Recruitment insights

Access the full recording of the 2021 Recruitment Insights event via the Family Violence Jobs Portal.(opens in a new window) Clips from the event are also included throughout this resource.

The video below describes the key recruitment challenges facing the sectors. These include supply challenges and burnout. It also suggests ways to promote your organisation and attract candidates.

The video below offers general advice about best practice approaches to recruitment including:

• tapping into careers days and universities
• building community connections
• job advertisements
• promoting your workplace.

Top recruitment tips

• Be proactive. Network with your local communities. Use social media, open days, career days and TAFE and university talks to attract jobseekers.
• Establish genuine connections. Work with Aboriginal¹ communities, disability advocacy groups and other community groups to build the diversity of your workforce.
• Tap into existing staff. Look for opportunities to upskill existing staff and then backfill their roles.
• Use personal stories. Add videos about what it’s like to work at your organisation or sector to your job ads. For example, use the videos in the Resources to support your recruitment and job ads(opens in a new window) section.
• Build a positive public image. Use your organisation’s website and communications to show your values and commitment to diversity.
• Create a talent pool. Make sure you give unsuccessful candidates feedback and add them to a pool for future opportunities.

References

1. Note, the term First Nations and Aboriginal are used interchangeably throughout this resource to refer to Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander individuals, families and communities.

Inclusive recruitment practices recognise the need for diversity in the workforce. They ensure all applicants have an equal chance to perform their best in the process. This includes applying an intersectional lens to remove barriers to employment. It supports fair and inclusive employment.

An organisation taking an intersectional approach should employ a diverse workforce, including people:

• with lived experience of family violence or sexual assault
• from the diverse communities the organisation serves, particularly marginalised communities.

There are already many resources and practices in the sectors that can help in building diverse, inclusive and culturally safe workplaces. This resource brings together some of these tools. It promotes knowledge sharing and continuous improvement.

Jobseekers from diverse backgrounds often face barriers in finding work. For example, the unemployment rate for Australians with a disability is 31 per cent higher than the average population.¹

A common barrier to building diversity in any workforce is bias. This means making judgements and assessments based on our:

• beliefs
• experiences
• cultural surroundings.

For example, studies show that people who speak English as their first language, or who have Anglo-Celtic names, are more likely to get an interview.^{1, 2}

Diverse workplaces:

• provide more accessible, inclusive and fair services
• are more efficient, more creative and better at problem solving
• are more resilient in economic and financial downturns^{1, 3}
• reflect the make-up of the Victorian population
• offer clients choices about who they access services from in an organisation
• provide an approach to staffing that resonates with diverse communities
• show a commitment to building relationships and partnerships with marginalised people, groups and communities.

References

1. Department of Premier and Cabinet and Centre for Ethical Leadership, University of Melbourne, Recruit smarter: report of findings(opens in a new window), Victorian Government website, 2018, p. 3, accessed 13 January 2023.

2. M Adamovic and A Leibbrandt, ‘Is there a class ceiling for ethnic minorities to enter leadership positions? Evidence from a field experiment with over 12,000 job applications, The Leadership Quarterly, 2023, 43(2): doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2022.101655(opens in a new window); Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching (QILT), 2022 Graduate Outcomes Survey(opens in a new window), QILT website, 2023, accessed 2 October 2023.

3. Deloitte and Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission, Waiter, is that inclusion in my soup?(opens in a new window), Deloitte, 2013, accessed 25 January 2023.

Before you start planning your recruitment, consider how you can make the process and your workplace culturally safe.

Ensuring a workplace is inclusive and culturally safe is everybody’s responsibility.

Cultural safety is ‘an environment which is safe for people; where there is no assault, challenge, or denial of their identity, of who they are and what they need. It is about shared respect, shared meaning, shared knowledge, and experience, of learning together with dignity, and truly listening’.¹

To improve cultural safety, work with people from diverse communities and with lived experience of family violence or sexual assault in paid advisory roles.

