Top tips on recruitment and selection 

This section includes general information on employment law. If you have specific questions, you should seek legal advice from a lawyer or trade union.

The information in this section has been compiled for the Diversity Toolkit by the independent research organisation Incomes Data Services (IDS).

• Make sure your selection processes are fair, open and transparent.
• Think creatively about how you can attract a diverse pool of applicants, for example through special interest groups, or trade bodies and training organisations that have their own diversity policies.
• Recruiting by word of mouth can lead to discrimination, so take a more structured approach whenever possible.
• Assess each person against a person specification, not against the other candidates.
• If you have a candidate with a disability, make any adjustments they need at the interview to help them compete fairly.
• Always ask, rather than make assumptions, about the reasonable adjustments that a disabled person might require to do the job.
• Try not to hold interviews at times that will be difficult for people with family or other responsibilities.
• You can use positive action statements in your job advertisements to attract applicants from groups that are under-represented in your company.
• If you can accommodate flexible working patterns, promote the options to your employees and potential employees.
• Consider offering work placements to talented people that you can't recruit long-term (see DTI Work Experience Guidelines via the Skillset website for practical advice).
• Selecting a pool of potential work placement recruits at set times throughout the year will ease the application process and avoid the need to recruit at short notice.