Hiring Managers are responsible for creating and supporting an environment of trust and equity that powers an engaged, high-performing, diverse, and inclusive team. Sarah Steward talks us through BNY Mellon’s top tops for hiring diverse talent.

Inclusion and belonging are what unlock strength in diversity. We all need to believe we have an equal opportunity to succeed and feel valued for our true selves to reach our individual potential. And, when we feel we belong, we become a collective force that succeeds, together.

The hiring process is a critical part of ensuring that our workforce is diverse but we need to be thoughtful throughout each stage.

1. Job Description

• Ensure your job description has wide appeal and focuses on the skills required for the role (as opposed to experience/qualifications)
• Ensure the “essential attributes” listed are truly essential e.g., do not include qualifications that are not necessary for the role
• Ensure use of gender neutral language and to run the job description through a gender decoder tool to identify any potential gender bias

2. Advertising

• Ensure wide and diverse coverage of the role advertisement both internally and externally
• Share the vacancies with specific diverse LinkedIn groups
• Consider using specialist recruiting agencies
• Use your own networks and colleagues to mine diverse talent
• Use your Employee and Business Resource Groups to promote vacancies

3. CV Screening

• Ensure your Recruitment teams understand that they should be aiming to provide a diverse set of candidates
• Ensure you have a diverse longlist of candidates and if not, challenge your Recruiter/Recruitment
• Be aware of the potential for unconscious bias when screening CVs
• Constantly challenge yourself on whether your shortlist for interview is diverse enough

4. Interviews

• Ensure you have a diverse interview panel
• Adopt a consistent approach for all interviews, where possible
• Be flexible about interview times
• Make suitable adjustments if interviewing someone with a disability
• Explain to candidates the importance of DEI to your business and what actions you take to support this

5. Selection Process

• Consider the candidates fairly based on feedback from all interviewers
• Beware of recruiting in your own image
• Hire the best person for the job