Make it clear that workers from diverse communities are equal to others in the organisation. They are not ‘tokenistic’ hires. They are qualified workers delivering valuable services to clients.

Complexities can arise when a worker from a diverse community already has relationships in the community they are working in. This is more common in small, rural or remote communities. As part of ensuring cultural safety, make sure you acknowledge, understand and support these workers.

Refer to the section on Recruiting First Nations people(opens in a new window) for more tips on cultural safety.

References

1. R Williams, ‘Cultural safety — what does it mean for our work practice?’, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 2008, 23(2): 213–214.

Signal your commitment

Inclusive recruitment starts before your candidate search begins. Jobseekers may look for signals on an organisation’s public platforms to decide if yours is an accessible and inclusive place to work. You can signal your commitment to diversity via:

• your website and communications – for example, in an inclusion statement, and by your values and strategic directions
• including an Acknowledgement of Country on your website
• having diversity in your leadership or promoting leadership opportunities for diverse candidates.

You might also consider having an affirmative action policy. Affirmative action policies seek to increase opportunities for people who are underrepresented in your organisation or from marginalised communities.

Determine your needs

It’s important to work out your organisational needs. Different activities may be needed depending on your aims. You might be trying to increase the overall diversity of your workforce to reflect the communities you support (called ‘workforce mutuality(opens in a new window)’). Or you could be specifically hiring a worker who has knowledge or expertise of a particular community. This might be for a ‘designated’ or ‘identified’ role(opens in a new window).

If you are hiring a person for a designated role, ensure you are clear in your position description about the specific skills and knowledge needed. This might include the cultural knowledge you are looking for as well as general practice skills.

Support workers from diverse communities

It is important to support staff by:

• having processes to ensure staff don’t take on extra emotional labour – for example, someone managing or suppressing emotions at work or pretending they aren’t bothered by discrimination, prejudice or stereotypes
• developing ethical guidelines to support staff in designated or identified roles to manage situations that may come up in the communities they work with
• providing regular supervision to check in with staff and to manage their work
• supporting people to balance their professional and personal responsibilities
• having a culturally safe workplace
• encouraging staff to take part in community activities as part of their role
• for First Nations staff, support to manage and alleviate the cultural load that they might carry.

More tips on recruiting for diversity are available throughout this resource.

Other resources

For practical tips on inclusive recruitment, refer to:

• the cohealth Inclusive recruitment guide(opens in a new window)
• VPSC’s Recruiting people with disability(opens in a new window) guide
• the Pride Inclusion Programs(opens in a new window) webpage – for tips on inclusive recruitment for LGBTIQA+ communities
• Refugee Council of Australia’s Employing refugees: information for employers(opens in a new window)
• Fair Work Ombudsman’s Employing young workers(opens in a new window) guide, which explains best practice approaches for employing young people.

Developing cultural safety

For First Nations¹ candidates, it’s important to ensure your workplace and recruitment practices are culturally safe.

The Department of Families, Fairness and Housing’s Cultural safety framework(opens in a new window) helps the department and mainstream health and community services strengthen their cultural safety. It does this through a process of continuous learning and practice improvement. Part 1 of the framework outlines the vision and principles underpinning cultural safety. It also describes the cultural safety continuum. Part 2 has a tool you can use to reflect on and improve cultural safety in your organisation.

Tips to improve cultural safety:

• Consider how you can build positive relationships with local First Nations groups and organisations. Reach out to your local Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation or other community groups. Building these connections can help improve your understanding of local contexts and cultural needs.
• Ensure your organisation has a Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP). For more information about developing a RAP, visit Reconciliation Australia.(opens in a new window)
• Set up an internal working group to ensure continuous quality improvement for cultural safety. Make sure you ask for client feedback to improve your practices.
• Put in place supports for First Nations staff that considers the extra cultural load they carry. This could include access to cultural supervision and cultural leave.
• Ensure staff get ongoing training opportunities to upskill and enable two-way learning.
• If you have a designated cultural support role, be clear about why you need this role. Ensure the role integrates with the rest of the organisation.
• Don’t automatically assign First Nations clients to First Nations staff without checking with both the client and worker.
• Ensure all staff take part in cultural safety training.

