The CEO of a prominent company was once asked: Why is diversity key to your company’s success? He responded: “We know that people are more inclined to do business with us if they see others like them in our organization. For employees, their intellectual contribution and diverse backgrounds are key to our success.”
Recruitment involves, to a great extent, networking and building relationships with outside organizations. Research by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) found many companies have established some methods to recruit diverse talent from across the country.
Typically, companies will recruit through campus visits to colleges and universities and traditional local and regional job fairs such as:
National Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
The National Urban League
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
UNITY conference
The National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC)
The Black College Radio Convention
NLGJA - Association of LGBTQ Journalists
HLPA - Hispanic / Latino Professionals Association
Reaching out
Most companies work with these diversity recruitment channels to form strategic partnerships that assist the companies in hiring employees with diverse styles, backgrounds and skill sets.
One telecommunications company’s approach to recruitment involves building relationships with the heads of various universities in addition to attending the typical college campus job fairs. This corporation created a program called “A Day with The Dean,” designed to acquaint deans from historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) with how its business is operated and what job opportunities exist within the company.
In addition to attending annual career fairs and special events at HBCUs, one broadcast company sends representatives to attend various industry conferences with minority journalists and broadcast groups to develop ongoing relationships, so the company can directly identify qualified candidates.
A college recruitment manager was hired at a hospitality company to develop and implement a systematic strategy for the company’s recruitment of college and university graduates and to enhance the appeal of the company as the “employer of choice.”
Some companies have developed an “internal recruitment” process designed especially for high-potential employees. Specifically, one communications business implemented an internal recruitment system and has proactively targeted minorities and women for high-level positions that are vacant. The objectives of this program are to expand on an employee’s individual skill set, support retention and develop a firm base of diverse employee talent.
Utilizing the internet
View the internet as a good source of identifying diverse candidates for job vacancies. Many businesses have found online recruitment to be a very valuable tool. For example, one small cable television company found that posting notices of job openings to multiple diverse websites has yielded the most positive result in terms of attracting diverse recruits.
In addition to electronic postings, one company placed advertisements in targeted industry trade magazines and promoted an “Associate Referral Bonus Program” that offers cash incentives to employees who refer new recruits.
It can be very effective to use a combination of internet job postings and advertising in trade journals.
Other resources
The FCC found a recruitment council formed by one telecommunications company consists of recruiters from all business units and shares information on a variety of topics such as:
Open positions
Diversity job fairs
Resume exchanges from internal and external diversity candidates
The human resources departments monitor applicant flow, turnover and exit interview information, in addition to job promotions and transfers, to make certain that diverse applicants and current employees are exposed to the same opportunities.
