In order to stay competitive, it is important to continuously reflect upon our processes to make them as productive and positive as possible. One of the most noticeable professional shifts has been the assurance of workplace equality. Infusing diversity, inclusion, and equity practices into hiring processes continues to be one of the most discussed topics in the industry.
Creating space for a variety of inclusion factors such as genders, ages and ethnicities – will continue to be at the top of every agency’s priority list. Agencies understand the critical shift that is needed to uphold the ethical operation of a staffing and recruiting agency.
There are many ways recruiters can encourage hiring diversity, including workplace diversity training and educational programs. However, pieces of staffing and recruiting technology can help make hiring decisions much more equitable.
Here are the top reasons why diversity benefits professional teams and how Mindscope tools can help make well-rounded hiring decisions.
The benefits of diverse teams
Encouraging diversity and inclusion in the workplace is something that more and more companies are implementing. Recent figures have shown that 45% of workers have felt some form of discrimination in the past twelve months. This illustrates there are gaps in the hiring process that need to be closed.
Ensuring diverse and inclusive teams is not only necessary, but there have also been countless studies linking increased productivity, profitability, and teamwork efforts to teams with higher diversity. Having different perspectives in the same professional environment can foster more creativity, innovation, and collaboration among teams.
Biased hiring can also actively cost companies money. Not only are diverse teams up to 35% more profitable, but hiring candidates based on biases and not on how well they will fit into the company can lead to employee turnover, which is one of the costliest events for any business.
Focusing on the resume
As much as we all may try, there can be some amount of unconscious bias that affect recruiters and employers’ ability to make truly neutral hiring decisions.
Recruiting software with the option to hide potentially influential candidate information, such as photographs or full names, can play a big role in increasing diversity, as these technologies are designed to be free of bias. With Mindscope’s blind resumes functionality, candidate resumes are reformatted to omit personal information and presents only their skills and qualifications, so clients can see only what matters.
Skills-matching to reduce biases
Every hiring decision should be made on the qualifications of a candidate, removing diversity biases, including a persons’ age, gender or ethnicity. Mindscope’s skills searching and candidate matching capabilities have the potential to reduce biases in hiring, by allowing recruiters to make the best placements based exclusively on skills and experience.
In addition, Mindscope’s Workspace feature gives recruiters a comprehensive view of all candidates that are associated with a job order and gives them a chance to view all applications before moving into the pipeline. Whether candidates apply online, via email, or are already in the system, this feature ensures that all applicants from every candidate source get a fair opportunity when being evaluated.
Diversity values dominate in employer branding
Employer branding is one of the most important facets of modern, proactive recruiting. Infusing the values and persona of an agency into every piece of material an agency presents to the world is critical. This helps build more appropriate professional relationships with candidates and clients.
Recent studies have found that 76% of job seekers consider diversity and inclusivity values to be an important factor in a new job and will evaluate these criteria before applying. With more than three-quarters of job seekers actively searching for agencies and employers that have diversity top of mind, it is good sense for agencies to communicate these messages in all customer facing content, such as their website, blogs and social media content. Mindscope’s marketing division, TopTalent Communications, has the expertise to help agencies communicate their brand messaging effectively.
Mindscope’s applicant tracking system is designed to help staffing agencies make the best hiring decisions possible. Want to learn more about Mindscope’s full product offering and how it can help your agency thrive? Contact us today.