The video below has tips for recruiting First Nations workers.

Other resources

• Generation One’s Everybody’s Business: a handbook for indigenous employment(opens in a new window)
• VPSC’s Aboriginal cultural capability toolkit(opens in a new window)
• Australian Public Service Commission’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander recruitment guide

References

1. Note, the term First Nations and Aboriginal are used interchangeably throughout this resource to refer to Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander individuals, families and communities.

Lived experience in the workforce refers to people who work in the sector who either:

• have experienced, or are experiencing, family violence or sexual assault
• have experience of using the system, or
• have supported someone close to them directly affected by family violence or sexual assault.

Benefits of lived experience in the workplace

Lived experience is valuable, meaningful and a strength of the sector.

People with lived experience have unique perspectives and bring deep expertise about how to create a more inclusive system that can better respond to the needs of those accessing services.

Benefits for including lived experience in service delivery include:

• positive role models of people with lived experience who are on their recovery journeys
• finding and challenging barriers to accessing services
• positive benefits for clients through peer support (for example, through programs such as iHeal(opens in a new window), where recovery support workers have a lived experience of family violence and come from a range of backgrounds).

Types of roles

People with lived experience may be involved in different ways. For example, someone with lived experience:

• may be working as a practitioner, leader, executive, advisor, researcher, administrator, student or in many other roles (and either disclose or choose not to disclose their lived experience)
• may be hired specifically for a lived experience role
• may be consulted or involved in specific projects, training or upskilling, drawing on their lived experience. For example, this could involve:
  • running focus groups with clients to get feedback
  • staff training
  • helping to evaluate programs
  • one-off engagements such as guest speaking at conferences or events.

In any of these scenarios, it’s important to support people with lived experience through recruitment processes.

There are many people with lived experience working in the sector. People with lived experience may or may not choose to disclose this. Practitioners should feel safe and supported regardless of their choice to share their experience.

Setting up for success

To set up for success, organisational leaders and managers should:

• consider their own biases about lived experience and reflect on how they can overcome these
• create a commitment statement and display this publicly, saying that they value lived experience in the workplace
• acknowledge that there are lots of people with lived experience working in the sector and value lived experience expertise
• reflect on their own social context and power, and how this might be different for people with lived experience and intersecting identities, such as disability, cultural background, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation, and experiences like criminalisation and alcohol and drug use.

During recruitment

During recruitment processes you can:

• consider including people with lived experience on interview panels (informed by the nature of the role)
• signal your commitment to supporting people with lived experience in the workplace and communicate that lived experience is valued
• make sure applicants are aware that they don’t have to share personal details of their experience
• offer support if someone talks about their lived experience during the recruitment process and make appropriate referrals if needed
• if applicable to the role, ensure you call out the lived experience pathway available under the Mandatory minimum qualification policy(opens in a new window) for specialist family violence practitioners in your job ad. Refer to the Planning your recruitment(opens in a new window) section of this resource for information about what to include.

If a person does apply through the lived experience pathway, offer opportunities to discuss the pathway and available supports before an interview.

Give the applicant information about the nature of the work so they can consider the implications of getting involved. This might include details of the engagement, supports available and discussion of any risks and safety concerns.

You can give them a reflective questionnaire like the one below. These can help a person decide if they would like to proceed.

If you do want to include a person with lived experience on the interview panel, consider:

• how you can promote this opportunity with service users (for example, through an expression of interest)
• the person’s role on the panel and their level of participation
• whether you can make any adjustments to ensure the interview process is inclusive (for example, reviewing the questions with the panel member before the interview)
• what supports the person might need to take part.

