Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Case Studies ❯ Joseph Rowntree Foundation
"We engaged B-Radical to help us plan and execute a recruitment campaign which would ensure the business connected with a wider pool of talent, including job seekers who had not worked in the philanthropy sector previously, as well as people from a diverse range of backgrounds and lived experience of the issues our organisation seeks to redress through its work.
B-Radical acted as a critical friend and ally throughout the planning, development, and implementation process, challenging our usual ways of thinking and working. They supported us to reimagine our typical approach to attracting and engaging with job seekers and helped us to really empathise with the challenges candidates from less traditional backgrounds might experience, advising us on how to make our engagement and marketing activities more meaningful, our application and assessment process fairer, and the candidate experience more inclusive for everyone.
A big part of their brief was to review our marketing tools. This included job descriptions, a notion site and advertisements. We received a thorough critique of the copy – including language and formatting – to ensure that we weren’t creating reasons for jobseekers from underrepresented groups to self-select out of the process we’d designed because we may have used gender biased language or listed criteria that was desirable but not essential. They also helped us to write our notion site, design compelling statements that clearly articulated our desire to meet candidates from out of sector – or who had lived experiences that would help us shape a programme of work designed to tackle poverty. They also helped us to think about how we could turn our commitment to diversity into tangible actions, ensuring accessibility for disabled job seekers by helping us to start the important conversation about reasonable adjustments and flexible working as soon as the roles went live.
The B-Radical team has proven highly skilled at crafting copy and content as well as carefully refined prose that effectively communicated JRF’s values, mission, and job opportunities to a wide range of candidates. Likewise, their attention to detail and commitment to understanding our specific needs has been invaluable in creating recruitment marketing materials that speak to our desired audience, and they employ and honest approach which was collaborative, consistently seeking our input and feedback to ensure that their solutions aligned with our organisational values and objectives.
As part of our commitment to ensuring equal access for all, we also purchased an engagement bundle that meant people from underrepresented groups could have a private and confidential conversation with B-Radical about the role and the strength of their application should they choose to apply. Those applicants deemed strong by the Radical team could then access a CV review service and receive help to shape their responses to application questions. Their team was also available to have discussions with applicants about their requirements for reasonable adjustments and flexible working.
B-Radical helped us to think critically about how we assessed candidates in a three-part interview process and provided advice around interview best practices to ensure we designed a process that would get the best out of every applicant, regardless of their background, and which would ensure an excellent experience for everyone. Finally, B-Radical helped to facilitate our ‘Open Hour’ which resulted in over 400 sign ups and attendance by a diverse range of candidates, 180 of which went on to apply for the two available jobs. At this event, Emma explained how B-Radical had supported our team to ensure the campaign and process was both inclusive and equitable and the reasons why B-Radical endorsed our brand as an employer that turns their diversity rhetoric into meaningful action.
The outcome of this partnership has been illuminating. First and foremost, B-Radical’s support has resulted in a great deal of learning which we will apply in future recruitment campaigns. We have been amazed by not only the volume of applications received but the calibre of candidates that have applied. We also believe this to be our most diverse recruitment drive yet and were delighted to receive so many applications from people who trusted us enough to talk about their lived experience of disability; of racism; of poverty; and judge these experiences as strengths rather than experiences to be ashamed of.
We can’t praise the work and efforts of the B-Radical team enough, and would recommend them to any organisation looking to truly diversify their talent pool through inclusive recruitment practices."