Diversifying Group (formerly BAME Recruitment) were privileged to work with The Right Honourable Speaker John Bercow on the recruitment of the new Speaker’s Counsel to the legal team at the House of Commons.

Throughout this project, we worked exclusively with The House of Commons and John Bercow in the recruitment of the Speaker’s Counsel to Head up their legal team. Historically they had struggled to attract diverse candidates, particularly senior female talent, to the role. We investigated perceptions of the House of Commons ‘brand’ and role preconceptions within the external market in order to encourage a more diverse range of applicants and eliminate self-exclusionary and self-protection bias.

In partnership with the House of Commons, we employed our unique and authentic approach in the recruitment of this critical role. As a result of our dedicated campaign, our final shortlist consisted of five strong candidates: four female and one male from the LGBTQIA+ community. Furthermore, from the four women shortlisted, two identified from a minority ethnic background.

Diversifying Group were able to utilise our vast network of diverse candidates for this high-profile role which proved a valuable asset to the House of Commons in their initiative to be a more inclusive employer. We successfully hired a female Senior Executive from a minority ethnic background who recently took up this prestigious post.