1. To attract a diverse candidate pool, create welcoming recruitment website content
Use language and visuals on your website to make a diverse audience of candidates feel welcome and included. Use friendly, non-discriminatory language throughout the site, including in your job posts.
Where possible, include photos of your employees who represent a variety of backgrounds, cultures, ages and genders to show potential candidates that everyone is valued in your workplace. If you use stock imagery across your website and marketing content, ensure representation by broadening the stock libraries you use. There are a number of libraries that specialise in photos of minority groups that you can use to ensure you can represent these communities on your website, sending the message that they are welcome. We refer to these in ourinclusive candidate experience eBook, which you can download for free here.
Doing great DE&I work? Talk about it on your website. You want to make sure your recruitment website fully represents the values of your business. Your website is often referred to as your shop window, but we'd go one step further and refer to it as your shop door. Is it open to everyone? If it is, would they all want to step inside with the information you're communicating?
2. Use inclusive language in your job descriptions
In today's competitive job market, it has become increasingly vital for employers to foster a diverse and inclusive work environment. One significant aspect of promoting diversity begins with the way you advertise job openings. Recruitment agencies should lead by example and support their clients by incorporating inclusive language in job descriptions. This not only demonstrate your clients' commitment to welcoming a diverse range of candidates, but also increases the pool of highly talented individuals competing for the role and engaging with you as an agency.
Inclusive language removes barriers and eliminates unintentional biases, facilitating a more equal opportunity for all candidates.
Beyond language, there are additional measures you can take to ensure your job adverts attract diverse talent.
Demonstrate your commitment to closing pay gaps by including the salary on every role. Not presenting salaries discourages candidates - particularly women and people of colour - from asking for better pay.
How inclusive and accessible is the benefits package? Can your client offer benefits for working parents such as flexible working, childcare provisions, home working and parental leave? Is success celebrated in a way everyone feels included or do all these events involve alcohol or activities that would be physically challenging for employees with disabilities?
Access Volcanic proudly partners with Diversity in Recruitment, a business that provides recruitment agencies with the insights, tools and confidence to attract diverse talent into their agency. Check out this blog post by Diversity in Recruitment which goes into more detail about writing inclusive job adverts.
3. Celebrate your diverse employees
Showcase stories from diverse employees on your website and social media accounts. Feature interviews, articles, and blog posts about their experiences working in your organisation and how they’ve grown in their roles.
Fostering a diverse and inclusive workforce is a critical aspect of modern business growth and success. By ensuring representation when it comes to celebrating successes or sharing viewpoints, you're not only showcasing your commitment to inclusivity but also inspiring your clients to follow in your footsteps. Seize every opportunity to shine a spotlight on the accomplishments of your diverse team members, and reinforce the message that every employee has the potential to make a meaningful impact within your organisation. This content will not only boost your credibility when it comes to clients looking for recruitment partners who are taking action to deliver inclusive recruitment practices, but it will enable you to build trust with underrepresented candidates who have lived experience of discrimination. in turn enabling you to attract and engage diverse candidate pools.
Remember though, this only works when it's authentic and genuine. If you don't currently have a diverse workforce within your own agency, you need to firstly do the work to understand how you can change that.
4. Ensure the design of your recruitment agency website is accessible
Having an accessible website is essential for any recruitment agency wanting to attract more diverse talent. It’s important to make sure your website works well on all devices, regardless of a visitor’s technology setup and accessibility needs. Making it easy to read, navigate and interact with your site ensures that you have the best opportunity to attract the perfect candidate for each role. Certified compliance with web accessibility standards helps build trust and confidence in your business and allows everyone equal access to the same level of candidate attraction.
There are various factors to consider when it comes to accessible recruitment website design, such as:
Ensuring the colour contrast ratio is enough for content to be read by candidates with varied levels of eyesight or those who are colour-blind.
Not using colour alone to distinguish critical information
Ensuring all forms and input fields have clear labels and descriptions so that those navigating with a screen-reader know what information is required. It's also best practice to state clearly the reason for collecting the data you're requesting to prevent barriers due to lack of trust.
Making sure your recruitment website can be navigated and interacted with using a keyboard alone (without a mouse).
Ensuring all of your image-based content has alt text attached to it, which not only helps candidates using screen-readers to understand your content, but it has SEO benefits too.
We go into these factors (plus more!) in more detail in our blog article on top tips for designing an accessible recruitment website, with best practice guidance presented by our Head of Design.
You may also be interested in checking out this webinar on accessible website design, where our design team talk through how we're embedding accessibility into the design process for our recruitment agency customers.
5. Ensure your providing candidates with the tools to customise their experience for their needs
By providing various accessibility tools for your candidates to customise their website experience, you will not only expand the number of candidates who can interact with your agency, but you're also demonstrating your commitment to creating a welcoming and supportive atmosphere for candidates with varying accessibility needs.
There are a number of suppliers in the market who can help you with this. Access Volcanic partners with Recite Me, which allows our customers to provide their candidates with accessibility and language tools to navigate their website content in a way that works for them. This can include things like speech-to-text, adjusting font sizes and colours, enabling rulers and more.
You will find the Recite Me toolbar in action on our own website, check it out!
Creating an accessible recruitment website is essential for any agency looking to attract the best talent from all backgrounds. By following the tips outlined in this article, you will be taking necessary steps to ensure your website works to attract diverse talent and provide them with an equal opportunity to apply. From colour contrast ratios to specialised accessibility tools, small changes can make all the difference when it comes to welcoming a diverse candidate pool. Investing in accessible recruitment website design helps create a fair and inclusive environment for all, which is key to any successful recruitment agency.
If you would like to talk to us about how we can support you in improving your digital candidate journey and apply the best practice outlined above, get in touch with us today and one of our website specialists will be in touch.
