Inclusive Recruitment: Best Practices for Charities

8th October 2024

According to People Management, about 80% of UK businesses have difficulty with recruitment. Non-profit organisations often have more trouble due to certain requirements.

Inclusive recruitment can be a good approach if you want to build a strong and diverse team. Diverse workforces often produce better results due to being more innovative and productive, so this can be very beneficial for your charity.

In addition to this, a lot of people out there have certain characteristics that can make it more difficult for them to find jobs that they're a good fit for. You can give people an opportunity to pursue a fulfilling career where they can also help others.

In this guide, we'll explore some vital, diverse talent recruitment strategies that will help you build the team you're after. Let's get started.

Define Your Diversity and Inclusion Goals

Before you get started, you should determine your goals. Specify what your organisation wants to achieve in terms of diversity and inclusion.

Think about what a diverse workforce looks like to your charity. There may be certain underrepresented groups that you want to pay particular attention to. Clear goals will give you something to aim for and will help guide all of your decisions moving forward.

This could depend on the group your charity is dedicated to helping. You may also want to consider the different perspectives and ideas that you might get from different individuals.

Use Inclusive Language

The communications you make in terms of recruitment are crucial. They'll have a huge impact on your ability to find the kind of talent you're looking for. Take this into account and use language that's geared towards your goals.

If you're not paying attention, you could easily let subtle cues and gendered language slip into job descriptions. This could put off certain individuals and interfere with your overall recruitment process.

For example, specific words could be seen as masculine or feminine. Historically, women have had a harder time achieving high-level positions, so you don't want to use any language that might make women feel like they don't fit a specific position. Different individuals can easily feel excluded by job listings, so you don't want your charity to be adding to this.

It may seem like a small thing, but the language you use can have a huge impact on how welcome people feel. It's important to take the time to craft job communications that will meet your needs and help you find suitable employees.

Consider Accessibility

Something that businesses often fail to consider when looking into inclusion is accessibility. If the application process isn't tailored to be accessible to everyone, there may be some candidates who aren't even able to apply.

There might be some individuals with disabilities who can't use your job site effectively. You want to make sure your careers site is optimised to avoid this issue.

For example, you should make sure your site is readable by text-to-speech readers. This includes adding alt text to any images. You should also think about the use of colour on your site.

On top of this, you should make sure your site works properly on different types of devices. It should also have intuitive and accessible forms. All of this will help you reach the widest talent pool possible and should ensure no potential candidates are excluded.

Seek Diverse Talent Pools

One of the keys to diversity in nonprofits comes down to what you deliberately look for. Creating job listings is one thing, but will these be seen by diverse audiences?

You might need to look beyond your comfort zone for this. The more types of channels you present your openings on, the more diverse of a talent pool you'll reach and could include LinkedIn and social media.

Many organisations don't do this. It's more common for them to simply use the channels that they feel fit them best. By reaching out on more channels, you can give more people opportunities to find your charity and determine if you have a suitable role for them.

Build Inclusion Into Your Employer Branding

Employer branding is a crucial part of recruiting and it can have a huge impact on your ability to draw in suitable talent. Whenever someone is considering working with your charity, they'll consider a range of factors, and your organisation's reputation is one of them.

Make it clear that your charity supports diversity and works to maintain an equitable workplace. One way to do this is to highlight testimonials from current employees that show they're happy with how your organisation operates. You could also include videos to give people a clearer view of what working with your charity is like.

Establish Diversity Metrics

Creating strategies for diversity is one thing, but you also want to put checks in place to make sure things are working as you intend them to. You can track diversity metrics to ensure this.

Regularly analyse your applicant pool and workforce to make sure you're up to date with the current situation. This will help you stay on track, and you can make adjustments at any point if you need to. It can be easy to fall into certain patterns, and this will help you ensure you're always giving opportunities to people who otherwise might not get them.

Promoting Inclusive Recruitment

Inclusive recruitment can help you give those who have a harder time finding work a better chance of starting their dream career. It's often best to get professional assistance to make your recruitment processes as efficient as possible.

The AAW Group specialises in non-profit recruitment and can help you build the diverse team that you're after. We've been in operation for eight years, working with clients of different sizes from all over the globe. Take a look at our recruitment page to learn more about how we can help you achieve your diversity and inclusivity goals.