Avado believe in the power of progress through learning, and since launching their free ground-breaking digital skills programme, FastFutures, back in 2020, they’ve successfully delivered training to over 5000 young people. Designed to help people from underrepresented backgrounds learn key skills and find meaningful employment, FastFutures is equipped to drive diversity and inclusion in businesses that struggle to hire talent from a wide range of backgrounds.
Challenge
After tapping into a diverse talent pool, Avado needed to create an inclusive interview process that was capable of interviewing thousands of applicants over a 4-week period. In order to mitigate bias, avoid positive discrimination, and make the process more accessible for everyone, Avado turned to Trinnovo Consulting for support.
Solution
Trinnovo Consulting delivered bespoke training on diversity, equity, inclusion, and competency interviewing, which included implementing immersive learning techniques to challenge unconscious and implicit biases. The potential for bias was further reduced by creating a process that used blind CVs, telephone interviews, and a fair, objective scoring system. A structured, competency-based interview was created, and candidates were encouraged to use examples from any area of their life to give everyone the same opportunity to succeed irrelevant of their background.
Neutral language was used when creating the interview guides to remove any hidden biases. There was also a focus on inclusion, and technology was implemented to allow candidates to request any accommodations needed to attend the interview, enabling Avado to support a number of candidates who were either neurodivergent or identified as having a disability or learning difficulty.
Metrics
Of the 1000 learners that Avado offered a place on the programme to, the demographic breakdown was:
· 61% female
· 58% from minority ethnic backgrounds
· 55% from low-socio-economic backgrounds
· 10% from the LGBTQIA+ community
· 7% who identified as having a disability or a learning difficulty
All of the above were within 5% of the applications, which meant that the process achieved Avado's aims of removing bias, both conscious and unconscious, from the hiring process.
Testimonial
"Abi and her team were fantastic in their delivery of this project. The team provided great advice and were easy to work with, professional and prompt. Great data was shared with us, and there were regular meetings to provide project updates which meant that we had a good understanding of where the project was at. The team understood our needs well and delivered a successful project to a really high standard, it was a pleasure to work with Abi's team and I'd welcome the opportunity to work together again."
– Timothy Wilson, Founding Member of FastFutures and former Head of Talent Attraction at Avado.