Diversifying recruitment

The University is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) for all, and these principles are at the heart of our institution’s values and strategic vision—We are diverse, inclusive and accessible to all.

Staff ▪ Diversity of thought, perspectives, experience and skills brings demonstrable benefits to our work and to our decision making, as well as to our ability to build a truly inclusive institution. The University’s Equality Outcomes 2021-2025, published here Strategy and Outcomes, commit the University to increase the diversity of our staff, including at senior grades, in leadership roles and on key decision-making bodies.

This guidance is intended to support you to create a recruitment strategy that attracts and fairly considers a talented, diverse pool of candidates. It should be used to inform your reflection and decision-making so that you can recognise how and where biases and inequalities can arise, and take steps to mitigate these.

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This guidance should be used alongside the University’s wider recruitment guidance which includes policies, training courses and practical information. This guidance will be revisited and revised, informed by the experience and reflections of those working to diversify staff recruitment at the University. We encourage and welcome feedback via email to equalitydiversity@ed.ac.uk.

First Steps

Steps to take at the start of your recruitment journey:

Consider the diversity of your department/area and identify any underrepresentation, based on clear evidence. A good place to start would be the EDI Data Dashboards, but more granular data would be available on request via HR Helpline 

Include your staff in the recruitment exercise.  This can help to grow the understanding and confidence of your staff in the recruitment process, may help to grow your pool of internal candidates in the future, and will enable you to draw on your staff’s expertise and networks as appropriate. Communicating to your staff throughout the process enables you to promote the transparency and integrity of your recruitment strategy by demonstrating that: 

  • diversity and inclusion have been considered  
  • decisions have been reached fairly 
  • bias has been mitigated.

Positive Action vs Positive Discrimination

Make sure all those involved in recruitment understand the difference between lawful positive action and unlawful positive discrimination.  

Positive action is lawful in recruitment and can include:  

  • actively seeking candidates from underrepresented groups and encouraging them to apply 
  • setting diversity targets and challenging yourself to achieve these;  
  • taking forward candidates from disproportionately underrepresented groups over other candidates who have scored the same. 

Positive discrimination is unlawful in recruitment and would include:  

  • appointing an unqualified or less qualified candidate solely because they have a protected (equality) characteristic;  
  • setting quotas (versus setting targets) for appointment of candidates with particular protected characteristics.  

Job descriptions 

Reflect on whether particular educational qualifications and/or experience in a similar role are truly necessary for the job.  These can exclude certain groups, such as those underrepresented/disadvantaged in (higher) education or in a particular role/sector/area, as well as those who have taken career breaks.  Consider whether the ‘essential skills’ required for the job can ‘be evidenced in different ways, and reflect if these are ‘essential’ or ‘desirable’.  

Demonstrate the University’s commitment to EDI and the expectation that staff will contribute to EDI goals and uphold our Values, and how these are reflected in the essential or desirable criteria, as appropriate to the role.

All Senior Leadership roles (G10+) should have explicit criteria on EDI.  

Job Advertising 

Be mindful that the words we use in job adverts can encourage some applicants and discourage others. Consider using a tool, such as this Bias Decoder, to identify words that may impact negatively on the diversity of your applicant pool.   

Consider the platforms and the professional and social networks that are available to you and how you can use these to reach diverse audiences.  

  • Include a diverse range of staff in creating the plan for advertising and ask them to promote the job opportunity through their own networks.  
  • Make use of social media features such as tagging and hashtags to highlight opportunities that may be attractive to underrepresented groups such as hybrid working, mentoring and development programmes 
  • Ask other UoE social media accounts and communities to share the role. such as (local) EDI Committees Staff Networks, and knowledge networks  

Consider including a statement in your job advert to encourage applications from underrepresented groups. You may wish to engage a recruitment and/or media agency to reach diverse audiences.  

Example inclusion statements include:

We welcome applications from all qualified candidates, and wish to particularly encourage applications from women and from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates, who are underrepresented at this level

We encourage applications from all candidates, particularly disabled people and people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, as we acknowledge they are currently underrepresented in our area


Creating your Panel

Training 

All panel members should have completed the training modules: 

It is also recommended that panel members complete the module: 

Creating a Diverse Panel

Having a diverse representation of staff on the panel promotes inclusivity, will support a diverse candidate pool and should enable a fair and inclusive decision-making process.  You may wish to consider including more junior colleagues on the panel to improve diversity and inclusivity, and/or colleagues from other departments. 

One panel member should be appointed as EDI Champion, to pay keen and close attention to potential bias in the selection process.  

For academic research recruitment, ensure that the panel members are mindful of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA). Panellists must be aware that bias is deeply ingrained in research metrics, and should avoid using journal and funding-based metrics as a proxy measure of the value and quality of individual research.

