The majority of graduate employers actively promote diversity in their recruitment processes. The Equality Act 2010 makes illegal direct or indirect discrimination, harassment or victimisation on the grounds of race, which includes colour, nationality and ethnic or national origins.
Some organisations are holders of accreditations that show they value equality and diversity such as the National Equality Standard Award. Holders of this government backed accreditation, must demonstrate to independent assessors that they satisfy equality, diversity and inclusion criteria in their hiring and employment practices. There are other accreditations such as the Race Equality Charter for higher education employers.
Some organisations, e.g. the Civil Service and Tesco have targeted internship schemes open to students who are from diverse backgrounds.
Organisations often have Equality and Diversity centred values, it can be informative to take a look at their web site and LinkedIn pages to get a sense of how much focus the organisation actually has on these values.
The list below outlines a number of organisations with a positive approach to hiring and supporting a diverse workforce. The careers service Moodle page offers a more complete list.
Ethnic JobSite
This site provides a database of employers committed to fair and diverse recruitment as well as career tips.
Inclusive Graduates
“Inclusive Graduates, the not-for-profit arm of executive search firm Inclusive Boards, connects undergraduates and young professionals from underrepresented groups across the UK with outstanding employers. We identify these groups as: ethnic minorities, women, young people from low socio-economic groups and students from non-Russell Group universities.”
The Royal Society: Diversity in Science
“A project from the Royal Society interviewing scientists from a variety of educational and minority ethnic backgrounds. Scientists share how their backgrounds impacted their scientific careers.”
SEO London
“SEO London focuses on helping students from under represented and under-served communities to secure places on internship and graduate programmes in the UK.”
UPRising
“UpRising is a UK-wide youth leadership development organisation. Their mission is to open pathways for talented young people from diverse and under-represented backgrounds by equipping them with the knowledge, networks, skills, and confidence to fulfil their leadership potential.”
Pocc
"We exist to accelerate equality and equity, for culturally and ethnically diverse people in the creative industries and beyond. We do this through non-traditional ideas, creativity and activism."
The Other Box
"Through our training, consultancy and brand partnerships, we are the bridge to facilitating an honest conversation to better understand the importance and value of diversity and inclusion in the workplace."