We’ve decided to share our knowledge in Diversity Sourcing. You should be aware of many things while searching for the right candidate!
Here are a few steps to improve your talent pipeline.
1. First of all, and most importantly, know your clients, what they are looking for, source candidates in different places, and be aware of our unconscious bias.
Do some research prior and identify:
- Terms they use (check if they used inclusive language, pronouns, and highlight identities).
- If the client has visible D&I culture (if they do, keep some of this info so you can share it with candidates if they ask).
- How diverse the board is (this information can give us some idea if they worked on it or are starting to diversify the workforce).
2. We are all diverse, and “Diversity” is related to a specific context within a company, group, or client department.
“Diverse Candidates” are related to a context because candidates are not diverse by themselves. Therefore, ask and know precisely what your client needs to increase with straightforward questions. Define your diversity hiring goal!
3. Increase your diversity hiring by refining your candidate sourcing.
Tip 1: Re-word your job posting: avoid using too many “masculine-type” words.
Tip 2: Show your client an existing diverse workplace: take a look at your client’s information on D&I, and share it in the job ad as a link to allow candidates to know more about it.
Tip 3: Encourage referrals from minority employees. Minority employee referrals help increase your diversity hiring with the added benefits of hiring from referrals in the first place.
4. Target sources where diverse candidates congregate. To have a talent pool full of diverse candidates is to source your candidates from various sites. Don’t rely on the same sources repeatedly when seeking out new candidates. Search for opportunities to source diverse candidates in groups on LinkedIn, web pages, blogs, etc.
5. Increase your diversity hiring in your candidate screening. Many of the usual criteria for candidate screening, such as their previous company, school, or personal connection, often decrease the diversity of the candidate pipeline!
Everyone has unconscious bias: be aware of them and avoid them when sourcing and screening candidates. Our background and our life experiences shape our preferences towards or against something.
6. Increase your diversity hiring in your candidate shortlisting.
The “2 in the pool effect” technique. Research featured in “Harvard Business Review” found that when the final candidate pool has only one minority candidate, they have virtually no chance of being hired. If there are, for example, at least two female candidates, the odds of hiring are 79 times greater. If at least two minority candidates are in the final candidate pool, the odds of hiring are 194 times greater.
Hence, the “two in the pool effect.”
7. Evaluate your diversity hiring metrics. Go back to the diversity hiring goal you decided on in Step 1. Ask yourself: “Did we hit our goal?”, “Which strategies were effective and which ones weren’t?” If you successfully hit your diversity hiring goal, rinse and repeat. If not, evaluate which strategies were effective and which weren’t and re-iterate your process.