Diversity in Hiring

Broaden your reach & increase the range of candidates

It’s estimated that only about 20% of AI roles are held by women. Stats on other underrepresented groups are hard to find. So, organisations are paying attention to how they recruit for AI roles to ensure they’re being inclusive and attract a range of candidates.

The best time to think about diversity in hiring is long before you need to hire! Two factors play into hiring diversity — your network and your work culture. These take time to establish, so you need them in place as early as possible. There’s never a time that’s too early to think about cultivating network and culture. A diverse network will give you connections and reach to attract the best candidates. A healthy company culture will keep people interested and increase the chances that they want to work for you.

With these in place, you have a great foundation for hiring. At this point, there are several actions you can take to find the right set of candidates:

• Check the language of your job ads to make sure they’re not off-putting. Don’t have a long list of requirements that aren’t really needed, but think carefully about the skills that are crucial for the role.
• Advertise your role in a range of venues, to make sure it gets in front of a range of potential candidates.
• Ensure that you are shortlisting a range of candidates; be prepared to slow down your process to find that range before starting interviews.
• Insist that there’s diversity in your interview panel. This is where you’re really showcasing your culture to candidates, so be sure to shine.
• Standardise your interview questions across candidates, and ensure interviewers have a list of skills and objective criteria they’re interviewing for. This can reduce (but not eliminate!) some of those unconscious biases we have to make fairer hiring decisions.
• Measure and track diversity at different stages of your recruitment pipeline to see where you need to put effort into widening the pool. If you’re not getting a range of CVs then perhaps you need to widen your advertising. But if you’re getting a range of CVs and those are being filtered out before the final round, perhaps it’s your interview process that needs adjusting.
• Consider advertising part-time and flexible work options to make your role attractive to a wider range of applicants.

Given the relative numbers in the field, hiring women and other underrepresented groups is hard and it does take intentional effort. With these tips, you can widen the field and increase your chances of hiring a diverse team.