On 9 June 2025, during the University’s first in-person inclusive recruitment event, we took an important step by launching the Inclusive Recruitment Champions (IRC) initiative. This marked the beginning of a refreshed phase of our journey towards inclusive staff recruitment, building on our Super Recruiter programme, which has laid the groundwork for improving fairness, inclusion and diversity in recruitment across the University since its inception in 2021.

Shaped by an in-depth review and valuable insights from colleagues involved in recruitment and the Super Recruiter community, this new phase responds to a clear message: whilst awareness has grown, there is a need for more practical, structured support to embed inclusive practices in a consistent and sustainable way. The review also highlighted the importance of building a stronger sense of community among those involved, along with greater visibility and recognition for their contributions.

The IRC role continues the original ambition: to remove barriers in recruitment, increase accountability, and make inclusive hiring everyone’s responsibility. What’s new is the support now in place to help IRCs succeed, including a clearer role descriptor, enhanced training, and access to practical tools.

All recruitment processes must involve an Inclusive Recruitment Champion (IRC). We strongly recommend hiring managers engaging an IRC at the earliest stage of your recruitment, ideally when developing/reviewing the job description and planning. Early engagement ensures you receive support from the outset.

IRCs are volunteers from across our University who support inclusive recruitment in a wide range of ways, from advising on job adverts, to supporting fairer selection processes. To underpin this work, we’ve introduced a new training offer, refreshed our SharePoint site, and launched a dedicated Teams channel providing practical tools and guidance for IRCs. Updates to eRecruit will also improve data capture of the IRC involved.

Thank you to all who contributed to the shaping of this next phase, and to our IRCs for their commitment to making inclusive recruitment part of everyday practice.

The Talent and Resourcing team are currently contacting previous Super Recruiters to confirm whether they would like to continue as IRCs. Those who wish to stay involved will have until the end of October 2025 to complete the new 45 minute training session. If you have any questions, please email inclusiverecruitment@soton.ac.uk.