As migration and commute become more accessible, diversity is slowly coming to the forefront of corporate discussion as a major problem for many industries. According to CNBC, 64% of workers in entry-level positions were white, with 85% of executive positions also being held by Caucasian employees in 2020. Subsequently, support and operations staff consisted of 64% white employees, with white unemployment dropping (14.2%>12.4%) and African-American rising (16.7%>16.8%) during last year.
Regardless of how innovative your business ideas may be, a lack of diversity in your ranks can severely hurt your business’ reputation in the long run. With that, let’s explore how you can redefine your recruitment strategy to be more inclusive and fair to everyone regardless of their ethnicity or beliefs.
The Importance of Diversity in Recruitment
Why has diversity recruitment become such an important part of contemporary business culture in the past years? In short, everyone wants to have an equal shot at building a career no matter their skin color, religion, or gender – it’s really that simple.
According to a report published by LinkedIn in October of 2020, men still dominate most industries and roles compared to women, including most leadership positions. This is only the tip of the iceberg, as diversity issues crop up in a variety of ways, including reliance on nepotism. As a result, employees will often look for work elsewhere if they are dissatisfied with management’s treatment of minorities, LGBT communities, and anyone different.
Florence Garvey, writing service support team lead and writer at Essay Assistant spoke on the topic of diversity recruitment: “Diversity recruitment is a balancing act of being inclusive while also not discriminating your existing workforce. The color of our skin or the way we dress doesn’t determine anyone’s skill level or expertise. Don’t make the mistake of hiring people based on their ethnicity or beliefs without looking into their resumes and portfolios. This can easily backfire for your existing workflow and company culture, so approach diversity recruitment carefully and with clear goals in mind.”
So, why should you care about investing time and resources into rethinking your recruitment strategy to be more diverse? For one, positive PR and employees’ satisfaction with your practices will do wonders for your retention, word of mouth and B2B networking opportunities. Beyond that, some of the practical benefits of recruitment diversity are:
● Diverse perspective on problem-solving, creativity, and innovation within the company
● Higher and more stable employee engagement, manifesting in better retention
● Improved brand reputation and access to a wider pool of recruitment candidates
● Lowered barrier for entry into new marketplaces due to your language and cultural diversity
● Increased company profitability due to improved business culture and client appeal
Transforming your Diversity Recruitment Strategy
1.Audit your Company’s Workforce Diversity
The best way to impact your diversity recruitment strategy going forward is to look back at how you’ve handled the process so far. Based on Medium, racially and ethnically diverse companies outperform industry norms by 35%, with 67% of candidates placing emphasis on diversity when looking for employment.
Rethinking your diversity recruitment starts with an internal audit of your current workforce and hiring processes which led you to where you are now. Is your workforce predominantly Caucasian with few to no minority groups anywhere near leadership positions? Why is that? Of course, it’s worth noting that a Europe-based company will have different diversity standards than the one based in the US given religion and ethnicity. Regardless, analyze your workforce and talk to HR to get a sense of what currently works and doesn’t work in terms of diversity recruitment.
2.Rethink your Business Culture
Companies often neglect to review their business culture, mission statement and long-term goals in light of recruitment diversity. For example, if your company is focused on IT development, “workplace diversity” and “inclusivity” can easily become the pillars of your mission statement.
Review your PR, website “About us” section and analyze the public perception of your company so far. Are you viewed as an inclusive and warm or rigid and distant company by ex-employees and clients? Before you attract new, diverse talent to your company, you will have to rethink your business culture thoroughly to make it more appealing and welcoming.
3.Consider using AI for Selection
Human bias is at the crux of the problem when it comes to diversity recruitment. To avoid being accused of bias or favoritism, you should use a dedicated AI-powered matching engine during your candidate selection process. This will allow you to examine far more candidates in a shorter amount of time-based on selected KPIs and resumes.
AI-powered algorithms are designed to select the best possible candidates available from the database you’ve inserted into the platform. Such a tool will quickly discern which candidates are suitable for your company and score them based on your KPIs and their skillsets. Most importantly, you will make the recruitment process as objective as possible in the process, avoiding any potential bias.
4.Look for Candidates through Employee Networking
You can always turn inward and ask your employees for recommendations on whom to recruit for any given position. If you have minority employees in your company, consult them in regards to potential friends or colleagues who would be interested in working for you.
Onboarding people who are recommended to you by existing employees can be seen as very positive by both your workforce and outside onlookers. However, recommended candidates should still go through a proper interview and screening process to determine their fitness for the open position. In this case, chatbot screening can help you speed up the process and make it easier to discern the candidate’s potential for long-term employment easily.
5.Create Diversity-Centric Internship Opportunities
A great way to attract candidates from minorities and abroad is to create internships with specific diversity recruitment requirements. This is a great way to give students and young graduates from minority communities a chance to shine and show what they can do.
Make sure that you consider long-term employment quite seriously when it comes to these interns, however. Giving people false hope of employment can be seen as very negative by both existing employees and the public at large. Use internships as a means to attract young and ambitious individuals to your company and then retain them to bolster your diversity strategy going forward.
6.Offer the Same Development Opportunities to Everyone
Finally, it’s important that you follow through on your diversity recruitment strategy by levelling the playfield for everyone on your payroll. Make it clear that everyone has identical chances of being promoted or groomed for a leadership position as anyone else.
When it comes to seminars, professional development courses, and other opportunities, the same rules and odds at selection should apply for everyone. This will create a more inclusive and friendly business culture in your company due to a newfound understanding and camaraderie among employees. Don’t play favorites and put your diversity promises into practice by offering the same opportunities to everyone on your team.
In Conclusion: The Future of Diversity
Implementing a universally accepted diversity recruitment strategy is a fickle prospect and you will undoubtedly be met with criticism and comments from existing employees. Apply the above-mentioned steps in your recruitment strategy in tandem with a professional diversity and inclusion tool to get the best results from your initiative.
Doing so will allow you to achieve the best of both worlds – finding the most suitable professionals for your positions while also annunciating recruitment diversity. Start transforming your recruitment strategy today and reap the rewards of doing so as soon as tomorrow.
