The Recruitment Experiment Process

What we did.

In early 2024 we set out to recruit a new Insights and Comms Lead. It was a new role for us, a new opportunity for the company, but also an opportunity to experiment.

We had previously talked many times about how dehumanised and dehumanising recruitment practices usually are and we wanted to play about with what a human-centred recruitment process would look like.

We drew on our past recruitment experiments and built in a strong focus on giving candidates agency throughout the process.

Some things we experimented with include: 

• Building the job description (in our application pack) to be less around a specific model of what an ‘ideal’ candidate would look like and more around the qualities of a person who we think would thrive here. 

• Holding open Q&A sessions where potential candidates interviewed us about the company - and about ourselves and the role. 

• Not asking for CVs or the dreaded 'application form', instead creating space for candidates to show us what their version of doing this job would look like through activities.

• Building in a ‘stage 2’ activity that would give each candidate an insight into what working in the company might actually feel like. 

• Co-creating interview questions with candidates, with room for candidates to tell us what they wanted us to ask them about. 

• Trying to actively develop relationships with candidates and demonstrate care for their emotions and interest in their experiences of the process.  

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If you're interested in knowing more and you'd like to have a casual chat about this work we'd love to hear from you directly! Or, alternatively, If you're interested in exploring ideas like this as they are unfolding try our letters to our friends email community 🙂.