Welcome to Back To Work Connect’s Reignite, Reskill & Recruit Audio Series. In this episode, Sarah Healy of Tools for Better is discussing simplifying the hiring process.
If you want to hire Returners, you can’t just say you’re “open to it.”
You have to design for it. This is where Back to Work Connect see so many organisations getting stuck. They genuinely want to be more inclusive. They want to access new talent pools. But their hiring process is still built for one very traditional, very linear career path.
We spend a lot of time looking at the hiring journey from the candidate’s perspective — and small changes make a big difference.
Things like:
• Creating structured returner programmes (like returnships) to rebuild confidence and bridge skills
• Being clear about support — mentorship, onboarding, training
• Simplifying job descriptions and actually welcoming non-linear careers
• Rethinking interviews — do panels really show you the best talent?
• Building diverse interview panels
• Offering flexibility and fair, equitable packages
None of this is radical, but it only works if everyone is aligned.
From leadership → to hiring managers → to interview panels → to recruiters.
Because if one part of the process is inclusive, but another part is full of bias or outdated thinking… you lose people.
And usually, you lose the exact people you’re trying to attract. That’s why this isn’t a quick fix, it’s an end-to-end shift.
And it’s exactly why we built our Returner Friendly Recruitment Training — to help organisations move beyond good intentions and actually embed this in how they hire.
Because Returner-Friendly hiring isn’t about adding steps, it’s about removing barriers.
Thank you for listening to Back To Work Connects Reignite, Reskill, and Recruit audio series. If you’d like to get more information, you can reach out to us at info@backtoworkconnect.ie.
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