Underrepresented groups are being recruited for entry-level professional roles at a much lower rate: white applicants had an offer rate of 6.37%, whereas black and Asian applicants had offer rates of 3.51% and 4.30% respectively. The research was published by the UCL Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities on Thursday (6 March).
Businesses should embrace applicants from intersectional backgrounds, according to Darain Faraz, co-founder of People Like Us, a not-for-profit that supports media, marketing and communications professionals from black, Asian, mixed-race and minoritised ethnic backgrounds.
Faraz told HR magazine: "Businesses need to recognise that diversity isn’t just about ethnicity, gender or socioeconomic background in isolation; these factors intersect, creating unique barriers for many candidates.
“Too often, hiring processes favour those with traditional career pathways, connections and resources, overlooking those who may have taken a different route but have just as much – if not more – to offer."
Read more: UK firms' recruitment strategies fail to diversify workforce
Katie Hart, talent acquisition and experience lead at employee benefits platform Perkbox Vivup, emphasised that businesses should embrace applicants from intersectional backgrounds.
Hart told HR magazine: “First of all, it's about recognising the differences, potential skill and support gaps, and other disadvantages between candidates.
“This needs to be done alongside understanding both the integrity and benefit to a business of increasing the diversity of their workforce.”
To help tackle bias within the recruitment process, Di Gwinnell, chief people officer at training and skills provider, Lifetime, advised HR leaders to address unconscious bias within their organisation.
Speaking to HR magazine, she said: “The first step is to [tackling bias is to] accept that we all have unconscious bias and provide our hiring managers with the tools to overcome this. Beyond training and upskilling, this includes inviting critical friends into the hiring process, to ensure that a decision is never on the shoulders of just one person.
“This enables them to gain the perspective of someone with a different lived experience to themselves which will further help shine a light on any unconscious biases or different perspectives.”
Gwinnell also emphasised the importance of focusing on skills and potential in job descriptions, rather than qualifications that might exclude some applicants.
UCL's research also found that women were underrepresented within entry-level job applications. However, out of those who do apply, they are more likely to receive job offers than men.
Mary-Clare Race, CEO at inclusive coaching consultancy Talking Talent, told HR magazine: “The first step for a business in attracting and hiring a diverse group of intersectional applicants is to build awareness and commitment among the leadership population and hiring managers in particular.
“If managers are not convinced and bought into the idea of building a true meritocracy where all talent can thrive, they will continue to operate with bias (both conscious and unconscious) during the selection process.”
Read more: Ethnic minority workers failing to take up workplace pensions
Hart explained that AI tools can help mitigate bias in recruitment processes. She said: “AI can summarise and identify skills within a CV, and recommend the most relevant candidates; although this should never be used to reject candidates.
“It helps remove bias and increase efficiency. AI reduces the likelihood of human bias towards the way a CV is structured or the experience itself. It can focus more on skills.”
For Nick Henderson-Mayo, director of learning and content at compliance eLearning and software provider, VinciWorks, the issue is that candidates from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are being overlooked, regardless of ethnicity.
He told HR magazine: “HR teams and hiring managers need to rethink how they assess potential. The focus should be on identifying and hiring the best talent, not just those who have had the smoothest path to success.
“Employees who can demonstrate ability, work ethic and potential through real-world challenges can be far more valuable than expensive academic credentials.”
Researchers for UCL analysed application data for entry-level roles from 17 large employers in the UK, across the public and private sectors. They combined this with information relating to almost 2m young people applying for entry-level professional roles over the last decade, focussing on graduate, internship and school leaver/apprenticeship routes for the most recent year of recruitment.
