There are various ways to find a diverse workforce
It’s important to reflect on the following questions if you want to improve a specific area of your business:
- What objectives do I have?
- How will I determine my success level?
- What metrics may be applied to recruiting diversity?
It is challenging to enhance your diversity hiring strategy without explicitly stating these two crucial requirements. Decide what you want to accomplish with your team. Would you like to see more women employed in the technological sector? Great! By acquiring trustworthy information on the number of women you presently employed in certain jobs, you can set a goal for how many more women you want to hire for those positions.
Let’s look at ways to improve your diversity recruiting now that you are aware of your goals and standards.
Increasing sourcing diversity
One of the best ways to ensure that you’re recruiting a varied group of people is to ensure that the applicants for your roles are diverse in the first place. You can broaden the variety of your candidate pool by using the following strategies:
Audit your job ads
Making changes to your earlier recruiting advertisements to appeal to a wider range of candidates is one of the best strategies to acquire a diverse team. Even some of the languages you employ might be designed for a specific audience or level of proficiency. If yes, think about how to make your language more inclusive so that you can draw in people from different backgrounds. According to Jake Smith, Managing Director at Absolute Reg, “To improve your diversity hiring strategy, don’t be scared to create job adverts with certain demographics in mind. Let your target applicants know that you are looking for them and why you think they would be a good fit for your business.”
Target sources where diverse candidates congregate
A smart method to guarantee that your employee pool is composed of a varied set of people is to hire applicants from a variety of sources. Avoid utilizing the same sources repeatedly when looking for new candidates. Concentrating only on the sources you are most familiar with can lead to a talent pool of uniform applicants and a lack of diversity. Instead, look for opportunities to find diverse applicants in places where they tend to congregate. For example, there are numerous offline and online groups for women in technology. Instead of waiting for competent female candidates to discover you through networks like Indeed, this may be a great strategy for meeting and communicating with them. The more work you put into finding these outlets, the more diversified your talent pool will grow.
Encourage your diverse workforce’s friends and coworkers to suggest others
Your team’s members most likely have networks of people with backgrounds corresponding to their own. Creating a diverse candidate referral network is a fantastic approach to enhance your diversity recruitment strategy and demonstrate that your business values individuals with varied backgrounds and perspectives. Jeff Romero, Founder of Jeff Romero SEO Consulting, suggests that “If you want to hire more people from the target demographic, talk to some of the team members that fit that description. Encourage them to forward your job postings to their connections by providing them with the resources they need to help you promote your business. Because both your present staff and any new hires will feel valued for their contributions and presence, this is great for overall team morale and engagement.”
Provide internships to specific groups
“Many businesses have started to develop internal diversity initiatives that give people from various backgrounds the chance to participate in co-ops and internships. This is a great way to bring on talented individuals to your company so they may get valuable experience”, says Gerrid Smith, CMO at TEXAS PROPERTY TAX LOAN PROS. He suggests doing this by putting more effort into reaching out to nearby schools and community organizations to see if there are any possibilities to contact students. Working with local growth initiatives is a great opportunity to give back and gain access to new talent. Cities frequently offer growth initiatives.”
Create a company brand that reflects your diversity
According to Tiffany Hafler, Co-Founder at Blockchain Lawyer, “The greatest strategy to increase diversity in your candidate sourcing is to develop an employer brand that inherently supports people and viewpoints from all walks of life. Talking about the importance and advantages of diversity will help you win the support of your employees. Next, incorporate those ideals into the culture of your business. As time goes on, you’ll begin to develop a reputation as an employer who values diversity. Encourage employees to discuss this aspect of your company. Use that aspect of your company’s personality to keep a record of their experiences and promote your employer brand. Companies that uphold these ideals will draw varied applicants, and the only way to profit from this is through organic growth.”
Make policies that appeal to a wide range of candidates
It is one thing to declare that you respect varied recruiting tactics and teams; it is quite another to live up to those ideas daily. It’s crucial to create proactive corporate policies that appeal to a range of candidates as a result. Expand the number of occasions that are covered by your vacation and scheduling policies, such as community festivals and religious holidays. To continue participating in their communities without continuously having to adhere to a defined schedule, encourage applicants to work flexible hours. Management teams believe that employees should be encouraged to speak up if they think that particular laws impede diversity. Tim Allen, Sr. Corporate Investigator at Oberheiden P.C. suggests, “Individual biases will always influence how people see and communicate with one another at work, so it’s critical to encourage honest conversation to make everyone feel at home. Having these standards in place and actively promoting them in your sourcing is a wonderful approach to ensure that your diversity hiring plan is on track.”