Sadly, it is too easy to not be inclusive when new recruits are brought into organisations from the same universities and “needlessly high” job requirements are imposed up and down the supply chain, said Paul Oatham, who chairs the Inclusive Recruitment Action Group under the auspices of the RAE’s Diversity & Inclusion Leadership Group (DILG).

“Doing something about it requires fundamental change,” Oatham said. At the same time, he continued: “Businesses are finally realising it’s not just the right thing to do, it’s the necessary thing to do.”

The inclusive recruitment group aims to increase inclusiveness within the engineering industry and profession. Its 2016-20 strategy for the inclusive recruitment group is to challenge the status quo, stimulate cultural change and improve diversity & inclusion within the sector. The group, launched late last year, has set a deadline of this December to do an initial report back to the larger group.

In addition to exploring potential measures, the 15-member inclusive recruitment group will examine recruitment approaches such as how suppliers, including recruitment agencies, are used and “how we ensure cultures within organisations are as welcoming as possible”, Oatham said. To those ends, the group will identify and develop examples of good practice and seek out examples outside the current group.

The event on Wednesday focused on recruiting highly skilled refugees into engineering companies. Not-for-profit agency Transitions, which specialises in identifying and placing such refugees, was among the organisations making presentations.