If you are consulting or engaging with people with lived experience who are not directly employed by your organisation, ensure you:

• pay people for taking part, properly valuing their expertise
• let them know how their work has informed policies, programs and services
• provide resources and information in a timely manner so they understand what is needed from them. Pre- and debriefing can be helpful.

Supports in the workplace

Organisations should also consider how to support people with lived experience when they join the workplace, including:

• opportunities to upskill and support workers – this could involve career development and ongoing pathways to sustainable job opportunities
• providing workers with safety and support – for example, through supervision and referral to a Employee Assistance Program(opens in a new window) or other supports if needed
• considering the nature of their involvement in your organisation and what support may be needed. For example, if it’s a one-off engagement or public-facing work, this may need extra support.

For more tips on hiring people with lived experience, read Drummond Street's CLIK Guide: Building an intersectional lived experience workforce in the family violence and sexual assault sectors(opens in a new window)

Good planning can help you to set up a successful recruitment process.

Deciding the key selection criteria

Key selection criteria help assess applicants based on past behaviours and experiences.

To start, conduct a job analysis to work out:

• tasks involved in the job
• the capabilities, skills and attributes needed to perform the tasks.¹

The Family violence capability frameworks(opens in a new window) can help you understand the required knowledge, skills and capabilities for the position. This applies to family violence response (including roles working with men who use violence) and prevention roles. They may also be helpful for sexual assault roles. Note: the capability frameworks are currently being redeveloped.

Key selection criteria are based on the job analysis.

Tips for developing key selection criteria

• Try to focus only on what’s essential to the role. For example, ‘Driver’s licence required’ could refer to the ability to travel between worksites, meaning a licence may be useful but not essential.²
• Use clear language and avoid industry jargon.
• Avoid having too many key selection criteria. Five or six are usually enough.³
• Consider removing minimum years of experience or prior experience. This can encourage applicants from more varied backgrounds.⁴

A position description draws on the key selection criteria and job analysis to describe the role.

The advice outlined above draws on the Victorian Public Sector Commission’s Getting recruitment right(opens in a new window) resource and the State Services Authority’s Best practice recruitment and selection guide(opens in a new window).

To find position description templates, visit the Business Victoria website(opens in a new window).

References

1. Victorian Public Sector Commission, Getting recruitment right(opens in a new window), VPSC website, 2022, accessed 13 January 2023.

2. Australian Government, Writing job advertisements(opens in a new window), Job access website, 2022, accessed 13 January 2023.

3. State Services Authority, Best practice recruitment selection methodology and tools(opens in a new window), VPSC website, 2007, p. 25, accessed 13 January 2023.

4. G Lloyd, Three inclusive hiring tips to attract top talent(opens in a new window), HRM website, 2022, accessed 13 January 2023.

5. Australian Human Rights Commission, Attracting and recruiting people with disability to your organisation(opens in a new window), IncludeAbility website, 2021, accessed 13 January 2023.

Some roles in the family violence and sexual assault sectors have specific qualification requirements. It’s important to clearly communicate these to candidates. To encourage applications, make it clear that there could be several pathways into the sectors.

Practitioners in specialist sexual assault services have at least degree-level qualifications (or equivalent certification from nationally accredited providers) in a range of relevant fields. Examples include psychology, counselling, social work, family therapy, creative arts therapies, occupational therapy, and community mental health nursing.

Men’s behaviour change roles have specific skills, experience and qualifications outlined in the Men’s behaviour change minimum standards(opens in a new window).

Mandatory minimum qualifications for specialist family violence roles

Some family violence response roles require specialist skills and experience. Contact Safe and Equal(opens in a new window) for advice on whether your role is covered by this policy, or visit the mandatory minimum qualifications(opens in a new window) webpage.

It’s important to remember that qualifications are not the only way to enter roles covered by the policy. Great candidates with cultural expertise or work or lived experience may be able to fill the role and work towards meeting the policy over time.

