Balance

10/07/2025

Standing next to my advert at

15/02/2023

A message to Employers and Hiring Managers PART TWO

If you want to demonstrate a genuine commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, and inclusive hiring.

You need to give your Recruiters explicit permission to uphold inclusive hiring principles. What does that look like?

✅ It starts by giving them exclusivity and control of the vacancy - whether they be your internal or external recruitment partner.

✅ Then it's acknowledging that it's not a RACE and that equitable, accessible and inclusive hiring can take a bit more time.

✅ It is allowing your recruitment partner to challenge and disrupt Bias throughout, which means agreeing at the start that it can be called out without fear of conflict.

✅ It is committing to a consistent and fair interview process.

✅ Its always providing meaningful and evidence-based interview feedback. Not using phrases like "not quite right" or "wont fit in here" or "my guts telling me....." or radio silence.....

✅ It is supporting them to manage equitable and inclusive salary negotiations, encouraging them to advocate for fair salary outcomes for their candidate and not pressuring them to negotiate the candidate down to save money in the short term - leading to longer-term pay-gap pain.

What else would you add?





If you would like more inclusive recruitment content, click the 🔔 icon on my profile to always see my posts 🙏

13/02/2023

I’ve been asked recently which International Women’s Day theme companies should align with.

IWD’s theme of Embrace Equity or UN’s Women’s theme of Innovation and Technology for gender equality?

I’m not going to lie, I’m not a fan of this year’s IWD theme, and I won’t be hugging myself any time soon. Personally, I don’t think which theme you align with is important. As an employer, I’d be much more concerned about looking performative.

Our good friend, the Gender Pay Gap Bot, had a field day last year highlighting performative work around Gender equality by automatically posting a company’s Gender Pay Gap underneath every post about IWD. I’m sure they will be back this year…

So before you pick a theme, or if you already have, maybe cancel that photoshoot of all your women employees hugging each other and focus on one theme.

How can we better the experience for women in our organisation? Isn’t that the most essential theme of all?

Or should I consider hugging myself……

19/01/2023

An Inclusive Recruitment Train-The-Trainer programme enables you to become confident facilitators of our Inclusive Recruitment workshop.

Join us on our next open session in Central London on Thursday 15th February.

Link in bio for the learning objectives, full agenda and costs.

29/11/2022

Would you expect someone to put an offer on a house without knowing the asking price? 🤔

Probably not. How could the individual possibly know where to pitch their offer.

Yet, candidates are frequently expected to volunteer their salary expectations during their job search without knowing the salary range.

👉 Most recruitment software is configured to collect ‘salary expectations’ at application stage, yet most companies do not advertise a salary range on their posts.

👉 And this is where the cycle of pay inequality starts. 😩

Stay tuned for Part Two of this post. we're currently doing fascinating research into this for our next edition of The Inclusive Hiring Digest.

21/11/2022

It was a beautiful Autumnal Sunday, and it was also Equal Pay Day 2022.

Yesterday marked the day when women effectively, on average, stopped earning relative to men because of the gender pay gap.

The gender pay gap has barely shifted in the past few years and is being compounded by

👉 the cost of living crisis
👉 lack of flexible working
👉 unaffordable childcare
👉 the mandatory threshold for gender pay gap reporting was raised from 250 to 500 employees, holding many fewer employers accountable

So how does this relate to inclusive recruitment, I hear you ask? 🤔

👉 Pay inequality starts with hiring practices

Here are a few suggestions for promoting a fair salary outcome for every hire.

👉 Start with a salary band and advertise transparently on all your job posts.

👉 Don't ask for or use a candidate's current salary as the basis for their offer.

👉 Do some internal benchmarking before finalising the offer.

👉 Advocate for anyone who pitches themselves too low. Statistically, this is more likely to be a woman.

21/11/2022

👉 Let’s talk about Interview Panels and their ability to perpetuate or disrupt bias and Group Think during the recruitment process 👈

👉 Interview panels can be a great way to bring together diverse perspectives and assessment styles to achieve a fair outcome.

👉 Conversely, they can be a breeding ground for Group Think and Conformity Bias if your panel is too homogenous.

Here are a few thoughts on how to get inclusive interview panels right.

✅ Think beyond optics when putting together your interview panel; bringing together interviewers from different departments, seniority levels, and crafts can also be effective.

✅ Ensure the panel has an assessment framework (i.e. a set of attributes they are looking for in the candidate) and is fully briefed on the role.

✅ Give them a way to submit their feedback independently without discussion among the interviewers to avoid conformity bias.

✅ Avoid free-form feedback; give your interviewers a template or scorecard. This will keep their feedback relevant and prevent them from drifting into ‘Gut Feel’ statements.

✅ Big Caveat to interview panels - be sure always to offer an alternative as Neurodivergent candidates may be placed at a disadvantage having to read the social cues of three to four interviewers simultaneously. Offer the option to meet them separately.

Do you use interview panels in your hiring process? If so what do you do to disrupt biased outcomes?

17/11/2022

Want to hear all about Inclusive Hiring from audit to action. Listen to the podcast from Salt Recruitment Creating Futures with Balance Founder Jennie Child





https://open.spotify.com/episode/3YldPcHVUffjuvxpoDaxoM?si=3_p5ebKLRiKvthyTFXSYXw

Listen to this episode from Creating Futures on Spotify. Balance is an inclusive hiring consultancy, who work with employers, recruitment firms, and organizations to help them become intentionally inclusive and bias-free in terms of how they hire and recruit. We recently got to chat with the Founder...

02/11/2022

36% of candidates wouldn't feel comfortable asking for adjustments when applying for a job 🤯 😩

This is PART TWO of my posts about accessibility, adjustments and additional support (traditionally referred to as "reasonable adjustments") during the recruitment process.

👋 Recruiters, Hiring Managers, HR folk and Talent Teams 👋

👉 This is one of the reasons Under-Representation occurs.

👉 Candidates will be screening themselves OUT of your talent pool unless you can demonstrate that they are safe to ask for adjustments.

👉 Your recruitment processes may be inaccessible to some candidates

👉 Recruitment processes that don't offer or signpost to support or adjustments are un-inclusive.

Here's a recap of why someone might need adjustments or additional support (this list is not exhaustive)

✅ Physical disability
✅ Hidden Disability
✅ Access to resources (think funds to travel, WIFI, a quiet space to interview)
✅ Neurodivergent
✅ Anxiety
✅ Breastfeeding mother
✅ Caring responsibilities
✅ Menstruation
✅ Menopause
✅ Shift-worker
✅ Location

👉 The solution to this ongoing challenge starts with building trust

➕ the following statement to ALL of your job advertisements and job descriptions

 ▶ If you require any adjustments or additional support during the recruitment process for any reason whatsoever, please let me know. ◀

If you're a recruiter, recruitment coordinator or anyone involved with regular or volume hiring - also add this statement to your email signature 🙏

What else can we do to build trust? What are you doing to make your recruitment processes more inclusive?

20/10/2022

👉 Imagine if every recruiter in the UK put this in their email signature.

There are estimated to be 40,000 UK recruitment firms and over 100,000+ UK recruitment professionals.

37% of candidates wouldn’t ask for adjustments or support during the recruitment process for fear of discrimination.

One simple change could make all the difference.

✅ Recruiters - add this statement to your email.

✅ If you require any adjustments or additional support during the recruitment process for any reason whatsoever, please let me know.