DEI talent acquisition strategies in RPO

Out technology client needed to revamp their DEI talent acquisition strategies for their permanent workforce. Partnering closely, we enhanced existing diversity initiatives and piloted new projects to attract female talent and promote inclusion awareness. As a result of our efforts, we created diverse talent communities, reduced job advert bias, and achieved a 38% increase in female hires for technical roles.

We conducted a comprehensive diversity analysis for our tech client, uncovering a notable gap in female workforce representation despite the company making strides in other areas.

In the tech industry, gender diversity is crucial for innovation and balanced corporate environments. Targeted initiatives are essential to support women in tech, ensuring equal access to career advancement and leadership roles.

We put together our Diversity Champions Team in a bid to guide and support hiring managers in their diversity and inclusion efforts.

The team meets regularly to brainstorm ideas, share experiences and design initiatives that promote diversity among our customers. Currently, we manage more than 15 projects centred on improving diversity in the corporate world.

Creating diverse talent communities: We assessed our customer’s recruitment needs, breaking them down into key segments. We created diverse talent communities comprising silver and bronze medalists.

This gave us a ready-made talent pool from which to source candidates for new roles. We also designed marketing collateral aimed at attracting, exciting and engaging these diverse populations.

Reducing bias in job adverts: We developed a comprehensive advert-writing training course.

Our customer’s staff can now access the course via our learning platform, Social Talent. We continue to use it as an example of best practice around removing bias from job ads.

Gender-balanced shortlist: One of the aims we developed in partnership with our customer was to increase the number of women selected for interview in one of their key locations.

Enhancing DEI with strategic methods and partnerships

We used behavioural design methods to introduce ‘inclusion nudges’ aimed at enhancing inclusive collaboration. We introduced nudges for three of our customer’s locations with specific objectives: firstly, to minimise unconscious bias in the selection process and secondly, to increase female talent hired for technical roles.

Vercida partnership: Additionally, we partnered with Vercida Consulting to build our client’s D&I strategy. We’ve already put together the following initiatives as a result:

• Survey of Vercida 83,000 registered BAME (Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic) job seekers to understand how our customer is viewed externally as a diverse employer
• Boost of our customer’s social media – microsite including content devoted to female leaders and employee stories
• ‘Let’s talk about race’ — discussions and workshops devoted to diversity and inclusion

We sourced more female talent and presented a gender-balanced shortlist that included a minimum of 40% female candidates.

Our team was looking for 15 developers, four product development leaders, and an ICT Architect. We filled 17 positions with 10 women and 7 men. This translated to a 38% increase in female representation when compared to a non-gender-balanced shortlist.