The policy encourages diversity in the workforce. It recognises employers as the experts in deciding the right candidate for the role. It does not replace robust, inclusive and accessible recruitment practices. The policy also recognises that a Bachelor of Social Work is not the only qualification that delivers skills and knowledge for these roles.

For specialist family violence roles covered by mandatory minimum qualifications, include information about the policy in position descriptions and job ads. Frame them in a way that invites applicants to consider how they could use their existing skills and experience to enter the role.

This can save time in the recruitment process. It can also ensure applicants have all the information they need to decide if the role is right for them.

You can encourage applicants from diverse backgrounds by mentioning the cultural expertise and lived experience pathway available under the policy.

It also helps to emphasise the range of skills and experience that can contribute to an equivalent qualification. Offer examples beyond social work and include the pathway options in your ads.

You can also direct jobseekers to discuss the requirements with the hiring manager or seek out further information about the requirements on the Safe and Equal(opens in a new window) website.

The video below has advice about how to communicate the policy in your recruitment processes.

To get the mandatory minimum qualifications organisational toolkit, please email: recommendation209@dffh.vic.gov.au.

The video below has tips to consider when advertising jobs.

Writing job advertisements

Job ads are one of the most critical aspects of a recruitment campaign. It is often the first moment a jobseeker will consider whether the job and the organisation is right for them.

Tips for writing effective job advertisements

• Ensure the body of the job ad is concise, uses active language and short sentences.¹
• Refer to the motivations of jobseekers – for example, their values.
• To improve accessibility, try to keep all the information on the webpage and avoid using scanned PDFs. Make sure any images, icons or graphs in your job ads have descriptive text.²

References

1. G Lloyd, Three inclusive hiring tips to attract top talent(opens in a new window), HRM website, 2022, accessed 13 January 2023.

2. EL Diemar, 5 easy ways to create an accessible recruitment process(opens in a new window), HRM website, 2021, accessed 13 January 2023.

3. Department of Premier and Cabinet and Centre for Ethical Leadership, University of Melbourne, Recruit smarter: report of findings(opens in a new window), Victorian Government, 2018, p. 35, accessed 13 January 2023.

4. T O’Rourke, How to write the best possible job advert(opens in a new window), HAYS Canada website, 2021, accessed 13 January 2023.

Considering where and how you advertise is an important step. It can help ensure your job ad will reach a variety of candidates.

Using the Family Violence Jobs Portal

The Family Violence Jobs Portal(opens in a new window) is a free platform for accessing a talent pool for the family violence and sexual assault sectors.

Once you register on the portal, you can:

• post your vacancies for free and find the right person for your job
• sign in from anywhere to view applicants and shortlist talent
• share your job role via social media
• print a QR-coded job beacon poster to display at your organisation
• search résumés jobseekers have posted using the portal’s AirCV function.

For help with posting and managing jobs on the portal, visit the Employer guide(opens in a new window).

Advertise your jobs on the Family Violence Jobs Portal(opens in a new window)

Ways to reach jobseekers

To attract people from diverse backgrounds, consider where and how you advertise the job. Be proactive about finding candidates from diverse backgrounds. For example, you could advertise on job websites that aim to support diversity and inclusion such as:

• LGBTI Jobs(opens in a new window) – a job board dedicated to helping graduates and jobseekers connect with organisations actively engaged in LGBTIQA+ inclusion initiatives
• Toolzly(opens in a new window) – a job search site for people with disability.

Use settlement, multicultural or other relevant networks or newsletters in your region to promote positions.

