Every IP professional is unique. Although there’s still much more we can do to improve diversity in our sector, we already have a wealth of variation here that we often overlook: people from all sorts of backgrounds, with all sorts of identities, personalities, talents and interests.
When it comes to bringing in new recruits, our “shop window” is critical. It needs to be attractive to potential applicants: they need to see themselves, or people like them, and know that they’ll fit in. This can be tricky though if we want to build a more diverse workforce than we currently have. Our corporate websites don’t always reflect the diversity we’re aspiring to, and might discourage for example BAME candidates or those without an “elite” education. Yet we want them to apply. We know it makes sense to bring in new perspectives.
For
Careers in Ideas Week, we’ve teamed up with CIPA’s Deputy Chief Executive
Neil Lampert (a PR and comms expert and also a thoroughly nice man), to create some collages of IP professionals’ photos. We’ve called them
“The IP Crowd”. They reflect some of the diversity we already have within our ranks, showing that all sorts of people can build a career in the IP professions. The idea is that we can all use them – as part of the Careers in Ideas campaign but also in our individual outreach and recruitment efforts – to attract and reassure a broader pool of new recruits.
You can download the first few “IP Crowd” images below. They’re free for IP professionals to use, in whatever way you think appropriate, although we’d be grateful if you could mention your support for Careers in Ideas when you do.
Thank you to everyone who’s sent us their photos so far. Please don’t be disappointed if yours doesn’t feature yet; we’re planning to create more collages over the next few weeks.
Want to take part?
We’d love to have even more photos, reflecting even more diversity, so that we can continually refresh the Careers in Ideas shop window. If you and your colleagues would like to be part of The IP Crowd, send your photos to [email protected] and we’ll do the rest. Please feel free to include props or accessories that speak a little bit about who you are and what makes you tick. This is meant to be informal and engaging; selfies are fine.
Download The IP Crowd collages below:
(there’s also a zip folder here with all the latest images)
Page published on 19th November 2020
Page last modified on 19th November 2020
