OK, so I am about to go into a meeting with this client, Alex. They've been using our agency for years, but this is my first time meeting them in person. I took over managing the account from a colleague who went off on maternity leave. I've spoken to them on the phone a few times, but I wanted to talk to them face to face as I've just been on an inclusion course. And it's clear there are a few things they're doing which are putting up barriers to diversity. Well, as a good recruiter, I want to make sure that I'm working with inclusive clients that enhance my brand, that my candidates aren't being discriminated against even if it is unintentional and that my life's a bit easier by having job descriptions which are a bit more flexible. I've not had conversations like this before, but on my inclusion course, the inclusion expert said it's really important to talk about stuff like this. So I'm just gonna go in there and tell them what they need to change. Alex. Thank you for agreeing to meet with me. Now, I'm gonna get straight to the point as this is actually something that's really important to me. Your job descriptions and person specifications are not best practice and are putting up unnecessary barriers to diversity. So I wanted to go through, show you where the problems are and make suggestions about how you can improve them as a recruiter. I take pride in protecting my candidates from discrimination. I wasn't aware that we were discriminating. Nobody's ever said anything before. In fact, when I joined the company three years ago, I actually went through all the job descriptions and person specifications and they were really awful and outdated. And now you're telling me I've done something wrong. It would probably just be quicker and easier if I go through and show you where the problems are and then tell you where you've been going wrong. How serious is this? Are we talking about risk of tribunal? Have people been talking badly about our brand? I had no idea. Well, this first one, for example, you ask for a 2:1 degree from a reputable university. Well, there's a couple of things wrong with that. Firstly, what do you actually mean by reputable? There's an implication, you could mean a well known UK university like Oxbridge or Bristol or Durham, which could be implied indirect race discrimination. Secondly, why do you need a 2:1 degree. In August 2022, PWC said graduates don't need a 2:1 degree to work at the firm as accepting applications with a 2:2 would help increase the socio-economic diversity of the workforce, as students from diverse backgrounds have other things that can influence their results. But also, a chief exec from Robert Walters said, when clients ask for a 2:1 degree from a red brick university, it's actually a pretty snobby thing to do. I'm sure you don't want to be coming across as snobby. Sorry. Can we just stop for a minute? I think you're being a little unfair here. If you think we're such a bad company, then perhaps you're not the best person to recruit for us.