Beyond advertising, build connections in your local community and with organisations that could help you connect with diverse candidates. For example, connect with jobseekers by:

• working with universities and TAFEs to offer placements or part-time work or take part in career expos or talks
• working with high schools to offer career talks to students about what it’s like to work in family violence
• working with other family violence or sexual assault organisations to offer secondments for staff who would like a change
• engaging with peak bodies and organisations that support diversity – for example, peak disability organisations or disability advocacy organisations in your community or by engaging with a Disability Employment Services provider.¹

References

1. Australian Human Rights Commission, Attracting and recruiting people with disability to your organisation(opens in a new window), IncludeAbility website, 2021, accessed 13 January 2023.

The video clip below provides insights into recruiting to rural and regional areas in Victoria.

This section has resources to support your recruitment processes. These resources were developed for the ‘So, what do you do?’(opens in a new window) attraction and recruitment campaign.

Animated videos

These animated videos on YouTube can be shared on your social media channels or in your recruitment communications.

These videos follow workers in the family violence, primary prevention and sexual assault sectors, explaining:

• what a typical day looks like in their role
• what motivates them
• why they love what they do.

Use them in your recruitment communications, including in job ads, or linked to position descriptions.

You can access all the videos individually via the YouTube links below. Each video is two to three minutes long. Thirty-second versions are available for advertising material and social media.

Career changes

• Are you thinking about a career change? What if your new job was supporting people affected by family violence?
• Are you thinking about a career change? What if your new job was helping to end family violence?
• Are you thinking about a career change? What if your new job was working with people who use family violence?
• Are you thinking about a career change? What if your new job was supporting people affected by sexual assault?
• <Name of organisation> is hiring. For more information about this role visit Family violence Jobs website(opens in a new window).

Graduate and students

• Thinking about what’s next after your studies? What if your new job was helping families affected by family violence?
• Thinking about what’s next after your studies? What if your new job was working in sexual assault?
• Thinking about what’s next after your studies? What if your new job was helping prevent family violence?
• Thinking about what’s next after your studies? What if your new job was working with people who use family violence?
• <Name of organisation> is hiring. For more information about this role visit Family violence Jobs website(opens in a new window).

Family violence and sexual assault workers

• Do you love working in family violence or sexual assault services but feel like a change?
• Discover the range of roles available across Victoria. Visit the jobs hub at Family violence Jobs website(opens in a new window).

Talk to us

• You are welcome to contact us if you have questions about the role, our organisation, how we support our staff, or how you could transfer your skills into this role.
• Contact <Name>, our <Position title>, at <email address and/or phone number> for a confidential chat.

These images are best for social media platforms. Use them with the sample posts below to add interest when sharing a job vacancy. Download the zip file below to access all images.

Additional social media sample posts

• ‘So, what do you do?’ It can be a tough question to answer, no matter how you interpret it.
• The family violence and sexual assault sectors needs culturally competent people in its workforce because it serves culturally diverse communities. If you have experience working with culturally diverse audiences including Aboriginal, disability and LGBTIQA+ people and communities, there a range of jobs in government, private and not-for-profit organisations in Victoria that could be right for you. Visit Family violence Jobs website(opens in a new window) to see what’s available.
• Victoria is investing to grow its family violence and sexual assault workforce. It needs people with lived experience of family violence [and/or sexual assault] who want to be part of a supportive team working to make positive change. Visit Family violence Jobs website(opens in a new window) to see the range of roles available.
• People with lived experience of family violence or sexual assault are a vital part of Victoria’s family violence and sexual assault workforce. If you’re looking for a career that’s meaningful, challenging and rewarding, visit Family violence Jobs website(opens in a new window) to see the range of roles available.

Social media hashtags and tags

• #SoWhatDoYouDo? OR #SoWhatsNext?
• #FamilyViolenceJobs OR #SexualAssaultJobs
• #EndFamilyViolence
• LinkedIn: familysafetyvictoria
• X (formerly Twitter): @FamilySafetyVic

Shortlisting applicants is an important step in the recruitment process. It decides which candidates make it to the next stage.

