How to improve diversity and inclusion in recruitment

TL;DR

• Treat diversity recruiting as a system: open the funnel, assess skills consistently, and measure outcomes by stage.
• Diverse companies benefit from increased innovation, profitability, and better business outcomes.
• Write inclusive job descriptions, diversify sourcing beyond job boards, and engage community groups to expand access for underrepresented groups.
• Standardise early assessment (structured interviews, job-relevant tasks) to reduce bias without slowing the hiring process.
• Track diversity metrics across the recruitment process and fix the step where diverse candidates drop off.
• Make inclusion visible in benefits, rotas, flexibility, and development — not just statements.
• Use technology to remove friction, not add it. Sapia.ai supports a mobile, structured-first interview with explainable scoring and real-time scheduling; hiring managers remain in charge of decisions.

A more diverse workforce doesn’t appear by accident. It’s the result of deliberate choices across your recruitment process — from how you write job ads to how you score interviews and who signs off on hiring decisions. Diversity leads to increased innovation, better performance, and improved capacity to adapt to change. Below are seven practical changes that show you how to improve diversity and inclusion in recruitment without sacrificing pace or quality.

Why diversity recruiting matters (and where it stalls)

Diverse teams bring broader perspectives, better problem-solving, and higher resilience. Workplace diversity and cultural diversity are proven to drive business performance and revenue growth by fostering innovation and enabling organisations to better serve a wide range of clients. Increased diversity also supports cultural competence and improves service delivery, especially to marginalised communities. Yet diversity recruiting efforts often stall for predictable reasons: job postings that filter out rather than invite in; sourcing that reaches the same networks; and early screens that reward polish over potential. Fixing this means opening access for underrepresented groups, consistently assessing relevant skills, and showing a credible path to growth once people join. These efforts should be integrated into a broader diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) strategy to ensure lasting impact.

7 recruitment changes that work

Before we get into the steps, align on the intent: equal opportunities, consistent assessment, and transparent progress. Implementing diversity strategies and diversity hiring practices is essential for fostering innovation, equality, and improved company performance. It is also vital to prioritise diversity throughout the recruitment process. When hiring managers and talent teams work to the same principles, your talent pool broadens and hiring bias shrinks.

1) Rewrite job descriptions so they welcome — not filter out

What to change

• State pay range, shift pattern, location, and flexibility up front. Clarity attracts diverse candidates who may be balancing care, study, or multiple jobs.
• Keep essentials short and specific: 4–6 must-have capabilities tied to outcomes. Move the rest to “nice to have”.
• Use gender-neutral language and remove coded terms that deter diverse employees (“aggressive”, “ninja”, “dominant”).
• Add a plain-English diversity statement that goes beyond slogans: name your adjustments process and who to contact.
• Include an equal opportunity statement in every job description to signal your commitment to diversity, ensuring all candidates—regardless of gender identity, sexual orientation, or background—feel welcome to apply.

Why it works: Clear job descriptions reduce guesswork, widen the applicant pool, and encourage qualified candidates from a broader range of backgrounds to opt in. A well-crafted job description helps attract candidates of different gender identities and sexual orientations, supporting a more inclusive and representative workforce.

2) Expand sourcing beyond the usual suspects

Where to look

• Community groups, professional associations, and job fairs that serve underrepresented groups.
• Community colleges and Hispanic-Serving Institutions for early-career diverse talent; partner on projects and internships.
• Employee referrals with inclusive prompts (“Who do we know from previous teams, placements, or community work who might thrive here?”).
• Local returner networks, disability job boards, and veterans’ organisations.
• Source from a diverse range of channels, including niche online and offline communities, to build broader talent pools for future recruitment needs.

Why it worksYou increase access to a diverse talent pool instead of recycling similar candidates from the same job boards. Reaching underrepresented groups ensures inclusivity and helps attract candidates from a wider variety of backgrounds.

3) Standardise the first mile: blind applications, structured interviews, and job-relevant tasks

What to change

• Blind recruitment at the earliest stage: hide names, schools, and postcodes so unconscious bias has less room to operate.
• Improve the screening process by using technology to anonymise candidate information and automate review, reducing bias and creating a more objective evaluation of applicants.
• Replace unstructured chats with structured interviews, using the same questions for everyone and scoring them against behaviour anchors.
• Add a small, role-relevant work sample (prioritising five tasks, drafting a customer message, or a simple case) to compare candidate responses on evidence – where relevant for the role.

