What is diversity recruiting?

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Diversity Recruiting

Let me tell you an old riddle. A father and son are in a car accident. The father dies instantly, and then, the son is rushed to the hospital. Upon entering the operating room, the surgeon looks at the young boy and says, "I cannot operate on him because he is my son." How is this possible? Well, you've probably heard this story before and know the reason the surgeon cannot operate is because she is his mother. This story illustrates our idea of fit. Years ago, it was almost impossible to imagine the surgeon could be a woman.

Today, that is no longer the case. What does the word fit mean to you? When recruiting, fit usually represents a candidate's probability of successfully embracing the culture of the organization. Unfortunately, fit is often used as a reason not to hire someone. This happens when the recruiter has an image in their head of their ideal candidate. So when the candidate is somehow different than what they expect, the recruiter may assume that person is not a right fit for the role.

In order to attempt to prevent this from happening, the organization has to define its culture, its mission, vision, and values. If culture is like a completed puzzle, diversity represents the individual pieces of that puzzle, and fit is what happens when you bring those dimensions of diversity together. Therefore, diversity recruiting is the process by which you expand your usual and familiar recruiting paths to actively engage and be more open and accepting of candidates who, we may at first glance overlook.

Diversity recruiting also requires that you look at the current recruitment process. You have to determine where outdated functions or sexist ideals may be present. A diversity recruitment initiative is necessary to help combat bias, to improve innovation at work, and frankly, to bring you into the 21st century and get up to speed with the changing face of the workforce. When companies discuss diversity recruiting, they are usually thinking about the process, what it'll take to increase the representation of women and professionals of color, so they can avoid bad press.

And while the focus of this course will be on the process because it's important, the reasons for implementing the process are just as important, if not more so. There are much better reasons to initiate a diversity recruiting process than simply avoiding the negative effects of not addressing it. Companies that have a diverse workforce outperform industry norms by an average of 35%. Engaged employees increase their performance by more than 40%, and increasing retention of employees reduces recruiting, onboarding, and new hire training expenses.

Why does this work? Well, creating an inclusive environment supports positive relationships and fosters communication. Happy employees work harder, smarter, and stay longer. Various studies throughout the years have demonstrated that diversity is a key driver of innovation. Diversity literally increases the range of knowledge, skills, experiences, backgrounds, and perceptions of your employees, which, in turn, widens perspectives and approaches and leads to better decision making and higher productivity.

Some of these studies can be found in the Exercise Files. Have you created a culture that will accept an influx of professionals who are different than what your current employees have come to expect? Culture and fit relate to diversity recruiting, and this course will help you implement an initiative that when working, will reduce turnover and increase the reputation of your company in the marketplace. However, I would like to address what diversity recruiting is not.

It's not a form of implementing quotas. It's not a way to lower the bar for less qualified applicants, and it's not expensive to implement. I expect that by the end of this course, you'll be excited to improve the culture and level of innovation within your company by implementing a diversity recruitment strategy.


Source: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/human-resources-diversity-recruiting/what-is-diversity-recruiting