Why Career Filter Bubbles are Damaging your Diversity Recruitment

Why Career Filter Bubbles are Damaging your Diversity Recruitment Charlie is a smart, creative, value-driven young person who is typical of many her age. She has no idea what she wants to do. Careers testing at school told her that gardening or being an entrepreneur could be the answer, and although these ideas were slightly appealing it was hard for her to see a pathway into those roles and expectations for her future were high. Instead, she decided to go into advertising â€" an idea informed and facilitated by her parents who were in the industry â€" and so after she graduated she worked in an agency for six months, but she felt no connection nor sense of purpose. She has since changed her career path completely and is still going through the process of figuring out what it is that she really wants to do. Career filter bubbles trap young people in roles that may not suit them It’s young people like Charlie that Lucy Griffiths, CEO of Sortyourfuture.com, says have been unwittingly trapped in a career filter bubble, where they fall into and sometimes stick with a role they or their family have knowledge of or access to, whether it suits them or not. This can result in high levels of anxiety, stress, and in some cases outright misery. Recent research by sociologist Sam Friedman on access to so-called ‘elite’ professions showed that if a child has a parent who is a doctor, they are 24 times more likely to take steps to become a doctor too, and although medicine showed the highest level of correlation this trend played out across multiple other professions. This raises questions about access to opportunity, insider knowledge, and whether following in the footsteps of those around you is a matter of nature or nurture. The OECD’s recent report, ‘Drawing the Future’ asked 7-11-year-olds to draw what they wanted to be; it showed that children’s perceptions about future roles can be formed very early on and that they can be heavily influenced by gender stereotyping socio-economic background, and culture. High attrition rates amongst young professionals signal a mismatch between career expectations and reality The problem doesn’t just impact individuals’ wellbeing and access to opportunity, it seriously impacts employers too. Poor productivity and engagement, high attrition, as well as repeated recruitment and training costs are all potential outcomes of this situation. These issues create an even greater potential problem for recruiters and employers for whom diversity is an increasingly high priority. High levels of attrition amongst young people are a major concern in some industries. In medicine, for example, 57.4% of Foundation Year 2 doctors did not enter higher-training posts and 9000 doctors quit the NHS entirely in 20174. On a wider scale, a recent report from Deloitte showed that 49% of millennials wanted to quit their current roles in the next two years a significant increase on the 2017 figure of 38%. These figures raise questions about whether our systems are funneling young people into roles for which they’re not well suited based on their background and connections rather than what’s best for them. Improving access starts at the front end of the recruitment process To help resolve this Lucy says employers may be missing a fundamental part of the diversity and inclusion puzzle. “Many are improving their recruitment and selection processes to ensure they don’t exclude diverse candidates at the selection phase, but we aren’t seeing the same level of focus on opening up access to information and opportunity in the pre-search research phase. “This is the fuzzy front end of career decision-making which can be heavily influenced by the social, cultural, and economic capital candidates have access to. This is complex for anyone recruiting, especially if potential candidates don’t know your organization or role exists. It can be incredibly difficult to engage and connect to a diverse range of talented young people, but it is hugely important that organizations take steps to do so as it’s in their interests to recruit those who are genuinely best suited to the roles they offer, rather than those who just have the easiest route into them.” She has this advice for organizations: Think like a marketer. Start with understanding a wide range of potential candidates before designing an employee brand and value proposition that will attract diverse groups, rather than those who may just drift into a particular role because they have access to it. Listen to your audience, where they are, what they do, what they’re interested in and the barriers they face â€" small and large. At its heart, it’s about engagement, and to engage you need to understand. Unless you have this early engagement, investing in improving access to the next steps in the recruitment and selection process may not have the expected effects. Map out the candidate journey. What are the stages a potential candidate goes through even before they apply? A useful model to use is ‘AIDA’ you need to develop strategies to achieve Awareness, Interest, Desire (to apply), and Action (completing an application). Think just as carefully about how you communicate at the early stages of the recruitment process as you do at the selection stage the language you use, the channels you use to promote your opportunities, and the way in which you express what you’re looking for can make the difference between a candidate feeling that this opportunity is ‘for them’ or not. It’s so easy to lose potential candidates before they even get to the application stage. About the author: Lucy Griffiths is Founder and Co-CEO of SortYourFuture.com. Lucy is a regular invited speaker and presenter at business and education conferences and workshops. Her 2016 TEDx talk “How Designers can Transform Education’ in which she describes how a poorly designed education system affected her mental health and her vision for a new approach to education design was described by Sir Ken Robinson as ‘moving’.  She is also a Board Trustee at the Royal Society of Arts and a member of the RSA’s Fellowship Council, with a remit to focus on Creative Learning and Development and, with Chris Thomas, is co-founder of WeAreLucky.org which publishes the Island Friends series of stories that they co-authored and the primary education system developed by the pair.

