiring them with career opportunities and connecting them with
employers across all industries.
They work with over 4,500 schools and colleges and have student societies
in over 50 university campuses. This network ensures employers reach
the next generation of talent from school leavers to graduates for their
work experience, internship, apprenticeship, and graduate programmes.
MyKindaFuture are experts in providing attraction, engagement,
recruitment and development services at every stage of socially-
responsible recruitment, giving employers a competitive advantage in
finding and retaining talent.
A mix of digital and face-to-face solutions enables employers to reach
target audiences to unlock career aspirations, break down social barriers,
and forge meaningful connections between young people and potential
employers.
With over 32 years’ experience working with young people and their
influencers, MyKindaFuture are trusted by students, employers and
educators.
There are various useful tips throughout this paper, of which most can be
easily implemented; however, we can help you further and provide insight
into how socially responsible your recruitment procedures are, or how to
improve your current processes. If you would like to discuss this, please
contact
rachel@mykindafuture.com
MyKindaFuture’s Head of Business Development
4,500schools and colleges
32year
experience
50University
campuses
Contents

21
1. http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2015/mar/16/2015-challenges-demographic-
shifts-population-growth-youth-bulge-ageing
2. https://www.glassdoor.com/employers/blog/diversity/
3. http://smallbusiness.chron.com/advantages-diverse-workforce-18780.html
4. http://www.catalyst.org/media/catalyst-study-reveals-financial-performance-higher-companies-more-women-top
5. http://www.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/35190_Chapter10.pdf
6. http://raceforopportunity.bitc.org.uk/sites/default/files/bitc_rfo-race_and_recruitment-2012_final.pdf
7. http://www.suttontrust.com/newsarchive/privately-educated-graduates-in-top-jobs-get-bigger-pay-rises/
8. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/focus-poor-areas-outreach-may-miss-individuals
9. http://www.jobs.ac.uk/media/pdf/recruiters/resources/the-ultimate-guide-to-online-recruitment-advertising.pdf
10. http://www.purepotential.org/
11. I Seek Career. Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. Downloaded women’sttp://www.iseek.org/
careers/womenstem.html
12. http://www.theguardian.com/careers/careers-blog/lack-of-confidence-holding-back-womens-careers
13. http://www.socialtalent.co/blog/how-to-recruit-women
http://www.ri5.co.uk/site/news/article/firms-hiring-more-graduates-than-ever-but-agr-survey-highlights-gender-
gap/#sthash.wqNsYBNB.kappD1ZO.dpuf
14. http://www.ri5.co.uk/site/news/article/cipd-research-highlights-unconscious-bias-in-the-hiring-process/
15. http://thestudentlawyer.com/2014/07/04/blind-cvs-open-eyes-uks-top-firms/
16. http://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/article-details/john-browne-on-why-lgbt-inclusivity-is-good-for-business?utm_
content=John%20Browne%20on%20being%20out%20at%20workutm_campaign=HR%20magazine%20news%20
25-09-15utm_source=HR%20Magazineutm_medium=adestra_emailutm_term=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hrmagazine.
co.uk%2Farticle-details%2Fjohn-browne-on-why-lgbt-inclusivity-is-good-for-business
17. https://www.rarerecruitment.co.uk/Contextual_Recruitment.php
18. https://www.rarerecruitment.co.uk/news.php?c=135#.VfGtlRFVhHw
19. http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/the-disability-discrimination-act-dda
20. https://www.recruiter.com/i/4-types-of-interviewer-bias-and-how-to-eliminate-them/
21. http://www.cos.gatech.edu/facultyres/Diversity_Studies/BauerBaltes.pdf
22. http://www.cipd.co.uk/binaries/resourcing-talent-planning_2015.pdf
23. https://www.abdn.ac.uk/careers/documents/AGR_Winter_Survey_2015_Results.pdf
24. http://www.hrreview.co.uk/hr-news/recruitment/it-costs-over-30k-to-replace-a-staff-member/50677
25. http://www.bitc.org.uk/issues/workplace-and-employees/race-and-gender
26. http://www.addleshawgoddard.com/asset_store/document/diversity_stats_jan_2015_15594.pdf
27. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/pricewaterhousecoopers-to-stop-assessing-graduates-on-their-a-level-
results-10222745.html
28. http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/08/04/ernst-and-young-removes-degree-classification-entry-criteria_n_7932590.
html
29. http://www.independent.co.uk/student/career-planning/how-to-get-ahead-of-the-competition-on-a-graduate-
scheme-a6676851.html
30. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-34616420
31. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/11587007/Student-drop-out-rates-a-big-challenge-for-
universities.html
32. http://www.hrzone.com/talent/acquisition/quarter-of-graduates-quit-job-within-a-year-study-finds
33. http://katalytik.co.uk/files/8513/4634/0919/Good_Practice_Guide_S2L_Final.pdf
References
Contents

Socially-Responsible Recruiting Paper -digital

Recommandé

Recommandé

Contenu connexe

En vedette

En vedette (8)

Socially-Responsible Recruiting Paper -digital