Westpac Inclusion and Diversity Consultant Rachel Ranton offered five tips to other Australian Network on Disability members thinking about a targeted employment program:
- Gain executive buy-in and support.
- Say you’re going to do it and then figure out how. If you’re hesitant, put something out internally to gauge interest (an internal announcement to launch Tailored Talent at Westpac was one of the company’s top two most-read communications).
- Research your options and find a program that will work best for the needs of your organisation.
- Understand your organisation’s maturity in terms of access and inclusion and choose a partner that fits.
- Ensure there are people willing to commit across all areas of your business. Engage your workforce and allow them to have ownership.
As the Westpac Inclusion and Diversity Consultant, Rachel Ranton said the Tailored Talent program was an initiative ‘driven by our people’ to identify the unique strengths and capabilities of candidates that might otherwise have been missed. In consultation with Specialisterne, they decided on 12-month paid internships to start with, with the view to provide ongoing employment. Acknowledging some of the overarching business objectives of the program, she said:
‘We hadn’t been able to find the right talent through our traditional recruitment processes. We don’t want 1000 different programs with 1000 different approaches. We want to take what we learn and apply that across our broader recruitment practice.’
READ MORE on the Australian Network on Disability Website.