Stephanie Dillon
Founder & CEO
Stephanie was a corporate recruiter for over a decade and a half before her own career break. She has interviewed over 3,000 candidates and placed hundreds of people into new positions. She uses this knowledge to support Returners, combined with her passion for enabling people to reignite their careers.
Stephanie has also run numerous training / bootcamp sessions supporting Returners with their job search and preparation for their return. She is also passionate about diversity & inclusion and runs training for Recruiters, both internal and agency side, on how to ensure hiring processes are inclusive.
Stephanie’s Story
I founded Inclusivity in 2015 with the intention of shining a light on hidden talent pools. As a society we have such a myopic view of what constitutes talent, and sadly as a result too many miss out on opportunities to have fulfilling careers in good organisations.
As a business we have supported Shell, Virgin Money, Nomura, CIBC, and Amazon to hire back returning talent, in addition to many smaller organisations with lesser known brand names. We enjoy working with businesses that have a true commitment to all components of diversity, not just gender.
My personal experience has been the inspiration behind setting up Inclusivity. When I was 22 my mother was made redundant from her role, aged 52. This coincided with me gaining a placement on the Michael Page graduate programme in Melbourne, Australia. I worked with her tirelessly sending out application after application, and watched as the rejection letters rolled in. This was my first exposure to ageism in the employment market, as her background was highly suitable for the roles she was applying to.
As time passed it became harder and harder as the career break became longer and longer, until eventually she gave up and never did return to her career.
This experience left a really strong impression on me. Her confidence and self-worth changed, and at that early age of 22 I knew that in my future I would establish my own business that focussed on helping people in this situation.
The vision I hope to build with Inclusivity is to build a fairer world when it comes to finding work.
Testimonials
“Inclusivity Partners helped us successfully delivery our first ReCareer Programme in 2017. They expertly helped us shape our programme and we were delighted to find four experienced and talented women to take part in our programme. What stands Inclusivity apart is their commitment to preparing the candidates and developing their confidence so that they get the most out of the opportunity. From finessing their CVs to providing interview coaching, Inclusivity fully prepared the candidates who came to our selection event. Stephanie & Jessica delivered some memorable development and support sessions for the participants and their line managers which have been highly beneficial to their progress and enjoyment of the programme. I don’t believe we would have been able to deliver such a successful programme without Inclusivity’s support and we would not have accessed the incredible talent that is hidden in the returners market.”
“After a pro-longed career break from Telecommunications, it was remarkable to receive the guidance of Inclusivity who championed my job search and offered personalised support for my journey back into the corporate world. Women returning to their careers really do need the extra support from recruiters, such as Inclusivity, to match their skills with progressive companies who appreciate the benefits of recruiting an untapped workforce of skilled women. Corporates can outsource their returner programme to Inclusivity so that they may attract the best candidates and ensure a smooth transition for women returning into mid to senior level roles.”
“After a three-year career break and numerous disheartening conversations with traditional recruiters, it was enlightening to speak with Inclusivity. Their optimism and enthusiasm gave me hope and confidence not only that I could return to work, but that employers were interested in returners. After months of fruitless searching, within weeks Inclusivity found me not one, but two jobs, which were far superior to those that I had been looking at”
“When I was looking for a new project and portfolio manager, I was very keen to find someone who was highly capable and was keen to get involved in growing our innovative, challenger brand. But at the same time, I also needed someone who could work very flexibly around our client’s needs and because we’re growing; someone who didn’t necessarily want a full-time role. Stephanie at Inclusivity did a great job in finding a brilliant candidate who was highly qualified but wanted to fit her role around her family. She’s a perfect match to both the role and the culture I’m trying to create”.