Why Women Need to Start Talking About Their Salary

Why Women Need to Start Talking About Their Salary Do you know how much your coworkers make? If you haven’t asked, you may think you know already. Yet studies have shown that people can only guess their coworker’s salaries half of the time. That means the person your department with similar experience to you could be making a lot more or less than you think.  If you avoid money topics at work because you feel talking about salary with your coworkers is taboo, you may miss out on some valuable information. Talking about money and sharing salaries allows you to compare the value of your work to others in the same company. This information can then be used to ensure you’re being compensated fairly. Even talking about salary negotiations and benefits with friends is an important way to stay on top of your professional development. The Money Conversation The stakes are even higher for female professionals. Women still only make about 79 cents to the dollar that a man makes. While society and hiring managers have a huge role to play in closing that wage gap, there is an important aspect of the money conversation most of us are missing: The conversation itself, in fact. 61% of women would rather talk about death than money, and only 30% ever ask for a raise compared to 41% of men. Due in part to their avoidance of investing, by the time they retire, women have a third less saved than men on average. Women’s avoidance of money and finance topics is due in huge part to how the way they were talked to growing up. Young girls are taught to budget more often than invest, and women are often portrayed in media as frivolous spenders. This creates a conditioned belief among women that money just isn’t their strong suit, so they’d be better off not bringing it up. We can’t control the messages that we read and the subtle biases that we encounter at work or in our everyday lives, but women can still make a difference by taking back the conversation around money. Here are some simple ways to incorporate money conversations in your own life, to make getting the pay you deserve easier than ever: Talk to Your Coworkers: Ask someone you feel comfortable with what they make, and if they’ve asked for a raise. It may be easier to begin with advice on asking for a raise, then bring the topic to comparing salaries. You have a right to be able to discuss salaries, so don’t let any work environment scare you off. Bring the Conversation into Your Life: Even when not at work, how you talk about money can make a difference. If you share finances with a partner, ensure you’re staying involved and informed about any decisions the two of you make. Question your impulse to avoid talking about money even in small situations, like if a cashier shortchanges you. Set Goals and Go After Them: Make yourself more aware of where you really want to be financially. Set long term goals like retiring with a certain amount, and short-term goals like paying off your car. Once you know what it will take to achieve the goals, do what you can to reach them â€" especially if this means asking for a raise. For more insights and advice on how to get the money conversation started, check out this infographic by Turbo.    Start talking about salary, its for your own benefit as well as other women!

Cupcakes go far at work

Cupcakes go far at work You need to be nice at work. This doesnt mean holding the door. Well, it does, but you need to do more than that. You need to do high-profile, from-the-heart niceness. People who are popular at work do better at work. Yes, its true, the popularity contest never ends. So why not try cupcakes? Wait. Stay with me here. Cupcakes are good because they are easy to make. You can leave them in a central location in the office, or even on your desk, and people can just pick one up. They will be impressed and touched that you cooked. (I use the recipe in Joy of Cooking and believe me, I am no cook.) Dont tell me about Dunkin Donuts or store-bought-popcorn. You need to bake. It shows you really care if you take the time to bake. And for most of you, it will shock your office and show a side of you that people dont usually see. The more you can show people that you are human and caring, the easier it will be to ask for major concessions. You might say, why not cake? Why not cookies? Cake is hard to transport and hard to dole out. And cookies are not as fun. You want people to think youre fun. People like fun. For you overachievers, heres a cheat sheet for cupcake decorating ideas. For you who think youre too cool for cupcakes, heres the cupcake blog, written by an editor of Penthouse Variations. For all of you who think cooking cupcakes is not in line with your workplace image, ask yourself: Why cultivate an image that cannot accommodate such a sweet and giving act?