Catalyst recruitment process

Catalyst worked with Collaborative Future to design an inclusive and transparent application process to make opportunities as accessible as possible and ensure a diverse range of people are able to demonstrate their skills and experience, both lived and learned.

We aim to create a transparent and mutually valuable experience. Reciprocity is one of Catalyst’s values. We want candidates to enjoy the process and learn something about themselves (and Catalyst) from it, which will be useful regardless of whether or not they get a job with us. Recruitment is also a chance for those of us in the hiring team to connect with and learn from new people, and about ourselves too. A voyage of discovery all round!

We:

post job details on Notion and advertise through social media, the newsletter and our networks to reach a wide and diverse audience, ensuring that people from various backgrounds and communities are informed about the opportunity. We always #ShowTheSalary.
post questions about the role and our answers to these questions on Notion to share knowledge with all applicants, ensuring everyone has access to the same information.
take a CV-less approach by asking three questions via a form (with option to submit via email) because we want to encourage everyone to apply if they think they can contribute to our team, regardless of previous job experiences.
carefully consider who is on the recruitment panel, considering what signals this sends to candidates and how we can ensure a balance of perspectives and experience.
do not view names when shortlisting to promote a bias-free evaluation process, focusing solely on the skills and experiences relevant to the role.
identify the biases that we are likely to bring into the process, so that we are aware of how our biases may unfairly impact our decisions, and then in interviews write down things that trigger or resonate with us alongside our scores, to discuss at the panel meeting.
use Google Sheet templates for shortlisting and interviews to maintain a consistent and transparent evaluation process, ensuring all candidates are assessed fairly and equitably.
invite shortlisted candidates to complete a task in advance of the interview, to give people the opportunity to show their strengths in another way, in addition to answering questions in an interview setting.
share interview questions in advance to level the playing field for all applicants, allowing them to prepare thoroughly and present their best selves during the interview, accommodating different working styles and neurotypes.
pay £150 to all shortlisted candidates, based on them spending no more than three hours to prepare the task, as a gesture of respect for their time and effort, acknowledging the value of their contribution to the selection process.
assess how interview responses align with Catalyst values to ensure that candidates not only have the necessary skills but also share our organisational ethos and commitment to our mission.
allow time between interviews and the decision meeting to allow for reflection and equal consideration of all candidates to promote fairness and minimise rushed judgements.
provide feedback to all interview candidates using the ‘high five, watch out, what about’ framework, in line with our value of ‘reciprocity’, because we recognise the time and effort that candidates put in and we want to offer something in return.