All panel members should remain alert to instances of bias and be prepared to challenge each other. Remember - it is often easier to spot bias in others than in ourselves.

Shortlisting

As a panel member, you should have a clear understanding of the assessment criteria and how to complete the scoring record used to evaluate applications, noting evidence-based comments for panel discussion.

Work independently and give yourself adequate time, focus and comfort. When we are under pressure, tired, distracted and even hungry, the likelihood of making biased decisions increases.

Be aware of your thought processes. Are you starting with a feeling, assumption or decision and then seeking evidence to support it and/or overlooking information that contradicts it? Are you favouring any experience of studying and working at particular institutions or publishing in particular journals? Have you allowed a single strength or weakness, or your impression of a candidate to influence your ratings across all criteria? Are you confident that your scoring is based solely on comparison with the assessment criteria and not by comparison with other candidatesInt?

Be prepared to justify the conclusions you have reached to progress or reject candidates. In shortlisting discussions, articulate aloud how you reached your decision to reject or progress each candidate. This helps to reduce bias by providing a greater sense of accountability. Challenge constructively by asking each other for specific examples to support a decision and keep secure records of your scoring and decision-making for 6 months before destroying them.

Interviewing

This section focuses on standard interviewing. Where there are elements to the selection process in addition to interview, consider the purpose, weighting and assessment criteria for each element. Where the wider staff community is involved in specific elements, such as candidate presentations and tasks, be clear about if and how you will use their feedback.

Prepare all interviewers to be objective, to assess against clear criteria, and to challenge their own and each other’s biases.  Think about how you can create an interview which is inclusive and supportive of people’s different needs. All applicants invited to interview should be given details of the interview format and setting, and asked if they require any reasonable adjustments to accommodate disability or any other adjustments to ensure candidates feel welcomed, safe and able to do their best.

Consider what it is that you want to assess, and the most appropriate way to assess this. You may wish to enable a richer and more considered discussion by providing candidates with an overview of the interview questions in advance. Disabled candidates may request the exact questions in advance, which is often a very reasonable adjustment to the selection process, and you should aim to provide these at least 24 hours in advance. In such cases, you may also wish to provide the other candidates with an outline of the questions.

Interviews should have a consistent structure and timings, with the same questions asked of all applicants. Exceptions may be made to accommodate any reasonable adjustments.

Ensure that all candidates receive the same level of positive encouragement and support to enable them to demonstrate their knowledge and skills – for example asking probing questions should a candidate not fully answer a question.

Panellists should use plain English wherever possible and avoid abstract and/or unclear language. All candidates should expect to easily understand the questions by asking concise questions rather than long questions with multiple parts.

Be conscious of your thought processes, asking yourself the same questions as you did during shortlisting – this can be more challenging as now a person is involved. You should consider including an EDI-related question for candidates such as “If you were successful, how would you embed EDI in your work and in your behaviours?”. You should aim to ask candidates for all senior leadership roles how they would contribute to the University’s EDI goals.

After each interview, panellists should have a period of quiet reflection to record their scores and comments individually. Avoid influencing the scores and comments of one another. Be prepared to justify each decision to advance or eliminate a candidate. Keep secure records of your scoring and decision-making for 6 months before destroying.

Deciding on the right candidate

Consider whether it is really necessary to take up references prior to final pre-offer checks. If it is necessary, be aware that gender and racial bias in references is well-evidenced, and take great care to separate facts from value judgements.

Sufficient time should be built into the recruitment schedule to allow panellists to discuss, in full, the scoring of each candidate. In decision-making discussions, all panellists should have equal time to share their evidence-based assessment of each candidate’s strengths and weaknesses in relation to each of the criteria. Within this dynamic, it is important that there is not a ‘rush to consensus’ or attempts to influence/cajole others into following the consensus. Your scores and comments do not need to align, so long as they are evidenced in your notes and are objective. Panellists should be prepared and encouraged to openly share their own views, and to constructively challenge colleagues when there is a lack of evidence to support assertions. You must also be prepared to be challenged as well as challenge others. 

All panellists should be made aware that, as at any stage of the selection process, it is permissible in law to prioritise candidates from disproportionately underrepresented groups over other candidates of equal merit, this is known as ‘positive action’.

Giving meaningful feedback to unsuccessful candidates

Consider how you can give feedback to all unsuccessful applicants. Could you prioritise applicants from underrepresented groups for more detailed feedback to achieve recruitment success in the future? Be aware that different candidates may experience a lack of success quite differently. Internal and external candidates may warrant different levels of feedback and future support Reflect on if feedback is written or verbal. Ensure feedback is constructive so that candidates can reflect and improve.


Reflect on how you can improve the diversity of your network overall. Recruitment is only one of many interconnected elements of diversifying within your area, and improving other elements will both enhance, and be supported by, diversifying recruitment.

