Fairness in recruitment gaining importance but still a way to go
Melanie May | 21 January 2022 | News
Fairness in recruitment is becoming more important in the charity sector, with 88% now including the salary in job ads.
However, just little over half state a commitment to diversity, according to research by CharityJob.
The research includes responses from more than 300 UK charities and provides insights into how charities recruit paid staff and the steps they take to try to make their processes fair.
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According to How UK Charities Recruit, CVs are still by far the most common way to recruit among the charities that responded to the survey, with nearly seven in ten respondents (69%) requiring applicants to submit a CV. Over half of respondents asked for a cover letter (55%) or an application form (51%). Just under half of respondents asked for an equal opportunities or diversity monitoring form (46%).
Eight in ten respondents (83%) think the way they recruit is fairly (56%) or very (25%) effective. Fewer than one in ten felt their recruitment method was ineffective.
Those who used application forms were slightly less likely to find them effective overall (82% versus 84%), but more likely to find them very effective (30% versus 25%). Also, fewer reported them very ineffective (2.7% versus 4.5%).
Fairness in recruitment
The issue of fairness in recruitment is gaining in importance, but so far the picture is mixed. Of the charities surveyed:
- 96% advertised the job publicly
- 88% included a salary in the job advert
- 83% posted their vacancy on social media
- 63% highlighted the possibility of flexible working
- 59% had an interview panel with diversity of one or more protected characteristics
- 53% stated a commitment to diversity
- 32% used anonymous recruitment
- 12% used a diverse range of images in and around the advert
- 10% set diversity targets for recruitment
- 9% used a tool to remove gendered language
- 9% had an equality, diversity and inclusion expert assess the advert
- 5% set targets or quotas for diversity in short/longlist composition
- 3% recruited someone because they had a protected characteristic.
Steve and Raya Wexler, co-founders of CharityJob said:
“Every day charities tell us how important it is to recruit fairly, so they get the best people to help them to help others. We wanted to run this research to find out how charities recruit so we can see how much further we have to go, and what else we can do to help. Fairness matters in all recruitment, but especially to charities who need to reflect the communities that they help.”
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About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.