Diversity is essential to any business – here’s how your business can find and hire more diverse candidates!
If you were an ice cream shop that only sold one flavor of the tasty frozen treat, your customer base would only go so far. Your employees’ knowledge of their product would be limited as well.
Having a diverse workforce means having a wider variety of skills, talents, experiences, backgrounds, and a greater depth and breadth of knowledge. Not only is it a good idea, but research has also shown time, and again, the companies that embrace diversity in their hiring practices have better financials, more engaged employees,s and a lower rate of turnover. They’re also more likely to be innovative leaders and break into new markets.
If your company wants to prioritize hiring a more diverse team of employees, here are a few pieces of advice on how to make that goal a reality.
1. Change the way your job ads are written.
Have someone you trust to read your job descriptions. Do they contain any words that might be unintentionally limiting the people who find the description interesting or attractive? Over the past few decades, some words have been used to attract more men than women to apply for jobs — descriptions like ‘ambitious’ and ‘challenging’ tend to read differently to men than women because they appear more encouraging of aggressive tactics. Also, be wary of words that could indicate the position isn’t intended for people with mobility issues or other kinds of physical limitations. It’s entirely likely you aren’t intentionally limiting your application pool, but reading over job ads with that in mind might prompt a few changes.
2. Actively change your recruiting methods and work to reach a more diverse pool of candidates.
If you’re using the same job boards, websites, networking tools, and recruitment practices you’ve always used, you’ll get the same kinds of candidates you’ve always had. There are ways to reach just about any audience you’d like to find, it just takes a conscious and methodical approach to find them! There are job resources for any and all communities, from employees of color to the LGBTQAI community and those with international backgrounds. Invest a little time seeking out resources to reach candidates you’d like to attract and see how effective it can be.
3. Use social media to highlight and celebrate diversity.
Use your platforms to highlight the diversity that already exists among your team. If there are celebrations for various holidays or cultural events, post a photo to commemorate it. If community outreach efforts are happening to serve better the city where your office is based, talk about it. If some of your employees have a great story to tell about their background or experiences, let them share it! The more welcoming and friendly your company can appear to a more diverse group of candidates, the more likely those candidates will give your job offers a second look.
4. Set diversity hiring goals and hold the company accountable via audits.
This boils down to: make sure your diversity goals aren’t just empty words on paper. If your company sets a goal of increasing diversity at a rate of 5-10% per year, ensure that the target is being met. If not, take a look at what steps were used in the past year, see what worked and what didn’t, and make changes accordingly. Just saying the company embraces diversity isn’t enough to make it real or believable. If you exceed the goal, fantastic! Raise it again for the following year. Keep setting a higher standard until your team better reflects your community’s realities and the world around you.
Diversity is a hot buzzword in the corporate world right now, but it’s not just a phase. Companies with a more diverse workforce do better, exceed expectations, find a more diverse customer and client base, and have more innovation than their competitors. Do you want to be a leader or a follower?
Connect with Debbie’s Staffing
If you need assistance in changing your recruiting practices or finding more diverse applicants, contact Debbie’s Staffing today. We have access to job candidates with the skills and experience you’re looking for, ready to help you meet your goals and expand your team. Contact Debbie’s Staffing today, and let’s get started!
