promotions, opportunities and meaningful support have been broken; their trust has been broken.  Historically marginalised people can experience incredible barriers to getting roles that they are overqualified for, let alone a role that recognises their potential and value and gives them the opportunity to thrive in their life, not just survive.  Giving everyone a genuine opportunity to apply for and succeed in a role that recognises their value is what true inclusion is all about.  So how do you actually lift representation in your organisation? Here are three approaches to lift representation in your organisation. Hold recruitment days and offer programs focused on representation As part of Microsoft’s push to increase diversity, they have developed a hiring process that actively seeks out people with a disability. They hold Ability Hiring events and train their people on inclusive recruitment.  NAB and Jesuit Social Services have been running the African Australian Inclusion Program since 2009. The program supports people to find paid work experience roles at NAB and to apply for internal roles at NAB or with other organisations at the end of the program.  While different, these two approaches work for two key reasons. Firstly, they reframe the mission and vision of the hiring manager and broader recruitment team. A recruitment program that is focused on increasing representation can force a shift from the hiring team in their beliefs and views on ‘good fit’ potential candidates.  Secondly, and most importantly, these approaches are designed to reduce barriers in the application process and actively seek out and support people from specific communities to apply.  This then brings us to… Give people genuine support In the community development space, we often refer to employment as a time of transition. Finding employment is a major transition in someone’s life.  Leaving people to navigate the recruitment process and pipeline alone is a failure to understand true inclusion and true inclusive recruitment.  When you give people genuine support you help build their trust. This increases their likelihood of applying for roles and staying in them. And if they don’t succeed in a bid for promotion or a new role, consider what support you can give them. How will you maintain their trust, retain them in their current role and show that you truly care? Get out of the building To ‘get out of the building’ means to understand consumers’ problems, needs and desires. It’s about getting out of your business and into the community to engage, connect and research.  Expecting people from historically marginalised and excluded groups to come to you is an unconscious misuse of power and privilege.  Genuine inclusion and inclusive leadership involve taking the time and investing the resources to go and meet the people you want to recruit.  This does not look like making assumptions on how community want to see and apply for roles, but actually listening and understanding what they want and need.  It’s about their voices and experiences leading the approach, not yours. This is true inclusion, this is true equity. To achieve inclusive outcomes, we must ensure our approach is inclusive.  So how do we gain that trust to have people share their voices and experiences and access engagement in our business? Get plugged into community through associations, events, forums, conferences, social media accounts, not-for-profit charity organisations and spaces.  Attending a conference for women of colour will give you insight into the barriers that women of colour experience in both applying for roles and receiving an offer. You will hear their voices and experiences, and from that you will be led by them as to what needs to change to create a more inclusive and equitable recruitment process. It all comes down to an authentic approach Reimagining and redesigning your recruitment process to be more inclusive is vitally important and should be understood as an organisational exercise in continuous improvement. Also, it’s simply the right thing to do.  The accessibility of recruitment software and application forms is an important component of inclusive recruitment, but really it all comes down to an authentic approach:  hold targeted recruitment events and days in partnership with not-for-profits and charity organisations;  give people genuine support at every step of the recruitment process; and be led by the voices of those who have been excluded. Hear from them and their lived experiences and redesign from that place.  Only then can you truly bring innovation to the inclusive recruitment process to make lasting and impactful change for your workplace culture and business.