Can placement year advertisements be more inclusive?

This workshop will enable placement practitioners working directly with employers or managing their own work experience schemes, who wish to increase diversity in applications, to explore research relevant to developing good practice in this area. This will include writing inclusive placement advertisements, evidence- based recommendations and an opportunity to share best practice with others working in this space. Previous experimental research comparing advertisements written/constructed in different ways has demonstrated that the specific wording employed in recruitment materials can impact on an applicants' perceived ‘fit’ with the role being advertised and their inclination to apply. A review of this literature informed the development of a framework that was used to critically analyse 90 year-long placement advertisements for features in the text shown to increase perceived fit/inclination to apply in frequently under-represented groups. This included analysing text for subtle gender bias, articulation of the challenges and/or opportunities of the advertised role and the way in which person requirements were expressed. Workshop activities will focus on discussion of findings in the context of practitioners developing their awareness of inclusive advertisements and sharing practical recommendations.