Attracting, recruiting and selecting the best person for a job is an important business issue. It is an equally critical component of an organisation’s equal opportunity for women strategy.

• How you could analyse your workplace to identify any recruitment and selection issues for women.

• Suggested actions you could take to address the recruitment and selection issues for women you have identified.

• How an awareness of diversity can improve your organisation’s productivity and management of its human resources overall.

• revisit your workforce profile to find where your female employees are.

• consult with your employees.

• examine your existing recruitment and selection policies and practices.

Is your recruitment process delivering you a diverse range of quality job candidates, both female and male'

Does your recruitment provider or agency provide you with a diverse range of quality candidates (female and male) and include ‘mature aged’ candidates'

Is the broadest pool of candidates considered for all positions'

Do you ever advertise roles as part-time (less than full-time)'

Do your interview questions and selection processes meet anti-discrimination legislation guidelines'

Are your recruitment processes transparent, easily reproducible and accessible for a diverse pool of candidates'

Are selection panel members aware of your organisation’s equitable recruitment and selection policies and procedures'

Do both women and men respond to your job advertisements'  If you take a closer look at your respondent profile, are women of different backgrounds (for example, culturally diverse, older women) among respondents'

Are both female and male candidates applying for roles in non-traditional areas' Do both female and male candidates get these jobs'

Are your interviewers and those on selection panels trained in EEO and anti-discrimination selection and interviewing processes'

Do women who are pregnant, working part-time, home-based or who have family or caring responsibilities, make it on to your selection shortlists' 

Would your recruitment and selection processes and decisions withstand the rigour of a review by an independent third party'

Are both women and men being appointed to senior management positions in your organisation'

Are both women and men being appointed to operational line jobs in your organisation'

If you recruit graduates, does your organisation specifically target female graduates through recruiting fairs, university or TAFE colleges'

Does your organisation have an active role in showcasing female employees in non- traditional roles at schools or universities'

Does your organisation speak to groups of students and their parents about opportunities in your industry or business'

• Not all of these actions may be relevant to your organisation. You will need to decide whether you choose to do all, some, or none of the suggested actions and whether you wish to tailor suggested actions to suit the needs of your workplace.

•  If your workplace analysis demonstrates your organisation has no issues for women in this employment matter, you would not need to take any actions.

• Put in place a policy requiring recruitment and selection processes to select the best person for the job on merit. Ensure that any person engaged in recruitment or selection is aware of the policies and trained in how to interview and select in a non-discriminatory fashion.

• Develop a quality, consistent process for recruitment that attracts and delivers skilled and diverse recruits.

•  Have a recruitment strategy that links to your business plan, and to a strategy to retain and develop employees.

• Take into account future requirements of the organisation. Tailor your recruitment policy to workforce planning, recognising that the supply of new entrants into the labour market is shrinking.

•  Monitor each stage of your recruitment and selection process to identify any practices that may disadvantage some candidates.

• Investigate whether women have equal opportunity in the recruitment and selection process by collecting information on the numbers of women and men who are:

  -         applying for positions -         being short-listed -         being interviewed -         being appointed

• Survey current staff about their perception of equity in recruitment procedures.

• Consider collecting diversity information as part of the process. There could be a pool of diverse candidates that you’re not reaching or are unnecessarily excluding, for example, mature-aged or linguistically diverse candidates.

• Analyse the roles for which you are recruiting; identify those roles (including at management level) which can be done part-time or as a job-share and advertise those roles as potentially part-time or job-share.

• Ensure all job profiles or descriptions reflect the real requirements of the job, rather than describing the person who filled that job previously.

• Write job profiles in language that encourages both women and men to apply – including women of diverse backgrounds. For example, avoid use of jargon and acronyms that may be exclusive.

• Distinguish between essential criteria (skills required to do the job) and desirable criteria (skills which may enhance job performance).

• Ensure whether formal qualifications (ie. academic or trade) are really required for successful performance of the job. Consider enabling applicants to demonstrate how work or life experience may enable them to fulfil the requirements.

• Ensure whether criteria such as length of experience are really required for successful performance of the job, not based on arbitrary stereotypes.

• Consider including possible avenues for career progression and training and development within the job description.

• Conduct a job analysis of the position to identify any “communication and people management skills” (ie. communication, building and maintaining relationships) which might in fact be essential for the role and build these into the job description.

• Enable applicants to demonstrate suitability against the selection criteria by considering aptitude rather than just past performance.

• Check to see whether the job really needs to be performed in a standard 38-hour/5- day a week format. Is it possible to work from home or to work part-time'

• Review advertisements to ensure that language, style, images, etc. are inclusive, and appeal to candidates of diverse backgrounds and ages.

• Identify yourself as an EEO employer or flexible workplace.

• Consider highlighting your organisation as one that encourages and facilitates work/life balance.

• State that both women and men are encouraged to apply for a position.

• Place the advertisement in a variety of media, rather than in ‘women’s’ or ‘men’s’ media or trade outlets.

• Ensure the advertisement reflects the selection criteria for the position.

• Expand your reach across a range of different communities by advertising with special interest organisations, ethnic media, specialist disability recruitment agencies, etc.

• Ensure that a contact person is named in the advertisement who has been briefed on diversity in recruitment.

• Check websites and brochures to ensure that there are photographs of women and men employees, particularly in non-traditional roles.

• Ensure that your provider complies with lawful advertising guidelines
  (see HREOC guidelines).

• When selecting a provider, make a key selection criterion: ‘Evidence of sourcing quality, diverse applicants’.

• Hold your provider accountable for delivering female as well as male applicants of all ages and cultural backgrounds.

• Consider trialling different providers to determine which consistently provides the most diverse mix of candidates.

