Graduate Recruiter’s Disability Café (GR’3)
Hosted by Royal Bank of Scotland
On 10 March 2011, MyPlus Consulting hosted more than 40 delegates for a Graduate Recruiter’s Disability Café focused on the need for a cohesive strategy in recruiting disabled talent.
Leading Business Strategy Coach Charles Kingsmill began by asking delegates to consider the question ‘Where do you want to go and how will you get there?’. As the Café went on, tables of delegates shared thoughts on their goals for the future and identified critical success factors to help review strategy as it developed. They also considered what might be holding them back from making dynamic progress on recruiting disabled individuals, either personally or within their organisations, how these barriers could be overcome and what help might be available. Key images of the inverted hierarchy pyramid and ‘Island B’, the island of the future, helped to focus thinking on how to achieve ambitious goals and gather support in the organisation along the way.
Matt Thomas, founder and Co-Chair of the Disability Network at Ernst and Young, spoke about EY’s journey over the last 5 years, from an initial staff survey revealing a trend for non-disclosure to a thriving Disability Network with high-level sponsorship and numerous members and contributors. He emphasised the pivotal role that endorsement by senior figures can play in motivating others and encouraged other delegates to seek out and build relationships with senior staff interested in disability.
Chris Jackson and Emily Bryant of RBS Graduate Recruitment shared their recent success with initiatives to recruit more women into investment banking and presented a compelling case for how learnings from across diversity can be applied to disability initiatives.
Expert facilitator Helen Chapman of Meeting Magic went on to cover the process by which the café would be facilitated, and the delegates were also introduced to Gaz Roberts of Thick Black Line who would be creating a graphic recording of all discussions and conversations.
Delegates complimented the atmosphere of openness and honesty fostered by the event, describing it as ‘a very refreshing and creative approach to discussing the issues’. One recruiter said ‘It’s comforting to have such openness- just to know that we aren’t the only ones who aren’t there yet’.
