When you are on the hunt for a diverse job, there are some important things to look out for. Finding authentic diversity is important, rather than performative diversity. Making sure you find an equal, inclusive, and diverse place to work is one of the most important things you can do for yourself, so it is important to get it right.
In this blog, we are going to walk you through the main criteria you need to use on your hunt for a diverse job. Matching well with all or most of these criteria is a great sign that a company is truly and authentically diverse in both their staff force and their way of working. Hopefully, this checklist will help you find your dream job in a healthy and diverse environment.
Let’s jump right into these essential criteria.
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Language Used in All Communications
The first step to checking out whether a company is diverse or not is to be conscious of the language used by the company in all of its communications. This can include how they speak to you in emails, how they advertise themselves, how they post on social media, and how their job adverts are constructed.
You need to be on the lookout for inclusive language at all turns. You can read more about this and what exactly to look out for in our guide to inclusive language and our blog on pronoun use.
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EDI Figures
EDI stands for equality, diversity, and inclusion. When you are on the hunt for a diverse job, EDI figures are an important aspect to look for. Truly diverse companies that care about improving themselves will regularly monitor and publish their EDI figures to the public. They won’t see diversity as something that takes place behind closed doors, rather they will be open and upfront about their own situation and what they are doing to improve it.
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Internal Roles in Inclusion and Diversity
A great sign that a company cares about diversity at work is if they have members of staff appointed to official internal roles in the realms of inclusion and diversity. If they have colleagues working specifically on inclusion and diversity, they are clearly important topics to the company and they are evidently committed to improving their stance on these topics.
The best ways to find out whether these roles exist or not within a company are by searching through LinkedIn or simply asking during your interview process. If a company cares about diversity, they certainly won’t mind you asking this question.
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Reviews and Reputation
A company’s reputation usually precedes them. In our modern digital age, it is very easy to find out lots of information about companies and businesses online. Taking some time to search for reviews of the company you are applying for will help you get a good idea of its reputation.
You might also consider reaching out to current and past employees to find out more detail about what it is like to work for that employer. You might think about finding people similar to you to ask about their experiences, for example, if you’re in the LGBTQ+ or BAME community, you might want to ask someone in the same community for their experience. This will help you know if the job is diverse and whether it is right for you too.
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External Standards and Awards
There are lots of external standards and awards regarding inclusion and diversity that many companies will work towards. If you see lots of engagement with these standards and awards on your potential company’s social media and website, it is a good sign that they are actively involved in creating and sustaining diverse job opportunities. If there is radio silence, on the other hand, this is a fairly good sign that inclusion and diversity are not the top priorities of the company you are considering.
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Open Conversation
When it comes to finding out whether a company can offer you a diverse job or not, one of the very best ways of doing so will be via your own open conversation with people in the company. This typically takes place in the interview process. When an interviewer asks if you have any questions, it is key to make the most of this opportunity and ask whatever you want about diversity.
You might ask questions to do with everything we have listed here. You might also simply ask what the company’s policies, attitude, and mindset are like around inclusion and diversity. How an interviewer or interviewing panel even responds to this question will tell you a lot. If it is an uncomfortable conversation, this could be a red flag. If they are happy to talk about everything that goes on in the company and they have lots of information to tell you about, this is a very good sign for you.
There isn’t always a foolproof way to find out whether the diverse job you are being offered is truly diverse or not, but opening the conversation at an early stage is a great way to test the waters. This tactic plus the others we have discussed in this blog should come together to give you a pretty good idea of the levels of diversity in the company.
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Liaison with External Career Services
It is a green flag if a company works with external career services that have a strong ethos of inclusion and diversity. At Aspiring to Include, we only work with diversity-positive employers for our career services.
We offer a directory of inclusive employers so that our diverse job seekers can get a list of the best people to work for in the U.K. On top of that, we provide an inclusive job board that allows the same diverse group of job seekers to find current exciting opportunities in their field.
We believe in helping diverse job seekers find the best possible opportunities for them while getting the right employment help and advice at the same time.
If this sounds good to you, check out what we offer on Aspiring to Include, and get in touch if you have any further questions or suggestions of content you would like to see.
