UK 
United States
Recruiting a diverse slate of candidates to join the Board is crucial.
Directorpoint.com explains that all Board members will bring their own personal backgrounds and experiences to their position, while each individual mind is capable of offering unique ideas, solutions and strategies. And so, a diversity of thought should be a core priority for anyone headhunting Board-level executives.
However, Thismoney.co.uk reported that some of Britain’s biggest businesses have come under fire for failing to hire women in their Boardrooms.
Almost 70 firms, each of whom have just one woman or no women sitting on their Board, received letters from the Investment Association (IA) – a trade body which represents UK investment managers - criticising their lack of diversity.
They are calling on FTSE 350 companies to reveal how they plan to fix the problem and how they intend to reach targets of 33% of female directors by 2020.
Amigo and JD Sports were among those named and shamed in the IA’s list. TR Property Investment Trust, Millennium & Copthorne and Daejan Holdings were reported as having no female Board members at all.
“Companies must do more than take the tokenistic step of appointing just one woman to their board and consider that job done,” said Chris Cummings, who heads the IA.
“Companies must up their game and explain clearly how they are planning to meet the targets, or risk investor dissent.”
And with many employers stepping up their recruitment tactics, here are five ways to get more women hired into the C-Suit, according to LinkedIn.
Target women’s colleges and professional organisations to scout out high-performers
Create and implement referral programmes that specifically target women
Acquire female candidates for open leadership roles
Create programmes that train and retrain female career returners
Recruit internally: develop and nurture the existing talent that you have.
So, the key takeaway for recruiters is to ensure that female candidates are presented at all stages of the hiring process. Changes to recruitment procedures can squash gender disparity and encourage a more diverse gender balance at Board-level.
