"How does diversity get into office?": Structural hurdles in the application process from the perspective of those concerned

Consensus and Conflict Department

Project head: Prof. Dr. Ralf Wölfer ,  Prof. Dr. Sabrina Zajak

Project team members: Hannah Arnu ,  Dr. Ruta Yemane

People with their own/family migration biographies are underrepresented in the federal administration, and this applies in particular to people with their own migration experiences (Ette et al. 2016, 2020). Of central importance here is above all why people with migration biographies often do not apply for jobs in the first place or to what extent this group is systematically discriminated against throughout the application process (from advertisement to selection). The project outlined here is intended to contribute to closing this knowledge gap and thus provide a decisive impetus and empirically based recommendations for action for the desired diversification of the federal authorities by looking at the differences or hurdles in access to the civil service primarily from the applicants' perspective. To this end, the attractiveness of alternative places of employment, the references to diversity in the application documents and the perspective of personnel officers in the ministries with regard to diversity will be examined. As part of a cooperation with the Deutschlandstiftung Integration (German Foundation for Integration), DeZIM is to accompany the model project "Diversity in Office", for which paid three-month internships are awarded to applicants with a diversity background, for several months as a case study. The aim is to examine access restrictions and to develop proposals for further diversity measures (especially measures to increase the number of applicants from people with migration biographies).

Publications:

1) DeZIM Project Report: Wie kommt die Vielfalt ins Amt? Diversitätsgestaltung im Bewerbungsprozess

2) Questionnaire 1: Fragenkatalog an Personen im Personalbereich

3) Questionnaire 2: Fragenkatalog an potenzielle Bewerber*innen

Funding: German Foundation for Integration (Third-party funding)