Supervisors: Christa Thomsen & Jakob Lauring
Discussants: Irene Pollach & Pernille Smith

Abstract
Current literature provides knowledge on especially the psychological factors influencing recruiters’ hiring recommendations concerning e.g. résumé-screening, fit-perceptions, and assessment tools (Tsai, Chi, Huang, & Hsu, 2007; Hofhuisa, van der Zeeb & Otten, 2016; Bhardwaj, 2022). However, when zooming out, we know almost nothing about what role recruiters play throughout the entire recruitment process when recruiting for diversity and how they navigate through potential challenges along the way. This is despite the fact that recruiters are some of the first determining what diversity to invite into the organisation. Based on a 1.5-year ongoing ethnographic single case study in a multinational production company, the purpose of this paper is therefore to investigate how recruiters practice their role identity in a formalised recruitment process when recruiting for diversity and how a paradox perspective can inform such practices.

Findings show that on the one hand, recruiters practice their role identity structurally (Anglin, Kincaid, Short & Allen, 2022) with certain role expectations that remain fairly stable over time. However, on the other hand, their role identity shifts when they meet the hiring manager. Here, the construction of their role identity results from a complex interplay of both individual, relational, and situational factors where recruiters develop and negotiate their role identity within themselves and with hiring managers (Anglin et al., 2022). Thus, their roles are shaped through the social interaction with managers and it is through a closer relationship with managers that recruiters experience being able to challenge managers on what makes a qualified candidate. By applying a paradox perspective, the paper theoretically contributes with an integrated approach to studying shifting and paradoxical role identities in organisations. Practically, the paper contributes with recommendations for managers and organisations in rethinking the organisational location and responsibilities of recruiters to acknowledge their role in recruiting for diversity.

Everyone is welcome!