​What role can recruitment play in creating a gender-balanced workforce throughout the life sciences industry?Kennedy Stewart, AVP - Strategic Client Advisor at EPM Scientific, shares her thoughts for International Women's Day 2020.
The 2020 International Women’s Day theme is that an equal world is an enabled world. What does that mean to you in life sciences?
To me a equal world is an enabled world where there are no limitations around the opportunity, authority and influence one has because of their gender. A place where all individuals receive equal treatment and their difficulties do not differ based on gender. In this world, we would live with less judgement and without gender stereotypes while working in companies with more diverse mindsets, a higher level of creativity and intellectual freedom due to individuals confidence and equality. I believe the result would be an improved work environment and bottom line.
What sort of conversations around gender equality do you have with clients and candidates in your sector?
It is often discussed in more roundabout ways on the candidate side. People are aware of dynamics and company culture regardless of it being conscious or subconscious. On the company side, it is a conversation that I see more common with large companies who are very aware of their diversity ratios.
What role can recruiters play in creating an equal world?
We can work with our clients to remove any conscious or unconscious bias by presenting strong candidates to be reviewed without any level of discrimination or profiling.
What advice would you give to a company trying to create a diverse hiring strategy?
I would recommend starting with your internal culture and employee development. Companies who empower everyone and treat their employees equal are naturally going to draw in a more diverse workforce. From there I would recommend training hiring teams and recruiter/talent acquisition team to be aware of conscious or unconscious biases (yes, most people still have them) that may effect their opinions. Emphasize the value that a diverse team brings to the table.
In her role as AVP Strategic Client Advisor for the Americas, Kennedy is accountable for managing accounts, developing clients, maximizing business opportunity and long term business relationships, with a focus on the Life Sciences sector. For advice on building a diverse hiring strategy, get in touch with the EPM Scientific team.
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EPM Scientific is a leading specialist recruitment agency for the Life Sciences industry. We were founded in 2012 to give companies and candidates peace of mind that the recruitment process is in experts hands. Today, we provide permanent, contract and multi-hire recruitment from our global hubs all over the world.