One of our core values at La Fosse is humility. In a diversity context, this means recognising that in order to increase representation within recruitment, we first need to address diversity within our own business. We know there is always more to be done to create a workforce that is truly representative of the wider population, and believe strongly that diversity of experience, perspective, opinion and approach are all part of what makes us stronger as a team and better able to serve and care for our clients and candidates.
As part of our ongoing diversity programme, we are engaging in several initiatives which aim to improve diversity across the board by giving more opportunities to people from all backgrounds.
10,000 Black Interns
“The #10000BlackInterns programme will offer paid work experience across a wide range of sectors each year, providing critical training and development opportunities.”
Following the success of their #100BlackInterns pilot initiative within the investment management industry, the aim of this wider programme is to bring together over 20 different industries to provide a total of 10,000 internships over the next five years. The initiative has seen massive success so far, with over 700 companies (including over 60 recruitment firms) having signed up for 2022. The programme has already reached its target of securing 2,000 internships for their inaugural year, but you can still join the 2022 waiting list here.
We very much look forward to welcoming our interns when they join us next year!
King’s College London – Springboard & Advance Internships
“Springboard and Advance are our flagship internship schemes designed to promote social responsibility, equitable access to work opportunities, and assist you in diversifying your workforce.”
Springboard and Advance are two schemes run by King’s Internships that are designed to address the opportunity gap that exists between students who are from under-represented groups, and students who are not. Springboard is aimed towards providing increased opportunity for students from a range of underrepresented ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds, while Advance is focused on placing undergraduates with self-declared mental or physical disabilities and learning differences.
Our first King’s College Springboard interns will be joining us this summer (followed by Advance interns next year) and we very much looking forward to providing valuable work experience in partnership with this prestigious institution. Learn more about King’s Internships here– applications close soon so don’t delay!
Future programmes…
We are also taking part in a soon-to-be-launched initiative which aims to remove barriers to the recruitment of black recruiters and bring 500 more black recruiters into the industry by 2022. Watch this space!
What else are we doing to improve diversity within La Fosse?
La Fosse Academy
Academy is our coding academy that sets students on their path to a career within technology and helps our clients to hire high-quality, diverse junior talent into their teams. After a rigorous assessment process where we select the top 2% of applicants, we train students in full-stack development over the course of 13 weeks before deploying them into businesses on a two-year contract (after which time the client can choose to hire them permanently.)
Not only is our course free for students – enabling us to select based purely on ability rather than the ability to pay and therefore provide equal opportunities to students from all backgrounds – we also provide comprehensive support for both associates and their managers throughout their placement which covers areas such as progression plans, pastoral care and more
Learn more about La Fosse Academy here or get in touch with Claudia.Cohen@lafosse.com.
Anonymised CVs
As well as providing blind shortlists, conscious interviewing, equal pay advice and neutral role specification to clients, our consultants are trained in unconscious bias. These candidate selection methods are mirrored by our internal talent acquisition teams, as well as all CVs from prospective employees being anonymised for ethnicity, gender and university.
Diversity Steering Committee
Our Diversity Steering Committee are always looking for ways to improve representation within La Fosse, as well as ensuring we set a good example for the recruitment and technology industries with our practices. Read our full Diversity and Inclusion Statement of Intent document here to learn more about our internal mission.