INCLUSIVE RECRUITMENT ‘BECOMING THE RIGHT FIT’

The GSA’s Inclusion Partner, The Schools Inclusion Alliance, emphasises the importance of diverse organisations and reminds us that even small, incremental changes can make a difference.

The importance of inclusion in all areas of school life is pivotal to the success of both the schools themselves and the sector as a whole.

By adopting inclusive hiring practices, we boost diversity within our staff, and reap the benefits of different experiences, perspectives and ideas. This enables our schools to better represent the communities they serve and are based in.

What do we mean by diversity?

Diversity is the differences we all have that make us human. These include visible demographic data and invisible characteristics, the introvert and extrovert, and variety of neurodivergent

Key benefits

The benefits of diverse organisations, which have transferrable value within schools, are proven. These include:

• outperforming industry norms: gender diverse and ethnically diverse companies are more likely to outperform industry norms by 25% and 26% respectively (McKinsey & Co, 2019)

• improved decision-making: diverse and inclusive teams make better decisions 87% of the time (Korn Ferry Institute, 2018)

• greater revenue: diverse organisations are 19% more likely to see higher innovation revenue (BCG, 2018)

The Schools Inclusion Alliance has developed a seven-step plan for inclusive recruitment.

STEP 7: Valuing the candidate experience

STEP 1: Defining the need

STEP 6: Designing the application process inclusively

STEP 2: Writing inclusive job descriptions/adverts

STEP 3: Widening the search

STEP 5: Reviewing the shortlist

STEP 4: Holding an inclusive interview characteristics. When planning any recruitment, it is vital to create a considered and complete process.

Schools are not going to have a fully diverse mix of staff representative of their student body overnight, but thinking differently and being actively involved in inclusive practice across all areas of school life will bring about change. We often talk about small nudges, for every effort a school makes to generate a wider talent pool, the more talented the school community will become.

See beyond the expected

The biggest mistake people often make is to think and talk about diverse candidates as if they are somehow ‘less than’ rather than just different. More than ever, we understand that talent is everywhere, opportunity is not. The most talented people don’t always come from the expected places or have the expected career path. An inclusive recruitment process opens up our ability to see beyond the expected, to challenge us to suspend our judgement about why someone may have followed a certain path, and to hire the people with the potential, skills and passion we need to create brilliant teams, and therefore brilliant schools.

Focus on what you can do

Every school is on a different journey and therefore the opportunities and challenges are different for everyone. However, even implementing some changes can make processes more inclusive and have a positive impact, both in terms of hiring decisions and candidates’ experience and the school brand. Focus on what you can do, rather than the things that feel hard. So when you are next thinking about whether someone is ‘the right fit’, perhaps it might be better to ask how the school can ‘profit’ from the candidate’s unique set of skills, experiences and talents rather than fall into the trap of looking for the comfort of similarity.

The SIA Hiring Inclusively toolkit is available on the SIA website: schools inclusionalliance.co.uk/resources