BUSINESSES need to make diversity a priority in their hiring process.
Often companies aspire to hire a more inclusive workforce without considering changing their current recruitment tactics.
Bazaarvoice is currently recruiting in Northern Ireland, however we’re doing that a little differently, and your business can too.
Change the way you hire.
The hiring process doesn’t need to be a tick box exercise. A long list of requirements might fill your office full of capable people but will it produce a workforce who can creatively solve problems?
At Bazaarvoice we don’t request that candidates have a university degree.
We come to realize that a degree doesn’t mean the candidate knows their subject any better or is a better communicator than someone who has taken a different route. We want curious thinkers who approach problems differently.
Since we’ve no longer using tick box exercises in our interview process, it’s our responsibility to ask the right questions.
Interviews can be daunting, and it’s not the candidate’s sole responsibility to impress you.
We encourage quality conversations without closed questions or intense interrogation. We want to ensure the candidate has space to explain their skills, without leaving gaps that may be a valuable asset to Bazaarvoice.
Create alternative pathways
If there is only one way into your business, then it’s unlikely that your workforce will be very diverse. The more alternative pathways you create, the more diverse your workforce will become. We’ve recently taken on two apprentices who didn’t go the university route.
After a year-long apprenticeship with us they chose to study part-time at Ulster University and then continued to work for us.
Perhaps your business can consider how to introduce people back into workforce, especially if they’ve taken time out to raise a family or had a career break. Assess what mechanism there is to ensure that those people have a possible route back into to your company.
Years of experience shouldn’t be wasted because an employee needs a quick refresher course. We appreciate that each journey is different, and it’s our responsible to accommodate that if we really do appreciate a diverse workforce.
Utilise the talent you have
And finally, utilising roles within the organisations. At Bazaarvoice, we get to know our employees to ensure we know how best to use their skillset. Give employees the opportunity to share their story, it will help the team understand each other’s strengths and weakness while also inspiring your workforce from within.
Utilising the workforce you have means your hiring process needs to go further than a tick box exercise.
Discovering people within who are inquisitive and innovative will be a great asset to your business in the long term.
If we claim to care about diversity in our workforce then we need to start approaching recruitment differently.
Ask better questions, foster a curiosity with your candidates, stop ticking boxes, and start creating alternative pathways into your company.
Laura McQuillan is capability lead of product development at Bazaarvoice in Belfast
