Inclusive Recruitment Training Solution

This comprehensive, experiential workshop explores the practical application of neuroscience, bias identification, legal frameworks, and great hiring practice. Participants will be engaged in real-world scenarios that explore writing job advertisements, shortlisting and interviewing, exploring the differences between positive action and discrimination, and the role of reasonable adjustments. By the end of the workshop, participants will be well-equipped to enhance their recruitment practices, encouraging more equitable and inclusive recruitment journeys.

Learning outcomes:

Understand how unconscious bias impacts on recruitment decisions and learn techniques for objective and equitable decision-making.
Recognise the significant benefits that diverse perspectives bring to the recruitment process.
Understand key legal aspects of recruitment, including the difference between positive action and discrimination.
Learn and practice strategies for creating more inclusive job advertisements and role design.

Master the art of crafting and conducting interviews that minimise bias and focus on behaviour-based, equitable evaluation of candidates.
Understand how to take an ‘accessible-by-design’ approach and the role of reasonable adjustments in inclusive recruitment
Be able to confidently and inclusively support new hires, promoting behaviours that drive inclusivity and retention.
Be equipped to apply SMART strategies for enhancing inclusivity in recruitment processes.

Workshop Outline...

(1) Introduction: An icebreaker, the “Reflections on Privilege” activity, creates space for open, authentic communication. We’ll explore privilege in a non-confrontational way, using this as a starting point to introspect on privilege in recruitment.

(2) The Science of Bias: Participants explore an overview of the neuroscience behind unconscious bias and how it affects recruitment. The “Candle and Matches” activity illustrates how our brains can trick us into making biased decisions, helping build awareness and understanding of the science behind unconscious bias. Participants will be invited to set a personal goal for inclusive recruitment as part of their progressive action plan.

How this looks with actors:
Watching as a ‘fly on the wall’, participants will witness a familiar recruitment shortlisting process where unconscious bias subtly influences the selection of candidates. They will be invited to critically examine the scenario, questioning the recruiters (our talented actors) to dissect their underlying assumptions and biases. Through this examination, participants will uncover the reasons behind these biased thought-processes, how to tackle this type of scenario, and the potential impact on the organisation when we miss opportunities to address biased decision-making.

(3) Legal Cornerstones of Inclusive Recruitment: A whistlestop tour of the relevant legal frameworks brings attention to protected characteristics and other factors influencing recruitment. The interactive “Positive Action or Discrimination” activity will challenge the group to distinguish between lawful and unlawful practices, enhancing their understanding of legal nuances in recruitment.

(4) Removing Barriers in Job Advertisements: We critically analyse key stages of the recruitment process, identifying barriers and discussing inclusive role design and job advertisement strategies. An activity reviewing mock job ads offers hands-on experience in spotting and amending exclusionary practices, encouraging a more thoughtful approach to role advertisement and design. They’ll continue to develop their actions plans, reflecting on practical steps they can take to dismantle recruitment barriers in the context of your organisation’s process.

(5) Great Practice in Shortlisting and Interviewing: Participants will explore biases affecting shortlisting and interviewing and examples of great practice. An “Inclusive Interviews” exercise challenges participants to reformulate interview questions, emphasising behaviour-oriented questioning techniques that level the playing field for diverse candidates.

How this looks with actors:
Participants will observe an interview where the interviewer’s approach creates palpable discomfort for the candidate. They’ll be invited to engage in reflective questioning with both the interviewer and interviewee, delving into the interviewer’s methods and the interviewee’s response, to understand the nuances and impacts of non-inclusive interviewing techniques.

(6) Reasonable Adjustments and Legal Compliance: Focusing on legal mandates for reasonable adjustments, particularly for candidates with disabilities, participants will discuss and engage in activities to explore various workplace adjustments. We’ll consider what adjustments could look like in practice and the benefits of taking an accessible-by-design approach.

(7) Supporting & Retaining New Hires: The conversation shifts to focus beyond recruitment and explore strategies for inclusively nurturing talent. We will explore how to create an inclusive onboarding experience, establish mentorship programs, encourage employee resource groups, and implement policies that promote inclusivity and retention.

(8) Action Planning for Inclusive Recruitment: As the course closes, participants will consolidate their learnings into SMART strategies for inclusive recruitment. They will share their objectives and commitment to enhancing recruitment inclusivity, with follow-up actions to track their progress.

Let's Talk!

We’re advocates of crafting tailormade solutions that ensure you meet objectives and maximise budgets. Contact us to book a meeting to scope the right solution for your organisation, together.

What About Actors?

Through clever script writing, goosebump-inducing delivery and professional facilitation, we love to bring learning to life with actors…

We can select scripts from our library or write them specially for you, based on typical scenarios you see within in your organisation. For larger projects where budgets don’t allow for live acting, we can professionally film bespoke scenarios to create video content which can be used in the training as well as induction, toolkits, and beyond.

Using actors in workshop give delegates the opportunity to:

Test out alternative ways of approaching what can sometimes be difficult situations, without the pressure of role playing themselves!
Explore what is acceptable and what isn’t; intent versus impact; and both the subtle, and not so subtle, behaviours we see play out in the workplace
Be immersed in an interactive learning experience that engages hearts and minds, and sticks in the long-term memory

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Don't Just Take Our Word For It

Nina Darling

UoP SHCP Teaching Fellow, University of Portsmouth

“The course which Paula provided was really engaging and nicely presented. The use of the actors was particularly good and actually bought the whole thing to life and made it really valuable learning. Thank you very much – it was fantastic!”

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Inclusive Recruitment Training

In-House Training, Available As: