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Engagement and recruitment

This section will help you to recruit more diverse employees, extend opportunities to underrepresented groups, and engage them from an early stage. Our research highlighted that individuals from the Priority Groups who are currently working within the creative and cultural industries were often more aware of diversity initiatives than employers were - they pointed to the Arts Council, and the work of trade unions within the industry such as those in the Federation of Entertainment Unions. The following recommendations and suggestions offer an opportunity for employers to embed EDI within the engagement and recruitment processes, reflecting initiatives suggested during the research.

Build a plan or strategy to attract and recruit diverse talent

Creating a more diverse workforce aids how organisations serve their local community. There are many ways to recruit locally, such as advertising with the local job centre or researching local community organisations, centres and events to advertise job vacancies. Our research highlighted that while many employers turn to LinkedIn or specific creative industry job boards to advertise vacancies, those from the Priority Groups were most likely to look for work at their local job centre or through word of mouth.

Many specialist recruiters help organisations find talent from underrepresented groups and communities.  They can work to fulfil any EDI targets your organisation may have, and find talented people who may previously have struggled to get ahead in the industry because of systemic barriers.

Inc Arts champions the work that others have done to amplify talent across the sector. They have databases, networks and lists built by people underrepresented in the arts.

I recruited recently for an on-air team of three voice and writers. I would obviously go through my general network, but I also reached out to a specialist who helps to train people from BAME backgrounds. And I’ve now recruited three people through that contact, two of those had no experience at all, but we could see that they’ve got the aptitude and, with coaching and development, that they’re going to get there.
Employer in the creative and cultural industries, Ipsos interview

  • Creative Access is a leading diversity recruiter with a 6,000 strong network of talented candidates from underrepresented groups.
  • VisABLE is a talent agency which creates opportunities for actors, presenters and models with disabilities.
  • Searchlight is an agency with off-screen opportunities in the media and entertainment industry.
  • YAFTA is a diverse talent agency for actors.
  • Zebedee Talent is an agency specialising in diverse representation for actors and models.
  • When it comes to executive leadership, Create Blue Moon specialises in recruiting from underrepresented groups. 
  • MAMA Youth Project can connect you with media talent in many roles and levels of experience, from production roles to editorial and technical roles.
  • For diverse on-screen talent, a list of recognised talent agencies and organisations who represent a wide range of diverse presenters, experts and actors has been collated by Diversity.
  • Ethnic Job Site provides tools for measuring diversity in an evidence based capacity.

A lot of recruitment is left to agencies. This means an organisation loses some control of the process, and can lead to bias creeping into your recruitment. 

Normally, agencies are paid to fill vacancies and are not incentivised to search for promising talent from underrepresented groups. It’s also worth remembering that the new talent may not be on job boards or LinkedIn - they are more likely to present themselves and their creative work through social media channels. This is particularly the case for Gen Z talent. It is therefore worth making social media campaigns part of your accessible and inclusive recruitment methods.

"I think they need to look more into those communities, look and see who has the skill-set. I think they need to go into those communities and reach out to them through workshops, through advertising those communities, to give them opportunity."

Black man not working in the sector, Ipsos interview

Depending on your talent requirements, another way to diversify the way in which you attract talent is to get in touch with specific organisations and advertise through them, or ask if they are able to help you find the right person for your organisation in other ways. For example, if applicable to you, reach out to the British Bangladeshi Fashion Council or Disability Arts.

Larger organisations can take inspiration from schemes like those run by Somerset House, including their 12-month placement or Glyndebourne’s SWAP’ra. Think about creating your own innovative ways to support and grow talent from minoritised or underrepresented groups.

The British Blacklist is supported by large industry players such as Netflix, the BBC and Channel 4, and has compiled a database of Black creatives working in screen, stage, literature and sound jobs, representing a targeted way of discovering diverse talent.

THRIVE is a targeted creative programme that Futures Theatre ran from 2018 - 2022 for women most at risk of being marginalised due to poverty, abusive relationships, mental health and social isolation. In 2023 they began work on Thrive Amplified, a multi-stranded programme of creative workshops, mentoring and opportunities for marginalised women and non-binary people. It offers a broad range of activities and opportunities. Over the next three years, they will work with 180 participants in partnership with specialist grassroots organisations and local arts and cultural venues.

