Have you given any thought to whether you have the right team in place to keep up with your competition, compete in the marketplace, innovate or propel your organization's future growth?
If you take a look at your company's road map over the next few months (or years), chances are you'll be facing multiple product launches, globalization, maybe even an IPO.
Now is the ideal time to strategically infuse your workforce with the right creative and innovative talent to meet your company's aggressive goals. Challenging the current status quo to grow and succeed will require diverse opinions, experiences and backgrounds.
Is your current recruiting strategy up for the challenge?
While every company and team has a different definition of diversity, we encourage you to see diversity as an all-encompassing term, including experience, education level, age, geographic origin and ethnicity. In other words, look beyond skin color - think about diversity of backgrounds and how people with new and different perspectives can drastically increase your team's potential to innovate, compete and succeed.
To approach diversity recruiting, you need a diverse talent acquisition team in place or one that certainly appreciates the benefits of a diverse workforce. For example, if you're looking to tap into new audiences (Millennials, veterans, programmers, etc.), find out if anyone has prior experience influencing these groups. If you come up blank, diversify your recruiting team.
Also, consider your target audience - are you reaching the largest possible talent pool with your current recruiting strategy? Or bypassing them entirely?
Engage and retain diverse talent
OK, so now that you're in the right diversity mindset and embraced diversity as a priority, you're ready to bring in (and retain) talented new employees that represent various generations, education levels, ethnicities and geographic origins.
Greatly aiding your efforts should be your company benefits and culture, both ideally acknowledging and reflecting organizational inclusivity and flexibility.
Company culture
As a recruiter or hiring manager, it's crucial to strategically hire candidates that will appreciate the company culture that makes your company unique.
How do you know if your company culture matches up?
Do your research to see what your current employees love about coming to work every day and where you can improve. Also, check out your competition - what are they doing that you can implement at your organization? From team outings to allowing dogs in the office, stepping up your company culture will get you one step closer to hiring (and keeping) those diverse candidates you seek. Also, consider celebrating all cultural holidays in your office! Your employees will take note at the extra effort you're putting in to include all backgrounds and faiths.
Publicizing and promoting your company culture, e.g., through social media, on your careers page or on sites like Glassdoor, can compliment your efforts.
Benefits
Next in line: benefits. How do yours stack up? Does your current package attract a wide-range of candidates? Generous, flexible benefits indicate to job seekers that your company respects a myriad of backgrounds and works hard to stay competitive.
For example, offering maternity and paternity leave, flexible work hours or even childcare options signal to parents that you're family friendly. Free lunches and the option to work from home signal to Millennials that you understand what they appreciate. Beyond offering healthcare coverage, health and wellness programs and 401(k) matching shows that you value employees' long-term health and financial security. If your company's benefits aren't seeking, attracting and retaining a wide selection of candidates, it's time to rethink your strategy.
Where to start
Take a step back. Review your current diversity hiring strategy. Pinpoint where your company needs help and the type of candidate you're looking to attract. Then, do some research! See what people are saying about your culture. Interview your current employees about why they love coming to work. See what you can do to upgrade your benefits and company culture.
Then, tailor your strategy on the platforms your ideal candidates are spending their time on. It's crucial to segment your audience to ensure they find your brand on the platforms they're already using! Millennial job seekers rely heavily on social media, while older, more experienced job seekers tap into their professional networks to hear about new opportunities. The more you adapt your recruiting strategy to your ideal candidates, the more success you'll see. And by diversifying your team, you'll be uniquely poised to innovate, grow and gain a competitive edge.
Winning with diversity
If you're looking for inspiration for your diversity recruitment efforts, check out ESPN and L'Oreal. Both companies eagerly sponsor, prioritize and encourage diversity, which is credited with fueling both innovation and international growth.
