What inclusivity really means
An inclusive job ad means opening up opportunities for everyone that has potential to bring talent and skills to a job role. This means ensuring that the content feels inclusive to all genders and gender identities, all ages, all disabilities, all neurodiversities, all races, all backgrounds. It means ensuring that what you’re offering and the wording you use makes it possible for anyone, no matter their personal situation, to access both the job ad and the job itself. It means not missing out on quality candidates because the way you’ve written your ad or what you’ve included in it dissuades them from applying.
Why inclusive job ads matter
Ensuring that your job ads are open to anybody that could do the job well is important for so many different reasons. For a start, diverse candidates mean diverse placements and diverse teams for your clients – something a huge amount of different research has proven to help boost business success. There’s also an issue of candidate scarcity. In many industries, recruiters continue to face the challenge of high jobs, low candidate availability.
Alongside this, job board prices are increasing, meaning you have to get smarter about what you post, where you post, and when in order to maximise your ROI – no posting to every job board you can think of in order to get as much exposure as possible (not that this is ever a good idea. Data-led strategy is key!). This means ensuring you are reaching and appealing to a wider range of candidates. Ultimately though, why would you not want to find every talented candidate out there, whatever the market conditions?
5 tips to increase job ad inclusivity
- Pay attention to language – use gender-neutral language, ensure the wording used doesn’t discriminate against older workers or race, ethnicity or religion, and avoid jargon and corporate speak.
- Include salary specifications – omitting salary might dissuade a range of candidates from applying. In fact, research by reed.co.uk has shown a 27% uplift in applications when salary details are published on job ads.
- Make it clear if the job offers any form of flexible working – for many, it’s a huge bonus but for some, flexible working, whether location or time-based, can literally mean the difference between whether they are able to work or not.
- List only essential skills and experience – don’t lay down a long list of skills and experience as that can deter many, especially diverse candidates. If you do ask for a specific skill and/or qualification, always state the reason that skill will be needed.
- Structure your job ad in an accessible way – ensure your copy is broken up into manageable chunks, with lots of white space, so that it is easier to read. Bullet points make it easy to scan but limit yourself to 5 per list.
How recruitment technology can help
Recruitment technology can be a huge help in ensuring your job ads are inclusive. On a basic level, a multi-poster makes it easier to post to multiple job boards so that you can utilise niche boards that might reach a more diverse audience as well as the generalist ones. When it comes to the language you’re using in your job ads, software such as Textio and Get Optimal will remove gendered and other biased words and phrases from your job ads. Beyond the job ad, there’s software to anonymise CVs to avoid unconscious bias affecting the shortlisting process, and video interviewing can make it easier for a wide range of candidates.
Don’t forget your website
Your website should be inclusive and accessible too. After all, this is where you want to be driving candidates to. Ensure your imagery and videos are inclusive, as well as all your copy. Ensuring your website is structured, free of clutter and follows a clear and logical path is a sound rule in general in order to create a positive user experience but it is essential for those with neurological or visual disabilities. Other accessibility considerations include accessible forms, resizeable text, keyboard-friendly features (most assistive technologies work by using a keyboard alone), and adding transcripts, captions and alt text to videos and images. On your job page, make sure the apply button is large and clear and ads formatted clearly too.
Want to explore this topic more? We recommend:
✍️ Is your recruitment website accessible?
✍️ Does your recruitment website appeal to diverse candidates?
✍️ How flexible working went from workplace unicorn to candidate priority
✍️ Why switching careers should be more accessible for older workers
