Rail Professional Magazine (October 2024) Article: Supporting Inclusive Talent Acquisition through Best Practice
We're excited to announce a new article in Rail Professional Magazine, presented by Jo Lawrence, sharing key insights and initiatives aiming to support inclusive talent acquisition. This piece provides helpful guidance for companies looking to enhance fairer and inclusive recruitment practices in the rail industry.
Jo highlights the importance of fair and bias-free hiring practices to ensure that candidates are assessed based on skills and competency alone, creating a truly diverse and inclusive workforce. By focusing on inclusivity, businesses can benefit from higher employee engagement, increased creativity, and stronger overall performance.
The article delves into the recruitment of safety-critical roles such as train drivers, where entry requirements focus on age rather than extensive qualifications or prior rail experience. This approach opens doors for a wide array of candidates and could demonstrate the power of fair recruitment processes.
Jo shared some best practices and how the OPC believes they can streamline recruitment processes while supporting inclusion and decision making. Examples of best practices from the article include:
Using Bespoke Online Pre-selection Tools
- Tools designed to assess candidates on job-related factors while eliminating bias
- Pre-selection tools can help maintain objectivity
- The OPC’s pre-selection tools can help predict success in later recruitment stages, E.g., assessment centres.
- An unbiased and swift shortlist can be created through OPC Assessment’s user-friendly testing platform, Candela™
Empowering Candidates Through Practice Materials
- The OPC recommends providing candidates with practice materials ahead of assessments
- The article shares research on the candidate benefits of using practice materials
- Candidates report feeling better-equipped, more at ease, and indicate enhanced overall process experience
Commitment to Inclusivity for Neurodivergent Candidates
- The OPC is committed to supporting Neurodivergent candidates
- They work closely with clients to help them establish fair, effective recruitment processes for neurodivergent applicants
- They promote best practices in the rail industry
- The OPC works closely with clients and candidates to provide tailored adjustments where appropriate
Preparing Candidates for Success: Workshops and Clinics
- Workshops can help explain the recruitment process, psychometric tests, and key competencies
- Candidates are also provided with valuable hands-on practice and feedback for improvers
- This can help ‘level the field’ by supporting candidates unfamiliar with testing or at a disadvantage
- The OPC have also run Drop-in clinics
- This enhanced preparation compliments written practice materials
The article also shares details about OPC Assessment’s range of psychometric tools and their extensive validation studies as well as why structured interviews are the gold standard in any recruitment process.
If you’d like to exploring more insights and these best practices in further detail, we encourage you to read the full article here.
If you think we can help you build a more streamlined and inclusive recruitment process, contact the friendly team at the OPC.