How Can Your Background Screening Process Help With Inclusive Hiring

How Can Your Background Screening Process Help With Inclusive Hiring

Diversity and inclusion are a must in business. Although this has not always been the overarching consensus, it is today and will likely remain that way for the foreseeable future. Studies show more and more businesses are making a concerted effort to make their workplace inviting for everyone, irrespective of race, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation. One of those studies comes from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), the second-largest professional services network in the world, where 87% of company executives said achieving or maintaining diversity and inclusion is a top priority. While it is beyond clear that diversity and inclusion are a must in business, instituting the two doesn’t always come easy.

How Your Background Screening Process Can Help With Inclusive Hiring

Background screenings can be exceedingly helpful for companies seeking to be more inclusive in their hiring. Along with reducing the risk of potential liabilities, background screenings allow for greater clarity and validation when it comes to hiring decisions. According to another one of many articles published by Forbes, companies that incorporate the following in their background screening process almost always reap the rewards of a more diverse and inclusive workforce:

Searching More Intentionally for Potential Hires

It’s not enough to merely announce to the world that you’re hiring if your goal is to have a more diverse and inclusive workforce. You must also be intentional about the candidates you would like to attract and ultimately join your organization. Sometimes, this requires reaching out to chief diversity officers with local colleges who can provide a list of viable candidates. It might also require advertising available job opportunities in religious, cultural, and ethnic publications that cater to a demographic of people you are interested in hiring.

Having a Diverse Management Team

According to Forbes, having a diverse management team is critical to attracting and hiring a diverse workforce. In one of the global media company’s studies, researchers found that job candidates are often more comfortable when interviewing with members of management who are part of a background or culture that resembles their own. Having a diverse management team involved in the background screening process makes this more likely. Of course, there are many other ways to leverage the background screening process to attract and hire more diverse employees and, as a byproduct of doing so, make your company more diverse and inclusive. But having a diverse management team and being intentional in your recruiting process are two of the most critical.

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