Spotlight on… CSG Talent Supporting Female Talent Across the Globe

Celebrating International Women’s Day this year is important to us, not just due to the fact we work closely with so many of our clients on their D&I strategies, but we have also made a conscious effort to both focus on and improve our own diversity at CSG Talent over the last year. 

Like so many businesses within Recruitment and Executive Search, we recognise that a large proportion of our team is made up of men, so over the last year we have focussed our efforts to create a more diverse team. We have taken specific action to ensure gender-equality in opportunities for growth and development for our existing colleagues, and to attract new diverse talent to CSG. We have increased the number of women in our organisation and have worked hard to break the - conscious or unconscious - stigma around women in our male dominated environment. Despite our meritocratic career path and equal remuneration, women are still underrepresented at a senior level at CSG. Addressing these challenges will continue to be a big focus for us, and we are exploring ways we can do this effectively.

CSG also work closely with many leading organisations to improve their diversity and hiring great female talent for our clients is something we have focused on for a number of years. Many of the industries we operate in also have an underrepresentation of women at a senior level, so face similar problems and challenges.

We want to #BreakTheBias… so we take a look at some of the positive steps that have been made both for the clients we support and also some of the steps we have taken internally at CSG.

Supporting our Clients with a Diverse Hiring Strategy

Many of the clients we work in partnership with have set goals to improve their diversity and there is a pressing need for experienced and competent female talent across many of the industries we operate in. In 2019, 22% of placements made by CSG Talent were female, compared to 26% in 2021. While this is only a small increase, it’s still progress. A large proportion of the sectors we operate in are highly male dominated and we will continue to support those industries and organisations that, like us, strive to create a more gender-equal ennvironment.

Diversity and inclusion conversations are prominent across the globe. We discuss and promote goal setting with our clients to create a more diverse and inclusive culture and in many cases we work with them to ensure they develop a talent acquisition strategy that is future proofed for diversity.

Alex Wilkinson, Director of Global Mining highlights, “Diversity has been front and centre for many of our clients for some time. We often have discussions with clients about the importance of achieving diversity in their workforce and what it means to them as a business. There have been highly publicised gender diversity targets made by many mining companies to achieve a more gender balanced workforce.”

Our consultants across the business receive positive feedback from both clients and candidates in relation to D&I working with clients to champion female talent and place them in high level leadership roles:

“In a time where Diversity and Inclusion is a hot topic, I wanted to highlight my recent interaction working with CSG Talent. They are great executive recruiters who specialise in placing executive female leaders. Understanding the importance of diverse thought and not afraid to challenge the status quo.”

Diversity and Inclusion at CSG Talent

Our insights and stance on D&I and the collaborative relationships we have with our clients and candidates have increased our visibility and exposure across the market as champions of diversity. This is something we are incredibly proud of at CSG Talent. Our content is reaching far and wide, with recognition from platforms such as The Female Lead and our D&I ambassadors at CSG Talent are getting increased exposure on various platforms and events with attendee’s keen to hear our insights. Simon Gillibrand was a panellist on a global webinar with Edumine based on his strong involvement and passion with D&I specifically within mining and STEM related fields. Exploring Points of Resistance for Women in the Mining Industry.

We understand the need for more women role-models and leaders to look up to and aspire towards. That is why, within CSG, we set clear objectives to increase the number of women at a managerial and leadership level through encouraging new colleagues to enrol on our management development programme, and through attracting new talent to the organisation. Having a diverse group of employees and leadership team will allow us to grow and thrive as an organisation.

In 2021, we recruited 28 women across sales, operations, and support functions at CSG Talent. This is compared to 13 women hired in 2019, and nine throughout 2020. Our Senior Leadership and People teams are continually exploring ways to both attract and retain female talent. Recruiting this talent is essential to drive our business forward as we recognise a diverse team is critical to business success. We are reviewing our working processes, policies, and benefits packages to ensure we create a diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace. Hearing feedback from our team is vital in driving our diversity forward. We are carrying out internal surveys, focus groups and one to one sessions to ensure we take on board comments, ideas and opinions of all employees.

Olivia Durrant joined CSG in the summer of 2021. She was part of the recruitment academy and is now experiencing great success in Mining Technology recruitment.

“I’ve been fortunate to have two strong, influential female managers as part of my introduction and journey at CSG Talent. Having both Steph and Christina as mentors has been a great support and it’s really opened my eyes to the possibilities of becoming a female manager or leader myself later in my career.”

Susan Stanton, Principal Consultant in Global Consumer Recruitment also joined CSG in 2021 after taking a year out from her 20-year career in recruitment to spend time with her young children.

“Joining CSG Talent has allowed me to work part time hours to balance my life at home while also having the opportunity to continue building my career. This has been an incredible thing to be able to do and having the flexibility to progress while manage a busy household is really important to me.”

Our senior leadership team includes three prominent women within our organisation, Caroline Walker – Head of Marketing and Communications, Steph Rae – Head of Recruitment Academy and Rebecca Benson – Head of Operations. Through our management development programme and internal recruitment goals, we aim to continue to see an increased number of women not only on our SLT but across the business in other leadership and management roles.

Steph Rae, Head of Recruitment Academy, “Having worked in a less diverse business and leadership team prior to CSG Talent, it’s refreshing to work with such a diverse team. I’ve experienced both sides and I truly believe in the benefits of a diverse workplace and leadership team. Having a mix of personalities and approaches within a leadership team enhances the business and opens opportunities to both grow and evolve. Each person brings something different to the table and I’m excited to see what we can all achieve together in the coming years.”

Our D&I committee have goals in place to commit to learning and improving our processes as an organisation. This year we will focus on unconscious bias within the workplace, not only from a gender perspective, but all aspects of diversity. Our team will spend time defining and understanding what unconscious bias is and how bias is formed. Through this, we can establish the organisational impact and how we can bring about change within our organisation.

Caroline Walker, Head of Marketing & Communications, “We established a D&I committee early in 2021 as we recognised that whilst we were supporting clients globally with their D&I strategies, we weren’t necessarily doing enough internally to focus on ensuring we have a diverse team in place and a fully inclusive environment. Whilst further progress needs to be made, it is encouraging to see that we are already making improvements, from raising awareness, giving employees a voice, training and education, to reviewing internal policies and it has given people from across the business the chance to fully support this important focus. I’m looking forward to see the impact this will have."

At CSG Talent we recognise there is still a long way to go. As an organisation, we recognise the vital part we must play in championing female talent both inside and outside of CSG Talent.

We want to promote an open environment where all employees feel supported, valued and heard.

We will endeavour to ask the right questions, carry out research and listen to what our team and clients need from us, for all genders.

Working together, utilising our platform, and sharing our insights, we will contribute to a future without bias.

To explore further International Women's Day content from CSG Talent, click below:

Spotlight On... Working Mothers #BreakTheBias

Spotlight On... Males Championing Females #BreakTheBias