Top tips for shortlisting

• Use a standard application form and scoring procedure to assess whether applicants meet the key selection criteria.
• Consider candidates who show the potential to meet all key selection criteria through training.
• For those who are not successful, consider developing a talent pool (with the applicant’s permission) of those who may be suitable for another position.¹
• Ensure you communicate with unsuccessful candidates as soon as possible. This will increase the likelihood of them applying for future roles at your organisation.

Tackling bias

Research shows that we often make decisions on instinct before we are even aware of it. Unless we understand and account for our biases, we may make decisions about the candidate without realising. Removing bias in the shortlisting process will increase the likelihood that the pool of candidates will be a more diverse group.²

To tackle bias, de-identify applications by removing information that is not relevant to an applicant’s fitness for the role. This could include the applicant’s name, age and other personal details.² To do this, ask someone who is not on the interview panel to remove these details before you look at the applications.

References

1. State Services Authority, Best practice recruitment selection methodology and tools(opens in a new window), Victorian Public Sector Commission, 2007, p. 35, accessed 13 January 2023.

2. Department of Premier and Cabinet and Centre for Ethical Leadership, University of Melbourne, Recruit smarter: report of findings(opens in a new window), Victorian Government website, 2018, p. 12, accessed 13 January 2023.

Interviews are often the most daunting step of the application process. Some candidates, especially people from marginalised communities, may go in thinking they are at a disadvantage. A hiring risk is advertising and running interviews in a way that means only people who’ve done similar roles before will be successful.¹

Before the interview

Give candidates supporting information to prepare for their interview. This could include a copy of the interview questions. This may reduce nerves, increase confidence and maximise their ability to sell themselves.

Or, you could give them a response matrix that outlines how they should respond to interview questions and when they could be asked for more information.²

When arranging interviews or assessments, model inclusiveness:

• Ask all candidates if they need any reasonable adjustments and organise these. Clearly outline the steps in the process so candidates can assess if they will need support or adjustment at any stage.
• Let them know that the physical location of the interview is accessible.
• Ensure candidates can access any online platforms used or offer an alternative.³

Preparing the panel

• Use a diverse panel to conduct interviews. This could include people who reflect the communities the organisation serves and panel members from different areas of the organisation. A range of opinions and voices helps assess candidates more fairly and recognise diverse skills.
• Ensure panellists understand how bias can influence their decision making.² Brief the panel on the type of candidate you are looking for.

During the interview

• Take simple steps to ensure the interview is inclusive and culturally safe. For example, include an Acknowledgement of Country. Acknowledge victim survivors who may be there at the beginning of the interview.
• Limit questions to no more than six to eight.
• Align your questions to the selection criteria outlined in the position description. This will ensure candidates are more prepared.
• Ask the same questions of each candidate, and in the same order. This will ensure fairness.

Scoring and feedback

When scoring applicants:

• It’s important for each panel member to assess and score applicants on their own. Calculate all scores before discussing the candidates.
• Candidates perform differently in interviews, and their performance does not necessarily reflect their suitability for the role. Try to consider applications as a whole, including reference checks, and not just interview performance.²

Offer unsuccessful candidates feedback on their application. Giving feedback can encourage applicants to reapply for another role in the organisation. If there are too many applications to offer individual feedback, you can give applicants with a generic response that outlines common reasons why applications were unsuccessful. This can help the jobseeker to improve their application for next time.²

Many of the tips on this page are from the Recruit Smarter: report of findings(opens in a new window). Read the full report for more tips on inclusive recruitment.

References

1. G Lloyd, Three inclusive hiring tips to attract top talent(opens in a new window), HRM website, 2022, accessed 13 January 2023.

2. Department of Premier and Cabinet and Centre for Ethical Leadership, University of Melbourne, Recruit smarter: report of findings(opens in a new window), Victorian Government website, 2018, accessed 13 January 2023.

3. Australian Human Rights Commission, Attracting and recruiting people with disability to your organisation(opens in a new window), IncludeAbility website, 2021, accessed 13 January 2023.