Consider how you can plan ahead for the future, enable a greater reach, stimulate potential and widen opportunities to engage underrepresented groups in the long term. This may include:

  • Nurturing diverse future candidates, for example through EmployED internships, or national mentoring schemes for your discipline/area of work. 
  • Connecting and engaging with diverse colleagues and peers at conferences and meetings, and inviting potential future colleagues on visits to the University.
  • Seeking out opportunities for public engagement and outreach with underrepresented groups.
  • Actively diversifying your research and teaching portfolio into areas in which underrepresented groups are working.

FAQ

Ideally your panel will have two to four colleagues who represent a diverse range of groups including but not limited to: 

  • Different age groups 
  • Cultural Backgrounds 
  • Career journeys 
  • Disabilities & Neurodivergence 
  • Ethnicities  
  • Genders 
  • Grades 
  • Roles 

You might find that some of your colleagues may already represent two or more of those groups (or others). If you are struggling to build a diverse panel, you may consider inviting colleagues from other departments where appropriate. There is no policy statement or formal condition on creating a ‘diverse panel’, we simply wish to strive towards panels that have a mix of characteristics and experiences where we can.  

More info on this can be found on page page 13 of the Designed Diversifying Recruitment Guidance.


We recommend having at least two people – but panels may range in size depending on the role, and there is no policy statement or condition on this. 

More info on this can be found on page page 13 of the Designed Diversifying Recruitment Guidance 


Please consider what this means in your local context, but wider considerations are also worth making, particularly within your field/area. You can use the EDI Dashboards as a way to explore the demographics of your department to start with and contact HR Helpline for more data if needed.  

If you have identified a group that you would particularly wish to attract, useful tips can be found on pages 9 and 10 of the Designed Guidance. 


Below are the two examples from page 10 of the Designed Guide: 

  1. “We welcome applications from all qualified candidates, and wish to particularly encourage applications from women and from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates, who are underrepresented at this level”  
  1. “We encourage applications from all candidates, particularly disabled people and people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, as we acknowledge they are currently underrepresented in our area” 

To ensure that this remains a positive action, rather than positive discrimination statement – you need to only ‘encourage applications’ and cannot make statements about the likelihood of success of applications or to state that “only X can apply”. 

More info on positive action vs discrimination can be found on page 6 of the Designed Diversifying Recruitment Guidance. 


Our current data privacy statements in relation to recruitment do not currently allow this. We are exploring options to adapt the statement to enable information for positive action recruitments under these specific circumstances. 


A statement such as the one below is common practice: 

‘Please inform us of any adjustments required when accepting the interview invitation.’  

If you’re not sure, it’s always worth asking the HR Partner for your area for some advice. More information on reasonable adjustments can be found on page 17 of the Designed Guide and in the Reasonable Adjustments Policy 


Unless you’re testing their ability to think on their feet, there is no real reason not to. Sharing questions in advance is reasonable as an adjustment for candidates that may need it. However, there is no harm in sharing questions, or question themes, with all candidates.  

More information can be found on page 17 of the Designed Guide.


We strongly recommend that questions be tailored for the role in question and avoid generic ‘EDI questions’ which are not specific to the role, department etc. Some examples which can be edited are below, but we’d also welcome any suggestions of questions that have worked well for you in the past. 

  • Leaders/Managers 
  1. “Tell us how you work with people to create and foster an inclusive team” 
  1.  “What are some examples of ways that you have incorporated diverse or underrepresented populations into your planning or decision-making?” 
  1. “Can you share an example of when you have applied risk management to an EDI-driven situation?” 
  • Academic roles 
  1. “How do you incorporate diverse perspectives into your curriculum and research?” 
  1. “Can you provide an example of how you have supported/engaged students from diverse backgrounds in your classes/lectures/program?” 
  1. “How do you ensure your research methodology is inclusive and considers diverse populations?” 
  • Professional Services roles 
  1. "How do you demonstrate your commitment to equality, diversity and inclusivity in the workplace? 
  1. “How do you ensure your deliverables/outputs (i.e. marketing campaigns) are inclusive and resonate with/ meet the needs of diverse audiences?” 
  1. “Can you discuss how you consider diversity and inclusion in your analyses and reporting?” 
  1. “Tell us how you work with people to create and foster an inclusive workplace” 
  1. “If you were successful in the role, how would you embed EDI into your work and behaviours?” 
  • Technical 
  1. “Describe your understanding of inclusion and why it is important to this position.” 
  1. “Can you describe a time when you had to address an EDI-related issue within your lab/office/ team?”  
  1. “What steps do you take to ensure an inclusive environment in the lab?” 

Interview Shadowing

By enabling colleagues to shadow interview panels for more senior roles, this initiative supports the University's commitment to grow our internal talent and diversify our staff...

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