• Communicate vacancies throughout the organisation to attract a diverse applicant pool.

• Consider communicating vacancies to organisations with which an ongoing business relationship exists (eg. through a strategic alliance, suppliers, organisations within the same group).

• Consider partnerships with key providers (feg., schools, universities, TAFEs, and training companies) to find quality female and male candidates.

• Establish contacts and partnerships with organisations and networks that serve ethnic or other communities.

• Build Intern programs into these partnerships.

• Offer both female and male employees training, shadowing or cross-skilling opportunities to develop their skills further.

• Encourage existing staff, including women, to apply for vacancies – this can be a useful way of encouraging women into non-traditional areas.

• Consider filling a vacancy with high-potential female and male staff eager to broaden their experience.

• Review the job requirements for essential qualifications. Be prepared to give value to different kinds of employment and overseas experience in lieu of formal training and local credentials.

• Be prepared to provide a workplace that accommodates differences in terms of employee needs and values (eg, child-care, same-sex benefits, job-sharing, flexible work hours, etc).

• Advertise the position widely to attract a diverse applicant pool, for example, would employees on parental leave have an opportunity to see the advertisement'

• Ensure that the job vacancy is communicated to all areas of the workplace, intranet, noticeboards, newsletter, team meetings etc. and include communication to those on leave.

• Design internal job advertisements as you would an external job advertisement to attract a diverse applicant pool and get the best person for the job. For example, use inclusive language and images that speak to all candidates.

• Avoid any perception that the internal recruitment process is a formality – ie. that a preferred candidate has already been identified.

• Ensure that a realistic amount of time is given to internal applicants to prepare an application (ie. don’t email asking for “expressions of interest” to close at the end of the week).

• Ensure that both female and male quality candidates within all age ranges and from all backgrounds are given equal opportunity to be short-listed.

• Consider offering both female and male employees the position as a development assignment.

• Consider allowing employees to rotate through the position (for instance, for 3 months each when it is a fixed-term vacancy).

• Prepare employees to apply for internal positions by:

  -         implementing and monitoring succession planning for both female and male 
            employees.

  -         providing opportunities for both female and male employees to work in
            different organisational areas and gain a broad range of work experience.

  -         providing female and male unsuccessful candidates with feedback on the
            recruitment selection process, and offering development opportunities to
            position them well for the next internal recruitment opportunity.

• Ensure that all interviewers are provided with sensitivity and awareness training related to diversity and gender issues.

• Ensure that interview panels consist of people from a range of backgrounds and a good understanding of the requirements of the job.

• Ensure that a Human Resources staff member with expertise in diversity and selection is either a member of the panel or an advisor to the panel.

• Ensure that there is representation on the panel from areas or departments other than that to which the appointment is being made.

• Prepare questions in advance and ensure that the same behavioural and aptitude-based questions are put to each applicant.

• Provide all applicants with equal opportunity to demonstrate what they can bring to the organisation.

• Encourage panel Chairs to challenge and address discriminatory assumptions made by panel members when deciding on the successful candidate.

• Consider both female and male internal candidates – you may find that their knowledge and understanding of the business assists them to outperform the external candidates.

• Ensure that any testing or work sample selection techniques are gender neutral.

• Ensure that applicants are assessed on the requirements of the job, not personal or physical characteristics or subjective perceptions about character.

• Document all aspects of the process, including applicants’ responses to all questions in interviews.

• Publicise your recruitment and selection policy widely within the organisation.

• Ensure that both female and male employees, and employees on short and long-term leave have access to the recruitment and selection policy and procedures information.

• Train managers on your recruitment and selection policy and procedures.

• Hold managers accountable for providing equal opportunity in recruitment and selection by including this requirement in managers’ workplace and performance agreements and in their key performance objectives.

• Encourage managers to lead by example by sourcing and selecting top female candidates.

• A lack of applications from female employees

• A low proportion of women in management

• A low proportion of women in non-traditional occupational categories eg. trades, labouring, plant and machinery operators

• Problems retaining female employees

• Conduct an employee census to identify where women are positioned within the organisation.

  -         Track the frequency with which women are recruited into specific business
             units, work teams or job classifications.

  -         Identify what is helping or hindering the attraction, recruitment and
             selection of women from broader demographic groups.

• Use the data to build your strategy and business case for action.

• Conduct and analyse research on the influence of the organisation’s brand in attracting female applicants.

•  Recruit the support of champions for change within the organisation.

• Review all job advertisements for gender bias.

• Re-emphasise within policy documents that senior positions may be made part-time.

• Establish a Diversity Council which will support and promote all aspects of Diversity including issues of recruitment and selection.

• Implement an accreditation process for recruitment agencies.

• Promote and advertise what is working well using case studies and examples of women in non-traditional roles.

• Promote your activities to support women in the workplace ie. flexible work options or paid parental leave.

• Provide feedback to unsuccessful internal staff applicants and identify areas for development. 

• Educate and inform all managers and others who are involved in the selection and recruitment process.

• Educate decision makers about how senior roles may be less than full-time.

• Work with external organisations such as universities and TAFE colleges to promote employment opportunities for women and the strategies you have implemented.

• Offer vacation employment and work experience to female and male  students.

• Participate in university graduate careers fairs.

• Set up an employee-referral scheme.

• Offer lectures to high school students to raise industry awareness.

• Offer traineeships to engage long-term staff.

• Sponsor high school students in Australian education programs.

• Target mature-aged workers and mothers returning to the workforce.

• Advertise part-time positions to broaden the potential employee pool.

• Implement a print advertising campaign showing photos of both women and men in the organisation and highlight the opportunity to work towards a recognised qualification.