Find out more information about the previous iteration of Thrive and Thrive Amplified.

Follow inclusive recruitment best practices

One of the main ways your organisation can attract a broader range of talented people is to follow inclusive recruitment best practices. De-biasing your job advertisements will help you build your inclusive culture as people within your organisation will see that your hiring practices are designed to find the best people with the right skills for the job.
Our research found that Black women who were also immigrants reported experiencing xenophobia because of their accents. Many of the Pakistani and Bangladeshi women interviewed felt that employers looked unfavourably on their CVs. Research Interviewees also shared their desire for employers to have a better understanding of cultural reasons for CV gaps. 

Inclusive recruitment best practice for job adverts includes: 

  • Using inclusive language in your job advert;
  • Focusing on the skills and competencies needed for the job being advertised, (avoid making your ‘essentials’ list too long);
  • Considering whether academic achievements are necessary for the role before making them a requirement;
  • Avoiding jargon;
  • Stating salary, or a salary range;
  • Directing candidates to a named contact should they need to discuss any access requirements or request the advert in a different format;
  • Consider if you can offer the job on a flexible basis, part-time, or as part of a job share – if you can, say so;
  • Avoiding asking for several years’ experience in the same role, or asking for continuous employment - this discourages those with CV gaps, and for people looking to change careers and use transferable skills;
  • Promoting your organisation’s EDI policies and commitments;
  • Keeping roles open for the full application period and not closing them early;
  • Ensuring all job adverts adhere to these best practice principles.

Research within the Creative Access community has shown:

  1. An accessible, inclusive and achievable job description is one of the most influential factors for interns and entry-level candidates when considering applying for a role.
  2. Job ads featuring a salary or salary range shown attract 40% more applications - this article explains why: (https://creativeaccess.org.uk/latest/stating-the-salary ).

Gender-neutral language in job adverts can mitigate against bias towards a particular sex or social gender. Gender preferences can be conveyed subtly through words such as ‘competitive’, ‘leader’ and ‘dominate’ which tend to lead to fewer female applicants than using words such as ‘support’, ‘community’ and ‘interpersonal’. This Gender Decoder Tool can help you to ensure your job adverts are inclusive.

Now your job adverts are inclusive, it’s time to think about the other stages of the recruitment process.

Ensure you have:

  • Diverse and equitable hiring panels; 
  • Standardised competency-based interview questions with a focus on asking about skills;
  • Communicated procedures for offering and requesting reasonable adjustments;
  • Anonymous CV reviews, to avoid discrimination and make the hiring process more efficient. Remove irrelevant information (including names of educational institutions) from applications when reviewing candidates; 
  • Run inclusive recruitment workshops or training for all hiring managers. 

You may wish to consider using positive action in recruitment when a particular demographic is underrepresented in your organisation’s workforce. Positive action is about taking specific steps to improve equality in the workplace that either do, or may, advantage a particular underrepresented group.   There are numerous different ways to take actions that would be ‘positive action’, but it is important to be able to show that those steps are applicable for your organisation in particular. This resource from the Equality and Human Rights Commission contains some useful information on positive action, including its purpose and when it can be applied, and examples of how to use it. Additionally, you must know the difference between positive action, which is legal, and positive discrimination, which is not legal.

The Disability Confident Scheme is a free, voluntary, government programme that helps employers make the most of disabled people’s talents in the workplace. This We Are Unlimited article gives top tips for ensuring your recruitment practices are accessible.

It is important to recognise how intersectional characteristics impact on barriers and gaps to employment within the creative and cultural industries. According to the Creative Access Disability Survey Results, released in November 2022, people with disabilities reported experiencing prejudice around access to jobs or progression opportunities. This gap widened for people from BAME and lower socio-economic backgrounds. 

Attitude is Everything has launched the ‘Just Ask Campaign’ partnership with Independent Venue Week, which aims to ensure that all artists and their crew are given the chance to share access requirements ahead of a performance. The online ‘Just Ask Sessions’ are free to attend, and aim to help participants discover the best ways to support disabled artists. 

