How to Diversify Your Candidate Pool

The diversity of the global workforce is rapidly changing, but are your hiring practices keeping pace?

Numerous studies have shown the value of a diverse workforce, yet only 57% of recruiters say their talent acquisition strategies are designed to attract diverse candidates. So what is holding back the other 43%? For many companies, the idea of developing hiring strategies specifically aimed at increasing diversity seems daunting, but it doesn't have to be.

So What is “Diversity” Anyway?

For many people, that term immediately brings to mind race or ethnicity, and surely those are important factors to consider, but diversity also comes in many other forms. Inherent Diversity focuses on factors over which job applicants have no control; things such as race, sex, and age. While Acquired Diversity focuses on factors such as educational background, job experience, personal values, specific skillsets and knowledge. Frequently diversity spans several categories and this intersectionality creates even more complicated layers of diversity which should be considered as well.

Diversity Drives Profitability

In a series on diversity that has spanned nearly half a decade, McKinsey has explored all the ways in which diversity leads to greater company success. So it goes without saying that companies shouldn’t aim to increase diversity just because it’s the right thing to do, but also because it means higher profitability. Companies whose leadership team diversity is in the top quartile are 25% more likely to have above-average profitability than those in the bottom quartile.

Tackling the Challenges

For better or worse, many companies avoid the conversation about diversity hiring because they fear it will lead to interpersonal conflict. But like most things, it’s all in how you approach it. For starters, as a business owner or manager it’s your responsibility to set the expectation of how you envision your company values and the goals which you strive to achieve. 

• Work tirelessly to promote inclusiveness and combat stereotypes
  
• Encourage constructive debate within your Talent Acquisition teams regarding the value of building teams with a myriad differences in background, experiences, skill sets, problem solving, etc. 
  
• Share relevant studies about the value of hiring diverse teams
  
• Conduct analysis on your inclusion efforts to show how they are paying off in terms of increased productivity, higher employee satisfaction and increased retention

Job seekers are becoming increasingly aware of company diversity and in a recent study, 67% of job seekers polled cited diversity as an important factor when considering companies and job offers.

So you may be wondering then, how can you attract more diverse candidates? 

Five Tips to Diversify Your Candidate Pool

1. Be cognizant of the words you use in your job listings

• • Does your position really require a traditional 4-year degree? Or do you care more about job experience and knowledge?
    
  • Avoid unnecessary job requirements that may turn away otherwise qualified candidates. Stick to only what is essential to doing the job effectively.
    
  • Put less emphasis on candidate attributes such as what school they went to, where they grew up, or who they know. This can unfairly limit your candidate pool
    
  • Run your job description through a gender decoder tool that will highlight any language you should consider modifying
    
  • Research examples of how to write inclusive job descriptions

2. Conduct a review of your benefits package

• • Consider offering a flexible schedule that lends itself more to a proper work-life balance. 
    
  • Expand work from home options. If anything positive has come out of COVID, it’s forced Employers to realize that remote workforces can still be effective. Consider implementing occasional work from home benefits longer term that will appeal greatly to applicants who live further away from the office and may otherwise have passed over your job listing.
  • Are your benefits speaking to the “ideal candidate” you are trying to attract? For example, what applicants value things such as healthcare and retirement plans as opposed to free lunch and video games? 

3. Expand your job posting reach

• Go beyond the traditional job boards and focus on niche placements that attract large numbers of diverse candidates
   
  • Diversity.com
  • Black Career Network
  • Hispanic/Latino Professionals Association
  • Workplacediversity.com
  • British Forces Resettlement Services (BFRS)
  • Working Mums

4. Conduct a thorough audit of your Company and your brand.

Are you reflecting a workplace that values diversity - this includes everything from your website to your advertising to your leadership team. Also keep in mind that numbers matter. The “Two in the Pool Effect” says that a female’s chances of being hired if she is the only woman in the candidate pool are effectively zero. But by having just two females in the final candidate pool, her chances of being hired are 79x greater. Those numbers are even more dramatic when talking about minority candidates - their odds are 194x greater.

5. Make a great first impression

Ensure that your Talent Acquisition teams reflect the diversity you seek in job applicants. The hiring team is most likely the first contact a potential candidate has with your company and first impressions matter.

Improving your company’s hiring diversity won’t happen overnight but it needs to start somewhere. It takes work and commitment and the companies that do it right and do it the best got there because the entire team worked together towards a common goal.