I joined Hays shortly after graduating from university 23 years ago, initially specialising in the recruitment of civil and structural engineering professionals. Since then, my career trajectory has taken on many HR disciplines. I spent a period of time working in training and development, and in my current role now work specifically on our equality, diversity and inclusion projects and have responsibility for our HR Shared Service Centre in Leicester.

I believe that recruitment is inherently a profession that provides fantastic career opportunities regardless of your background. When beginning an entry level role at Hays you are not required to have recruitment experience, and success can be achieved by anyone as long as they are prepared to work hard and keep learning. This is also reinforced by a world-class brand as well as some of the best training in the industry.

Throughout my career, I have seen huge developments with regards to ED&I and the importance that’s assigned to it. Hays has made some big leaps in this regard, with our achievement of the National Equality Standard, one of the most prestigious accreditations for ED&I, an accomplishment that remains one of the highlights of my career so far. It is still a continuing journey, however, as the shape of our business changes, people progress and new people join.

So, with that in mind, here are three things we can all do to help cultivate a more balanced workplace where everyone feels empowered to succeed:

Throughout my career at Hays I have always felt as though I have had a champion: someone helping me to recognise my own strengths and potential. I am keen that those I work with have the same experience, and try to ensure that I’m taking the time to provide this support to those in my team. With remote working currently still in place for many of us and visibility of our colleagues somewhat reduced, it can be easy to overlook this, but it’s more important than ever to make it a priority.

Self-belief is critical to being able to progress your career and it is often challenged, but knowing that you have the support of fellow colleagues can help to reaffirm your confidence in your own ability and give you the conviction you need to take that crucial next step.

It’s important to accept that we all have bias. It helps us navigate everyday life, but not always positively. Challenging bias is as much our own responsibility as it is Hays’ to point us to resources to help us recognise it. Identifying our own biases means we can make more objective decisions that impact people and continue to build an inclusive workplace and generate a sense of belonging that is so important for sustained great performance.

Furthermore, it is important to acknowledge that achieving equity might not mean doing the same thing for everyone. Everyone should feel like they belong, and individual and combined characteristics such as race, class, gender and sexual orientation mean that the measures we undertake to achieve that feeling might be different for diverse communities.

At Hays we have recognised that changes must be put into place from the ground up and throughout the employee lifecycle in order to challenge perceived or actual barriers to progression. When hiring new staff, for example, practices such as inclusive recruitment, where the removal of all knowledge of someone’s background, age and education (where it is not essential for the role) limits preconceived notions that hiring decision makers may have. This means we are assessing people on the competency they demonstrate in our assessment process and not against invisible criteria that varies from person to person.

It’s important to remember that change does not happen overnight, and the cultural shift that is needed to ensure a truly diverse and inclusive workplace will take time, dedication and understanding. It’s a journey that I continue to be immensely proud of at Hays and look forward to seeing it progress further.

Find out more about the opportunities available and start your Hays story today.