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Inclusive Recruitment

New faces, new ideas: experiential, drama-based training to broaden recruitment horizons and grow a diverse workforce.

The benefits of a diverse workforce are widely known. Improved performance, access to different perspectives, greater creativity and innovation, better customer insight and communications, all these and more have been linked to effective diversity policies in high performance organisations. Getting recruitment right is key. It doesn’t just give you access to a wide talent pool; it can be a game changer.

Because inclusive recruitment matters, we were delighted when our friends at the Supply Chain Sustainability School invited us to develop a livestream training programme for their members. Now, we’re making the programme available for companies in other sectors to train their managers and other employees who are involved in any part of the recruitment process.

Our 4.5 hours livestream training programme uses a dynamic blend of live-action and filmed drama with experienced actors, anonymous polling, group exercises, and powerful conversations to explore more inclusive practices through the different recruitment stages. It’s a highly interactive, impactful experience that will improve your recruitment processes and inspire participants to make a positive difference.

Clients Include

Delegate Feedback

I found the delivery format engaging and thought provoking. A very useful session that I would recommend to others. Well done all.

Sign up for it. It is thought provoking and fun!

Interesting and engaging, gave me food for thought.

It was really good and thought provoking.

I'd recommend [people] to undertake the training to challenge themselves and their preconceptions about inclusivity.

Informative and well presented.

Jump on it, have an open mind, and ask questions.

Highly recommended, thought provoking and effective, well delivered.

I enjoyed how informative and interactive the session was.

The actors were great and kept things interesting/momentum.

The presenter was amazing.

Friendly and really interactive. Thank you all.

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Learning Outcomes

Our performance helps inspire learners to:

Understand how a diverse and inclusive workforce benefits an organisation

Appreciation of the barriers potential candidates can face and what reasonable adjustments can be made

Better equipped to improve recruitment outcomes by ensuring that documentation and selection processes are fair and inclusive

Awareness of how our biases can inadvertently undermine the recruitment and selection process

Appreciation of other factors that contribute towards nurturing a diverse and inclusive workforce

A plan to put their learning into action and continue to develop and improve their inclusive recruitment practices back in the workplace

The Programme

We offer flexible delivery options including either face-to-face workshops at your venue of choice, or online with our interactive livestreamed virtual workshops.

The programme consists of the following modules.

#1 welcome and explanation of purpose

Getting to know each other, outlining aims and objectives, and establishing norms for the workshop.

#2 the resignation

We begin at the end of our recruitment journey with the letter of resignation of a recently hired employee one month into their job at our fictional company. How did we get here? What went wrong? What are the consequences? Learners are then told that we will go back in time to discover what we could have done differently in the recruitment process to have supported our new starter.

#3 the beginning

In a live-action scene, learners are taken back in time to the start of the recruitment process. They watch as a panel of employees put together a job advert. Then, by means of ‘thought tracking’ and interacting with the characters, learners get beneath the surface of the characters and uncover a variety of unconscious drivers at play.

#4 meet the candidates

Learners get to meet the diverse range of potential candidates that may, or may not apply for the new vacancy. We will revisit this line-up throughout the session as candidates remove themselves or are removed from the process.

#5 expectation vs. reality

In a video scene, learners meet an internal candidate for the job, and find out more about the company culture and the reality of the post.

#6 the language we use

In a video scene learners meet two more characters as they talk on Skype about the job advert. They are concerned about the language used in the advertisement and the underlying narratives it hints at, with predictable results for one potential candidate. The module finishes with an exercise in which learners indicate whether different phrases that appear on the screen would encourage them to ‘apply’ or to ‘avoid’ if they saw them in a job advert.

#7 shortlisting and bias

In another live-action scene, we revisit our fictional company’s recruitment panel members, who are now at the shortlisting stage of their recruitment process. As the panel sifts through applicant CVs and apply a ‘scoring’ process, learners see a range of biases come into play. Anonymous polling and group discussion is then used as we explore a range of cognitive biases that can affect recruitment processes.

#8 declining an interview

In a short video scene, learners meet one of the candidates who has been invited to interview but cannot attend due to the scheduling/ location. It’s clear that no reasonable adjustments have been made to accommodate them with the result that they regretfully decline the interview.

#9 the interview

In a live-action scene, learners meet one of the two remaining candidates part way through their interview. The panel ask questions that show their positive bias. The scene finishes with them clearly favouring this candidate, before inviting the next person in for interview. Then, we replay the scene, using stop-start forum theatre to enable learners to create a fair interview process. Their job is to redirect events so that panel members ask more objective questions and are better able to assess the candidate.

#10 the runner up

In a last video scene, learners hear from the unsuccessful candidate as they vent their frustration about the interview process and its shortcomings. They talk openly about their negative feelings and the impact on their wellbeing, future employment, and their view of the company.

#11 the resignation (revisited)

We are back where we started, but now learners understand only too well how events led us to this point. Crucially, they know what it takes to run a more inclusive recruitment process, the potential pitfalls to avoid, and why it matters.

#12 summary, action planning and evaluation

At the end, learners get the chance to identify one or more practical actions they will take back in the workplace, before the session closes with a series of anonymous polls and a feedback form to evaluate whether the session met its objectives.

Learning Into Action

We have been delivering training programmes to reduce inappropriate workplace behaviours since the company started in 2011. In that time, we’ve had customers from a wide range of sectors, including health, manufacturing, utilities, insurance, fintech, and universities.

Results from in-session electronic polling include:

(13 points up across the session) felt ‘committed’ or ‘engaged’ about using inclusive recruitment practices

0 %

said they were ‘likely’ or ‘very likely’ to implement the training

0 %

increased their understanding of ways to make recruitment more inclusive

0 %

better recognised how personal bias may influence their actions

0 %

felt inspired to make a positive difference at work

0 %

If you have an open mind and are able to reflect on what you’ve done in the past, then there is real value in attending the session to improve your thinking and approach to recruitment going forward

Interested?

If you are interested in running this training programme in your organisation, or if you simply want to ask a question about it, hit the button to contact us or call +44 (0)1484 310234.

FIRST STEPS

Get in touch

The first step in collaborating with us is to start the conversations. Email, phone or pop in for a coffee and we'll be happy to help.

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