Where technology helps: Sapia.ai enables a blind assessment at the first step, using a structured chat interview with explainable scoring and real-time scheduling. It keeps candidates engaged while helping hiring managers assess relevant skills consistently at scale.

Why it works: This combination removes human biases in the screening process, supports fair hiring, and preserves speed.

4) Make your recruitment marketing show the work — and the path

What to show

• Short reels of “a busy hour”, a service recovery story, or how teams hand over work.
• Visible progression: how people moved from this role to the next, and the professional development opportunities that helped.
• Benefits that matter to a diverse population: rota predictability, work-life balance practices, health insurance and wellbeing, and study support.
• Diversified marketing materials: use images, videos, and promotional content that reflect the company’s commitment to diversity and inclusion.

5) Train hiring managers on bias — and give them better tools

What to cover

• Common hiring biases (confirmation bias, similarity bias, age bias, proximity bias) and how to interrupt them.
• The hiring manager’s responsibility is to participate in ongoing diversity training to recognise and mitigate biases, supporting a more inclusive hiring process.
• How to score to objective criteria, capture notes, and make decisions quickly without relying on “fit”.
• How to run inclusive interviews (panels, accessible formats, clear timelines).

Practical tipProvide a one-page rubric with examples of “emerging / proficient / strong” for core behaviours. Structure speeds decisions and reduces poor hiring decisions driven by hunches. Training should never replace systemic changes to improve inclusion. Relying on training only will never work, as it’s impossible to completely remove bias from humans – it’s how we make decisions! 

6) Instrument the funnel with diversity metrics — then fix the step

What to measure

• Representation and pass-through by stage: applied → screened → interviewed → offered → hired (anonymised where required).
• Time to first interview and time to offer (delays can disadvantage some groups).
• Candidate experience feedback sessions: Was the process transparent and fair? Any barriers?
• Effectiveness of diversity recruitment strategies: Are targeted outreach and inclusive job postings attracting candidates from underrepresented groups?
• Regular review of hiring practices for fairness and inclusivity: Are hiring processes unbiased, and do they support a diverse workforce?

How to act. If underrepresented groups start strong at applying but drop at the interview, the issue is the questions, the format, or the scoring — not the sourcing. Change one variable, re-measure, and document.

Where technology helps: Sapia.ai surfaces stage-by-stage completion and pass-through patterns so a hiring team can pinpoint friction without spreadsheets.

7) Make inclusion real after offer: policies, practices, and progression

What to make visible

• Adjustments by default: clear routes to request support in the interview process and on day one.
• Predictable rotas, fair weekend rotation, and no back-to-back close-open shifts.
• Mentorship programmes, sponsorship for underrepresented groups, and transparent criteria for progression.
• Ongoing training in cultural competence and inclusive practices for managers.
• Communicate inclusive company policies that support diversity and employee well-being.

Why it works: A credible, inclusive workplace culture improves job satisfaction and higher employee retention — and it reinforces the message your recruitment strategy sends to diverse candidates. Fostering an inclusive company culture and supportive company policies can further improve job satisfaction by promoting employee well-being and engagement.

Putting it together: the flow that lifts diversity recruiting

Start with inclusive ads, widen sourcing, and run a skills-first, standardised first step for screening. Keep the tone human, timelines predictable, and logistics simple. Measure diversity metrics by stage and repair the step that’s leaking diverse talent. As this rhythm stabilises, your recruitment team will see stronger pipelines, more balanced shortlists, and a more diverse workforce — without slowing the hiring process. Implementing a strong diversity recruiting strategy and comprehensive diversity strategies enables organisations to hire talent from diverse backgrounds and build truly diverse workforces. Prioritising workforce diversity and diversity hiring is essential for long-term business success, driving innovation, agility, and improved company performance.

Sapia.ai fits neatly into this flow: a structured, mobile-first chat interview that enables blind early screening and explainable scoring, plus real-time scheduling to keep momentum. It’s designed to reduce bias, such as disability bias, while leaving hiring decisions to people.

Conclusion

If you’re serious about a diverse and inclusive workforce, design for it. Write ads that welcome, source where communities actually are, and compare candidates on evidence with structured interviews and small work samples. Track what happens at every stage and fix what’s leaking — patiently, one change at a time. Do that, and you’ll recruit for diversity with pace and purpose, building diverse teams that perform and stay.Ready to see what a fair, skills-first first mile could look like in your organisation? Book a Sapia.ai demo and turn intent into a recruitment process that diverse candidates describe as straightforward, quick, and respectful.

About Author

Kate Young

Head of People Science