Skills + Inclusion = Good hiring strategy

Welcome to Lead With Inclusion! This weekly newsletter is a resource for EVERY professional. Whether you’re a manager ready to be a more inclusive leader, or an employee ready to be a DEI champion in your workplace, inclusive actions lead to inclusive outcomes. Leading with inclusion simply means starting with inclusive actions in everything you do. It means identifying the areas where bias is at work, and shifting mindsets to make change. 

If you’re not sure where to begin, start here.

Has this happened to you?

You’re applying for jobs and find one that seems totally aligned to the kind of position you’re looking for. You’re highly proficient in all of the skills listed in the job posting, and you’ve got plenty of experience from past roles that would translate to this new opportunity. As you’re getting ready to submit an application, you notice that the position requires an advanced degree, and you don’t have the level of education that the hiring company is requiring. Even if you think you’ve got the right experience in all other areas, you ultimately decide not to apply since you don’t have the advanced degree to meet their requirements. Does this sound familiar?

This kind of story is all too common, and it reveals a key bias in current hiring practices in our workplaces. In many industries, education and advanced degrees are still used as a standard, a measuring stick (if you will), to determine whether a candidate has the necessary experience to succeed in a role. This bias is likely unconscious for many of us, meaning that we may not even be aware that we’re holding onto this mindset. This standard has been baked into our hiring systems and practices for so long that we no longer have to consciously think about it; our systems are set up to make these biased decisions for us, and all we have to do to allow the biases to continue thriving is stick with the status quo.

How can we interrupt this pattern? What would it look like to move from a place of unconscious bias to a place of unconscious inclusion, where inclusion is built in at the root of every hiring decision we make? 

It starts first with simply recognizing that the bias exists - in this case, a bias toward using education as a measurement of readiness for a role. Once we become aware of the bias, we can then learn how to interrupt it with inclusive action. Whether you’re a hiring manager, an organizational leader, or a professional in the current job market, here are some ideas for how you can begin to move from unconscious bias to unconscious inclusion in the recruitment space:

Lead With Inclusion

On an individual level, this might look like starting to speak differently about your skills and experiences. Think about it: how often do many of us rely on our degrees, or the accolades on our resumes when talking about what makes us a great candidate for a role? Start to shift the focus of your language. How might you learn to focus more on your skills and learned experiences rather than the traditional units of measurement? 

It may feel like a small change, but it can lead to a larger cultural shift in the way we talk about our skills and qualifications. It can also be a huge help to a recruiter when they’re reviewing your application. Next time you’re updating your resume, consider updating the way you articulate your skills. And if you’re not sure what kinds of skills recruiters are currently looking for, check out this list of the most in-demand skills from LinkedIn .

Be An Inclusive Leader

For leaders and hiring managers, this might look like shifting your hiring practices to a more “skills-first” approach. In case you missed it, my brand new LinkedIn course just went live last week, and it’s all about learning to approach skills-first recruiting with a DEI mindset (you can take the course here). Shifting your approach is a great start toward interrupting our biases and implementing inclusive action. But in order for this approach to really have an impact, we need to make sure that our systems are aligned with our goals. Which systems do you have ownership of? What changes might you need to make to embrace a skills-first approach?

Think about your organization’s current hiring systems and practices. Were they built with inclusion in mind? For example, take a look at the Applicant Tracking System (ATS) that your organization uses to organize candidates and track them through the application process. Is your ATS designed to evaluate candidates based on skills and learned experiences? Or is the system weeding out highly experienced candidates simply because they don’t have an advanced degree? Think about how you can begin to rebuild these systems with inclusion at the forefront. And if you’re stuck, try using my D.E.I. framework to shift your mindset. Advancing DEI within your organization is all about learning to Disrupt, Evolve and Innovate. Disrupt the ways that you’re thinking, be willing to evolve and do things differently, and then you can start to get innovative. Ask yourself, how else can we make this work?

If you’re ready to gain a deeper understanding of how you and your team can move from biased mindsets to inclusive action, then it’s time to sign up for Unconscious Inclusion™. The course is designed to help teams understand the systems, mindsets and dynamics that are preventing your team from advancing your DEI goals, and help you gain the skills needed to push your DEI conversations forward. Learn more and sign up here.  

About Stacey Gordon:

Stacey Gordon is Executive Advisor and Founder of Rework Work where she and her team coach and counsel executive leaders on DEI strategies for the business, while offering a no-nonsense approach to unconscious bias education for the broader employee population. As a global keynote speaker, Stacey is a Top Voice on LinkedIn and a popular LinkedIn Learning [IN]structor with nearly two million unique learners enjoying her courses.