Partnership is good news for the industry

Jo Faragher

There was one thing that struck me in particular about the recent announcement from the Association of Professional Staffing Companies’ new partnership with Women in Recruitment: a comment from chief executive Ann Swain.

She said: “If we can educate the professional recruitment sector to get its own house in order in relation to positive women aware practices and policies – then recruitment firms will be in a great position to advise their clients on related best practice.”

This is so true. Ever since the Davies Report was released in 2011, with the target of getting 25% of FTSE company board positions filled by women by this year, there has been a heightened awareness of the need for better gender diversity at the top of organisations, and a heck of a lot of ‘initiatives’.

Companies boasted about their female-friendly talent pipelines, their maternity returner bonuses, and succession targets for women, but – while these programmes were admirable – a lot of the time we could still only see white middle-age men presenting to shareholders and getting all the bonuses.

By “getting its own house in order”, as Swain puts it, recruiters can turn a mirror on themselves when it comes to senior-level hiring practices. Do executive search companies, for example, promote enough women to decision-making positions so they are able to offer their perspective when shortlists are being drawn up? Is it possible that with more female resourcers and search experts, there might be some potential for recruitment companies to see a bigger picture in terms of gender?

The new partnership will ensure there is training, professional development and networking opportunities for women in recruitment, as well as access to best practice toolkits. These should allow recruiters (of either gender) to be truly consultative with clients in terms of getting the best shortlist from the widest talent pool, instead of the ‘usual suspects’, which may have been the case historically.

Recruiters are often the first contact a candidate has with a company, and likewise an employer with potential candidates. As the key gateway in the hiring process, it makes sense to be as welcoming of all talent as possible, rather than blocking off half of your talent pool through lack of awareness or a reluctance to change.