If the current recruiting process does not result in sufficient numbers of various targeted groups being hired, then an organization will want to set up processes to get more of these groups, i.e. a diversity recruiting process.


What Kinds of Organizations Recruit for Diversity?

Diversity recruiting is normally conducted by large organizations.


Why do it?

Sometimes organizations conduct diversity recruiting to comply with Equal Employment Opportunity or Affirmative Action regulations. However, in many cases organizations recognize there are advantages to diversity and use diversity recruiting as one element in ensuring they have a diverse workforce.

Process Overview

Diversity recruiting always starts by identifying which groups need special emphasis; it could be women, African-American, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, disabled, older workers or some other group. Diversity recruiting may also be aimed at specific jobs. Often, organizations have excellent diversity at lower levels but poor diversity at senior levels. Once the goals have been identified, the next step is to decide which elements of the recruiting pipeline need to be addressed: industry brand, employer brand, sourcing, or selection.

Getting Help with Industry Brand

In some cases, the difficulty of hiring people in the target groups runs deep. For example, if girls in high school do not see math and science as attractive, then companies will have a hard time hiring female aerospace engineers. If this is the problem, organizations can work to change the image of the industry by getting help from:

• Industry associations (where several firms share the same recruitment problem)
• Not-for-profits aimed at your target group (e.g. there is a Canadian Association for Girls in Science)
• Educational institutions
• Government

All these groups can help change an industry’s image in the target group. They can create active programs to engage people, identify and promote role models, and communicate about the industry.

Getting Help with the Employer Brand

Working on the employer brand is much the same as working on the industry brand, with the obvious difference that it’s the individual organization being promoted. In addition to the sorts of allies mentioned above, an organization may seek help from:

• Public relations agencies. Building an organization’s image is the trade of public relations professionals, and this skill can be tapped for diversity recruiting.
• Consultants with expertise in social networking. Social networking is an excellent way to reach targeted groups and build positive relationships. Experts in social networking can direct their talent towards helping an organization build a better brand as part of the diversity recruitment project.
• Consultants with expertise in branding. Employer branding is a sufficiently big topic that there are consultants with specific expertise in this area. This expertise can be deployed to target a specific group the organization wishes to engage.
• Organization design experts. If the organization has a lousy employer brand because it is a terrible place to work, the emphasis should be on fixing the reality rather than burnishing the image.

Getting Help with Sourcing

The biggest area in Diversity Recruiting is sourcing: i.e. identifying diverse candidates. There are several ways to get help with sourcing diverse candidates.

• Niche job boards/newspapers/magazines aimed at your targeted group. If you are looking for South Asians, it makes sense to put job ads in media that reach that audience. There are endless numbers of specialist media that target different groups. However, the big job boards may already have partnerships with niche job boards and you may be able to source diverse candidates through them.
• Google Adwords. Google’s targeted advertisements are suitable for job advertisements and can be aimed at the group you are trying to hire.
• Diversity Recruiters. There are recruiters who specialize in finding candidates from various targeted groups.
• Diversity Sourcing Research Specialist. It is useful to recognize the distinction between full-service recruiters who provide a short list of candidates and recruitment research firms that will identify long lists of candidates that require the company do their own short-listing.
• Diversity Recruiting Job Fairs. There are job fairs designed to help organizations find candidates from targeted groups.
• Training in Diversity Recruiting. Some organizations offer training in how to do diversity recruiting.
• Leveraging Internal Knowledge. It may be that individual recruiters do not have good knowledge of resources for sourcing diverse candidates but, if organized, they could collectively share knowledge through some sort of database.

Getting Help with Selection

Even when the sourcing process delivers good candidates from the targeted group, they may still fail to be hired due to weaknesses in the selection phase. It is normal for people to unconsciously prefer people like themselves, and this can create a significant barrier to selecting people from the targeted group.

There are various groups who can help ensure selection does not undermine the diversity recruiting process.

• Selection Consultants and Vendors. The more structured the selection process is (e.g. assessment tests, disciplined structured interviews, simulations), the less likely hidden preferences for candidates who “look like us” will subvert the diversity initiative. There are many consultants and vendors in the selection space who can assist with process or provide selection tools to reduce unconscious bias.
• Training in Unbiased Interviewing. Some consultants provide training specifically in overcoming personal biases when interviewing.

How to Evaluate Providers

One piece of advice is to work with people who know both the diversity world and the commercial world. There are many people involved in diversity who have good social intent but no understanding of the commercial world. There are also many professionals in recruiting who will say they can help find diverse candidates but may not in fact have any special ability in that area. Select providers who are strong in both domains.

Also, it stands to reason that providers who are not diverse themselves may not be the best-equipped to help you become more diverse.

Conclusion

Diversity is a challenging area because it is full of emotion and unconscious preferences. Nevertheless, many organizations have made great strides in improving diversity. Diversity Recruiting is often an essential part of a diversity initiative. There are many resources that can help. Be sure to think about which aspect of the recruiting pipeline is the bottleneck and focus your efforts there.

Appendix: Some Useful Groups

There are a great many organizations that can be helpful in Diversity Recruiting. Here is a sampling:

National Black MBA www.nbmba.org
National Society of Hispanic MBAs www.nshmba.org
Women in Technology International www.witi.org
Asian Avenue www.asianave.com
National Association of Asian American Professionals www.naaap.org
Latpro www.latpro.com