Diverse Talent Acquisition Strategies

Workplace diversity has become a heated topic and a top priority for human resource departments. Today, companies are starting to realize that in order to truly attract top talent and run a business that appeals to the greatest amount of people, they need to be proactive about having a diverse talent acquisition plan. Some of them go the extra mile by posting openings on minority specific job boards.

But there are other simple things that any company can do to make sure they appeal to a wider talent pool and eliminate any unconscious biases during their hiring process. By taking intentional action on this front, companies can make sure they have a variety of perspectives contributing to their products — from women to minorities to veterans–and be more successful for it.

What companies can do to hire diversely

Blind Screening

Everyone makes unconscious judgments — often based on something as simple as a name on a resume. And this type of bias is so common that it’s quantifiable. In an age of great technological advancements and ever-increasing digital job applications and resumes, it is possible to filter categories such as name, college, etc. to remove potentially identifiable information about a candidate. This allows for hiring teams to review resumes without bias and the most qualified applicants can then be interviewed.

Having A Diverse Talent-Acquisition Team

Having a variety of people conducting screenings and interviews for a company helps establish checks and balances — as well as showing candidates that they’ll be welcomed and comfortable.

Using Inclusive Language in Job Descriptions

Diverse candidates, and particularly women, often inadvertently removed them from a talent pool before they even apply, due to job ads that include gender-biased wording. For instance, the words “dominate” and “competitive” are masculine-coded words. Other fields, such as teaching, experience the flip side by using feminine-coded words like “supportive”. To avoid this pitfall, focus job postings on company values and criteria that are important to job performance.

Emphasize Value-Based Hiring

Having well-defined company values and emphasizing them during all stages of the hiring process allows companies to create a team where everyone truly cares about the work they’re doing. Value-based hiring means, defining and committing to a set of organizational values and making job descriptions, interview questions, and employee evaluations reflect those values. Humans are inherently drawn to companies and positions where they feel they are valued. This philosophy helps draw out not only the most talented candidates, but also promotes employee retention.

Seek Out Candidates Where They Are

Companies who want to take their diversity search to the next level should think about posting jobs on sites specifically designed to appeal to non-traditional candidates. This requires going beyond posting vacancies on the standard Monster, Indeed and Job Service job boards. For instance, Equality Magazines oversee job boards on Hispanic Today, Black Perspective, Women in Business and Veterans Enterprise.

At the end of the day, diverse hiring comes down to one thing: intention. Companies must recognize the need to change their hiring practices. It is human nature to avoid change, however, in order to attract and build a more diverse work environment, traditional hiring strategies must be reconsidered and changed to attract candidates from non-traditional backgrounds.