Open Access: how and why to network with disabled talent - Ally Castle, creative Diversity and Disability Lead at Channel 4, discusses the reasons behind networking differently with Caroline O'Neill from Deaf and  Disabled People in TV.

BBC’s Reframing Disability programme - The BBC’s 50:50 The Equality Project and Media Trust joined forces in 2020 to improve the representation of disabled contributors in the media through Reframing Disability.

Ensure all interns and staff are paid at least the London Living Wage (LLW)

The London Living Wage (LLW) is calculated independently from the National Living Wage (NLW) due to the higher cost of living within London. Paying below this puts workers and their families at risk of falling into poverty. Paying the LLW allows London workers to afford necessities and potentially save for the future. As a result of better wages, it is more likely that your organisation will be able to retain staff, especially when the LLW is combined with clear progression opportunities. This is especially relevant in the creative and cultural industries where the use of unpaid interns is a common practice.

Work with diverse intern or access partners

Working with diverse intern or access partners can help you find talented individuals at the start of their career journey and allow you to shape and develop their career trajectories, often with support from partner organisations.

Returner programmes may also be an effective way to engage, particularly with Priority Groups with caring responsibilities. These are formal schemes offered by employers to provide training and support to people who have taken time out of the workplace. They provide people who have taken career breaks the opportunity to refresh their skills and build professional networks. According to research by PwC, addressing the career break penalty could provide a £1.7 billion boost to our yearly economic output.

  • Creative Access gives people from communities underrepresented in the creative and cultural industries access to careers and progression opportunities.
  • Pact is committed to creating practical solutions to help independent organisations embed inclusion at the heart of their businesses. Each of their trainees undertakes a six-month placement with a production company, plus an in-house mentor, allowing them to develop their talents in a thriving business environment. 
  • We are Stripes brings together mid and senior-level creatives from ethnically diverse backgrounds and helps junior creatives to break into the industry with Stripes-supported internships (http://www.wearestripes.org.uk/).
  • This Creative Comeback UK Programme from Creative Equals is free to attend and open to up to 30 women, non-binary and gender non-conforming people, from across the UK who've previously worked as a creative in the advertising, marketing and design industry.

Engage with training and education providers to improve opportunities for underrepresented groups

There are multiple ways to create diverse and impactful recruitment pipelines, particularly through engagement with training and education providers. There are a number of ways to do this, including: 

  • Engage in outreach events at local schools or universities, with a focus on talking to underrepresented groups, such as:
    • Workshops for primary and secondary schools exploring the creative and cultural industries and what roles are available;
    • Join the ‘devices for all’ campaign from UK Interactive Entertainment (UKie) to donate old laptops and computers to schools;
    • Work with Doorstep Library to help instil a love of reading among London’s young children. 
  • With all of these, consider inviting parents along as well. Our research found that parental expectations about the industry had a significant impact on a young person’s enthusiasm for exploring a career in the creative and cultural industries.
  • Host a stand at university / school career fairs. This is a great way for new employees to gain more confidence in their role and the organisation as a whole, as well as inspiring young people to consider pursuing a career in an industry they may not have considered.
  • Host workshops which help students improve the skills they need to land the job they want, for example CV and cover letter writing, or interviewing skills.
  • Participate in and sponsor apprenticeship or other access schemes targeted at Priority Groups - ensure that these are adequately paid, and in line with London Living Wage (LLW).
  • Mentor young people or encourage your staff to mentor young people, providing them with time off to do so - representation is hugely important, particularly at a young age.

Use a contextual recruitment system to broaden access by taking into account your job candidate’s background

The Rare Contextual Recruitment System (CRS) has been designed to allow recruiters to understand the context in which a candidate has gained experience. It can help employers consider the skills of a broader and more diverse pool of applicants including some that may otherwise be overlooked. The CRS was thoroughly researched and designed over a period of more than two years in collaboration with top universities and global employers. It uses big data and candidates’ application responses to produce real-time contextual information on all the candidates, so that candidates with the most potential are not screened out.