Recruitment

Definition

The process of finding and hiring people to work in the same project as you.

Definition source: Cambridge Dictionary (n.d.). recruitment.

Stakes

part of: opacity, discrimination

related to: expertise, collaboration

If recruitment practices are not done thoughtfully, it will make it so that your team may lack expertise and/or diversity. Both of those are crucial in creating conscientious research.

Where does it occur in the lifecycle?

1 - Set up

• Write funding proposals

Questions to consider throughout your work

• Will your recruitment practices be inclusive?

Examples

• Dastin, Jeffrey. “Amazon Scraps Secret AI Recruiting Tool That Showed Bias against Women.” In Ethics of Data and Analytics, edited by Kirsten Martin. Auerbach Publications, 2022.

Good-better-best practices

Good	Better	Best
Ensure the hiring committee is diverse.	Ensure job vacancies will be accessible to a large group of people, by posting it on various websites and using mailing-lists.	Commit to developing knowledge on diversity, demonstrate leadership in this regard, and implement this knowledge into recruitment and managing practices.1
Use non-gendered and inclusive language in the job posting.2
Hire to fill up a gap of expertise and/or skill within your current team.

Resources

• Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (n.d.). Best practices in equity, diversity and inclusion in research practice and design. https://www.sshrc-crsh.gc.ca/funding-financement/nfrf-fnfr/edi-eng.aspx
• Canada Research Chairs. Creating an Equitable, Diverse and Inclusive Research Environment: A Best Practices Guide for Recruitment, Hiring and Retention. https://www.chairs-chaires.gc.ca/program-programme/equity-equite/best_practices-pratiques_examplaires-eng.aspx
• Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). A Guide to Inclusive Recruitment for Employers (2022). https://www.cipd.org/globalassets/media/knowledge/knowledge-hub/guides/2023-pdfs/inclusive-recruitment-employers-guide_tcm18-112787.pdf

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1. Adapted from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (n.d.), Best practices in equity, diversity and inclusion in research practice and design (Accessed 14 August 2025). ↩

2. Adapted from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (n.d.), Best practices in equity, diversity and inclusion in research practice and design (Accessed 14 August 2025). ↩