Opening Doors

Opening Doors Events Autumn/Winter 2025

For more information on Opening Doors, visit Opening Doors Hub or contact natalie.anderson@bitcni.org.uk.

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Opening Doors Key 3: Recruiting with Inclusive language | Wednesday 29 October 10:00 - 11:00 AM | Online

Perfect for HR professionals and hiring managers, this session provides actionable tips to make your job descriptions more inclusive and effective.

In this session, you will learn:

• The Power of Inclusive Language: Understand how word choice can impact perceptions and encourage applications from underrepresented groups.

• Structuring Job Descriptions for Clarity: Gain tips on outlining roles, responsibilities, and qualifications to ensure accessibility and transparency.

• Avoiding Unconscious Bias: Learn how to identify and eliminate biased language or requirements that may unintentionally exclude candidates.

• Highlighting Your Commitment to Inclusion: Discover how to showcase your organisation’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) values in job postings.

• Creating Accessibility: Get practical advice on ensuring job descriptions are accessible to individuals with disabilities, including formatting and readability tips.

This webinar is ideal for HR professionals and hiring managers from Opening Doors Signatory organisations looking to create job descriptions that resonate with candidates from all backgrounds and abilities.

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Actioning Inclusion: Cultures That Support Ethnic Diversity at Work | Wednesday 5 November 10:00 - 11:00 AM | Online

This interactive webinar will explore how behavioural science can be harnessed to design inclusive workplace cultures that support, attract, and retain ethnically diverse talent.

Research shows that humans will unconsciously assess whether we will succeed in an environment by whether we feel like we will belong or not. People will opt-out of environments where they feel like they won’t (or don’t) fit in.

This is why diversity without inclusion leads to what is known as ‘the revolving door’. People come into an organisation but leave quickly, and so organisations end up spending lots of resources identifying and recruiting diverse talent but fail to retain them.

Join us for a practical 45-minute webinar that will explore how behavioural science can help organisations build more inclusive cultures for ethnically diverse talent. We'll move beyond awareness to focus on small, evidence-based actions that lead to meaningful, lasting change. This session will explore:

• How behavioural science can uncover and disrupt bias

• Practical ways to design inclusive systems and behaviours

• Real-world examples of culture change in action

• Simple tools to apply in recruitment, progression, and everyday team dynamics

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Opening Doors Key 4: Focussing on essential skills over qualifications and experience | Wednesday 19 November | 10:00 - 11:00 AM | Online

Exclusively for Opening Doors signatories, join us for a workshop that redefines recruitment, by focussing job descriptions on the essential skills needed to succeed in the role rather than qualifications and years of experience.

Perfect for HR professionals and hiring managers from Opening Doors signatory organisations, this session provides actionable tips to make your job descriptions more inclusive and effective.

Gain insight on:

• The business case for skills-based hiring

• How to get started on creating skills-based job descriptions

• How to incorporate skills-based hiring into a recruitment strategy

• Examples of best practice

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Neurodivergence in Recruitment: inclusive approaches and shared learning | Wednesday 3 December 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM |A&L Goodbody\, 42-46 Fountain St, Belfast BT1 5EF

This in-person peer learning forum will bring together Opening Doors signatories and partners to explore practical, evidence-based approaches to attracting, assessing, and supporting neurodivergent candidates.

Delivered in partnership with NOW Group and Autism NI, this interactive session is ideal for Opening Doors signatories working towards building more accessible and equitable hiring practices with neurodivergent candidates in mind.

Attendees will leave with actionable strategies to take back to their organisations and have an opportunity to make connections with community partners committed to supporting neurodivergent talent to thrive in work. What we’ll cover:

• Rethinking website accessibility, job descriptions, assessments, and interview formats

• Making reasonable adjustments meaningful and effective

• Creating a supportive candidate experience

• Learning from real-world case studies and peer practice sharing

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Opening Doors Key 5: Prioritise Accessibility and Eliminate Bias | Wednesday 17 December 10:00 - 11:00 AM | Online

This session aims to provide actionable steps employers can take to ensure their application processes are accessible and will challenge implicit bias, in order to attract diverse talent effectively

Exclusively for Opening Doors signatories, join us for a transformative webinar that guides employers on creating fair, accessible, and inclusive recruitment strategies.

Learn how to:

• Ensure Accessibility: Adapt job postings, application processes, and interviews to accommodate diverse candidates, including those with disabilities.

• Identify and Eliminate Bias: Recognise and address unconscious bias in hiring decisions to foster a more equitable recruitment process.

• Promote Inclusivity: Build a recruitment strategy that attracts candidates from all backgrounds while showcasing your commitment to diversity and equity.

This session is ideal for employers within Opening Doors signatory organisations seeking to enhance their hiring practices and build diverse, high-performing teams.