Top Strategies for Hiring Diverse Talent

Research shows that companies with a diverse workforce are 36% more profitable than those lacking diversity. So, it’s no wonder that diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives remain a strategic priority for companies when it comes to attracting and hiring talent.

Yet, we know that it’s more than just simply hiring diverse employees. The key to successfully embracing DEI hinges on a company’s view that diverse perspectives are essential to its business. Before embarking on a diverse hiring strategy, it’s crucial for executive leadership to be truly committed to having diverse workforces. There are several ways to weave a robust DEI strategy into your company culture and make a strong business case for workplace diversity to secure leadership buy-in.

5 Tips for Successful Diversity Sourcing

Diversity sourcing is becoming increasingly important in today's global marketplace, where DEI initiatives are seen as critical components of business success. By diversifying the talent pool, companies can tap into a wider range of skills, experiences and perspectives, which can lead to increased innovation, improved decision-making and a stronger brand reputation.

Hiring diverse talent will require a shift in how you source prospective candidates, whether through your internal talent acquisition programme or via your workforce solutions partner. Here are some actionable steps to incorporate diversity sourcing strategies into your existing talent attraction strategy and employer branding.

 To effectively implement diversity sourcing, companies must first identify areas of underrepresentation in their workforce and develop strategies to attract and engage candidates from these groups. This may involve partnering with diversity-focused organisations; attending career fairs and events geared toward underrepresented groups; creating targeted job postings and outreach campaigns; and providing diversity and inclusion training to recruiters and hiring managers.

1. Use Screening and Selection Tools to Mitigate Bias

Technology continues to advance at lightning speed and new innovations are appearing almost daily. There are now tools and technologies that can even highlight unconscious bias in your job descriptions and during the shortlisting and interview processes.

As organsations seek to hire individuals with the skills, values and behaviours that fit with their culture and meet their strategic goals, they often come up short. The use of data-driven talent assessment technologies can not only help, but can also combat poor productivity, lack of diversity and a dilution of company culture. One such platform, Phoenix51, ensures that applicants are assessed against your company’s competencies, skills and values.

2. Integrate DEI Through Upskilling

With the numbers of open jobs in certain industries often greater than the available candidates for those positions, companies have to get creative. In many cases, it comes down to widening the talent pool by upskilling workers that may not have had access to the training required to get in-demand jobs.

One way to build a more diverse, inclusive workforce is to provide skills-based training to people from underrepresented groups. CareerCircle, an Allegis Group company, is one platform that actively seeks out candidates from underrepresented communities and provides access to training and certifications to grow technical skills. This benefits the job seeker by developing their skill set to align with in-demand fields as well as benefits employers who face talent deficits in emerging skill sets or access to specialised talent in certain locations.

3. Meet Candidates Where They Are

Virtual communities. Online networking groups. Diverse talent organisations. Accessing diverse talent can be as simple as the click of a mouse.

For example, Getting Hired, another Allegis Group company, was founded to serve several historically underrepresented groups through the amplification of diverse talent communities. Getting Hired builds and promotes inclusive workforces by connecting diverse talent to employers that create accommodating environments. In addition to online organisations and networking groups, social media platforms such as LinkedIn are extremely useful in selecting diverse talent.

Hosting offline networking events is also a popular avenue for recruiters to proactively build relationships with diverse talent. For example, if you’re trying to attract women with technical skill sets, a 'Women Who Code' professional group could provide a great platform to meet talented individuals. Alternatively, your business could look to partner with a professional group in other ways, such as hosting an event or sending a speaker from your company to one of their events.

If you’re just getting started, Meetup.com is a good resource with thousands of social groups that meet regularly based on common interests. The range of groups is vast, from hobbies to technical interests and travel, and, as they are global, it is easy to search for groups that are based in a specific location.

4. Partner with Diverse Organisations

Often, the best candidates are referrals. Strategically partnering with organisations that help you build a workforce that fosters an inclusive environment is another way to widen and diversify your talent network. These partnerships can also lead to conference and event opportunities that can ultimately boost diverse hiring.

AGS has developed a large network of DEI-focused partners, including:

• Linkage: Developing effective, purposeful leaders; advancing women and creating cultures of inclusion to help businesses create transformative change
• Disability:IN: Building a stronger bridge between business and disability communities
• DIAN: Advancing diversity and inclusion throughout their network of companies in Asia
• EnAble India: Working towards economic independence and dignity of people with disability

5. Incorporate Diversity into your Employer Brand

As DEI continues to be a strategic priority for companies, it’s becoming more and more important to integrate diversity your employer brand. Using social media is a great way to spread the word about diversity hiring efforts and your company’s initiatives to build a diverse workforce.

As an example, AGS’ Ignite Marketing team partners with talent leaders to provide the insights, expertise and innovation required to build tomorrow's world-class, high-impact recruiting organisations today. We helped a financial services company address representation through an omnichannel approach to diversity recruitment marketing, including: planning and executing diversity recruiting events; building recruitment marketing material; managing a communications calendar; and working the company’s employee resource groups (ERGs) to collect, manage and amplify employee testimonials via LinkedIn job campaigns.

Workforce Diversity Doesn’t Stop at Sourcing

Other ways to optimize efforts to increase diverse talent within your organization include building diverse candidate slates and adding diverse hiring leaders to your interview panels. This process can also be driven through metrics, which hold your recruiters accountable for adding diverse candidates to their slate.

A diverse interview panel will help to ensure there are different perspectives brought to the table when it comes to the decision on who to hire. Both strategies help ensure that DEI is being considered, and candidates who make it through to the interview stages will see that too.

The key to success when it comes to hiring diverse talent is converting your diversity recruitment strategy into measurable results. To do this, it is critical to take a regular look back on the goals that were set for diversity and report back to your executive team on your progress. One of the ways you can achieve this is by creating a diversity scorecard that outlines your hiring metrics and goals. You can also use this to review areas with room for improvement.