Carol Rosati OBE has recently joined The Chemistry Group as Champion of Diversity. She brings with her over 25 years of talent management experience and a passion for creating more inclusive workplaces.

Becky Norman, Deputy Editor, HRZone: Can you tell us a bit about your past roles and how your extensive talent management knowledge will be transferred into your new position?

Carol Rosati OBE, The Chemistry Group: I’ve been in recruitment for most of my career, initially as a temporaries controller, where it was critical to get the right people into the right role so that they could work as effectively and as quickly as possible.

When I later moved into search, the ethos was exactly the same – it was always important to ensure the capabilities of the individual were assessed fairly, alongside cultural fit.

For the first 20 years of my career I dealt predominantly with male CEOs and CFOs, but since creating global forum Inspire, I’ve been working to help senior business women achieve their goals and place more women into senior roles.

This has given me a unique insight into the fundamental differences in the way that men and women represent themselves. I take this experience and combine it with my knowledge of diversity and inclusion to help organisations create more inclusive workplaces and widen their talent pool.

I made the move to The Chemistry Group (Chemistry) because their mission is to give everyone the opportunity to be brilliant at work. This is music to my ears as it’s so closely aligned to the way I’ve always worked.

Becky Norman, Deputy Editor, HRZone: What most excites you about the role?

Carol Rosati OBE, The Chemistry Group: To be working with such talented, passionate people, who live and breathe what I do and believe in. At Chemistry, you’re encouraged to be yourself above all. Everyone at the company wants to share their knowledge, while continuing to learn and help each other.

Over the past 10 years, I have come into contact with so many inspirational people who are committed to levelling the playing field and creating more inclusive workplaces.

What the team is doing for our clients is transformational, unique and truly the future of recruitment.

As a seasoned recruiter, I wanted to be part of that because they really are leading the way in turning the process on its head.

Becky Norman, Deputy Editor, HRZone: How will you support Chemistry with its core mission to help brilliant people find brilliant work?

Carol Rosati OBE, The Chemistry Group: Coaching is part of my DNA and I will continue to offer that through the Chemical Connections network I’ll be helping to build, manage and grow.

On top of this, I will be helping the organisations we work with in the UK and US further integrate diversity into their recruitment processes. By helping companies to further their talent pools, more people will have the opportunity to be brilliant in the workplace.

I’ll also be spending a lot of my time working within organisations’ internal networks, either speaking at their events or running workshops as part of their development programmes, helping more of their people reach their full potential.

Becky Norman, Deputy Editor, HRZone: What key inclusivity and diversity activities do you plan to implement within the coming year?

Carol Rosati OBE, The Chemistry Group: Over the past 10 years, I have come into contact with so many inspirational people who are committed to levelling the playing field and creating more inclusive workplaces.

So in the coming months I’m planning to create an A-Z of inclusion – and because the diversity and inclusion space is so collaborative, I’ve already got lots of people wanting to contribute podcasts, articles and thought leadership.

I’ll also be hosting roundtables, where I’m sure everyone who attends will be as excited about Chemistry’s work as I was when I first heard about it. If anyone wants to get involved – let us know!

Becky Norman, Deputy Editor, HRZone: The business has already developed effective tools for tackling unconscious bias in the recruitment process. How will you continue to drive efforts in this area?

Carol Rosati OBE, The Chemistry Group: As you can imagine, this is an area I am particularly passionate about – as well as conscious bias in disguise!

I’ve been campaigning for improved gender diversity for such a long time and this plays a huge role in the process. It’s one of the things that attracted me to Chemistry, as I have long believed that until this is addressed in the recruitment process, businesses will struggle to achieve sustainable change.

Until organisations understand the need to create an inclusive culture first, they will never manage to retain the diversity they have fought so hard to attract.

I will continue to speak on the subject, write as often as possible, shout it from the rooftops, and feel proud that I work for an organisation that finally offers a solution to the problem.

Becky Norman, Deputy Editor, HRZone: Finally, what do you think HR needs to do next, that it’s not already doing, to help organisations work towards more diverse working environments?

Carol Rosati OBE, The Chemistry Group: Those working in HR will likely find it difficult to achieve greater diversity, unless it is sponsored by the leadership team, accepted and endorsed by the middle, and embraced by everyone. Only when they achieve that level of buy-in will they succeed.

I came to the realisation quite a long time ago that until organisations understand the need to create an inclusive culture first, they will never manage to retain the diversity they have fought so hard to attract.

If people feel excluded, they will leave – it’s as simple as that. Inclusion includes everyone by its very nature. It’s not threatening, so should be more readily accepted and embraced as a concept and reality by HR.

At Chemistry, we enable companies to understand what great looks like for them and give them the platform to assess the cultural fit of their applicants. This in turn improves their success rate and results in a much more balanced workforce because they are making richer, better informed business decisions, reflecting their client base.

And that’s why I joined Chemistry.