Intuitively, we all know that having diversity in the workforce helps us all to grow and drive positive change. We saw this come from the top recently when Prime Minister Scott Morrison Declared the public service should value diversity.
“A commitment to diversity should encompass the diversity of viewpoints within the APS. There is compelling evidence that this helps teams find answers to complex problems by bringing together people who approach questions from different points of view,” the Prime Minister said.
“It’s vital that the APS avoid the sort of stale conventional wisdoms and orthodoxies that can infuse all large organization”.
It’s out there for us in the Australian public sector. We know we need to collectively tackle this issue of diversity, as its outcomes are not just better for government departments, agencies and entities but also for society.
I carry the view that improving diversity starts in the recruiting process. As such, we will explore ways you can recruit for diversity.
Before we get stuck in though, let’s talk about the definition of what diversity is. Essentially, diversity can fall into two buckets. As Harvard Business Review puts it best:
Inherent diversity involves traits you are born with, such as gender, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. Acquired diversity involves traits you gain from experience, such as working in another country that helps you appreciate cultural differences.
Diversity recruiting is the practice of hiring candidates using a process that is free from biases for or against any individual or group of candidates. It absolutely must remain merit-based and still find the best possible candidate. But it’s structured to give all applicants, regardless of background, an equal opportunity.
Live talent communities key to increasing diversity in sourcing
An anchor point to increasing diversity is to operate a live talent community. A live talent community is a vehicle where passive candidates engage and learn about an employer till the point where they are ready to apply, and the right job has come up.
Many benefits are already out there in the market such as the median candidate response time to all communication is 17 minutes, 20 days is the median time to hire candidates that are in live talent communities (69% faster than industry average), 27% of candidates in a live talent community who accept an invitation to be on a shortlist for an open role and importantly 56% of all hires from companies using live talent communities are female.
Here are 4 quickfire actionable points you can do today
1. Focus engagement where diverse candidates are
We live in the digital economy today, with so many places for communities to gather we have a plethora of options of where we can engage. The benefit this creates is diluting the need to scattergun out and the ability to focus on messaging to diverse communities. Whether this be in larger social media platforms, or in news and information portals designed for diverse communities
2. Get your diverse employees to invite connections to join the talent community
Candidate referrals are nothing new. However, normally we need a job requisition and then the referral must quickly get to know us. By leveraging a live talent community, you can immediately get all your diverse employees to refer family, friends and ex-colleagues, who one day could be a good fit, to join the live talent community immediately. Building a relationship with diverse candidates and improving your employer brand.
3. Ensure the employer brand resonates welcoming diversity
Internally there may be consensus on the value and importance of diversity and inclusion. But does this resonate with external candidates? Make sure that you build content and create a conversation that you value the views and opinions of people from all backgrounds. Ensure that this is seen and also nothing should ring truer considering we’re operating in the public sector.
As this grows, you will find diverse candidates seeking you out. Then you have a live talent community to further engage them till the time is ready for them to join.
4. Removing bias with AI
An element that comes up whenever I discuss increasing diversity, is how do we remove bias. As a starting point, this is the right and fair thing to do. But also key for all public sector recruitment and selection is that it is legislated by acts such as the Government Sector Employment Act 2013 which is a statutory framework for NSW Government sector employment and the Local Government Act 1993 which has the requirements for councils. Each state and territory have their own of course.
If you’re using a live talent community a simple fix to this is to leverage the artificial intelligence that is available in select few leading Applicant Tracking System providers. This way the platform filters for the job-specific requirements, ensuring an impartial shortlist with no conscious or unconscious bias.
There are many more action points we can take, so please share your experiences on how we can increase diversity in the public sector.
Ben Satchwell is the Public Sector & Health Lead for a leading talent acquisition and engagement provider LiveHire. He collaborates with all levels of government and health care to implement reform and review recommendations on recruitment and selection. Previously Ben was a Managing Director at a research and training company, and prior to that was a Commercial Director at a leading consulting business. He graduated from the University of Surrey in the UK with a Bachelor of Science in Entrepreneurship, Technology, IT and Business.
