Inclusion Starts With Recruiters

Joanne Lockwood is joined by Jo Major to explore how inclusion in the workplace is shaped long before someone starts a job—at the point of recruitment. They examine why DEI can become performative in hiring, and what it takes for recruiters and agencies to move from statements and checklists to practical, systemic change.

The conversation looks at the constraints recruiters face—speed metrics, contingent models, limited access to hiring managers—and how these pressures can undermine equitable hiring. Jo argues for broadening the recruiter’s role from “filling seats” to consultative talent partnership: auditing job descriptions and career pages, improving employer branding and EVP, rethinking shortlisting and assessment, and using technology and AI to free up time for the human parts of recruitment.

They also spend significant time on age bias and the growing challenge of experienced workers, particularly women, struggling to re-enter the workforce. Joanne and Jo discuss confidence, job-search wear and tear, the need for better candidate coaching, and more innovative pipeline approaches such as mature apprenticeships, alumni programmes, and community-based talent development—so recruitment can better reflect and serve the communities it hires for.