Recruit for Diversity - Part II - Messaging

Red Seat’s Part I segment on recruiting for diversity recommended that making diversity a top priority is the first critical step in making a diverse hire.  Making diversity a top hiring priority and focusing recruitment efforts on diverse candidates will have a direct influence on all activities of the recruitment process.  In this segment, we’ll talk about recruitment messaging and how a focus on diversity changes recruitment and employment branding messaging, why this is important, and the impact of diversity-specific messaging. 

Let’s say you want to hire someone that is detailed oriented and accurate.  Would you be more likely to attract detailed and accurate individuals if your messaging communicated that detail and accuracy were really important qualities that would lead to success in the job?  Would you encourage individuals that thrived in detail and accuracy to apply to the position?  This seems simplistic but explicitly stating what you seek and encouraging individuals to apply to your open positions that have the characteristics you are looking for is often missed in many job ads. 

Translating this concept to diversity hiring, the idea of explicitly stating your need, AND asking for the types of applicants you seek for the position is paramount.  For example, let’s say that you want to encourage BIPOC candidates to apply.  Why not state the need: “Our company is committed to a diverse and multi-cultural workforce that represents the community where we live, and we seek BIPOC and other culturally diverse candidates to apply to this position.”  The message is clear here that the hiring company recognizes the need for a diverse workforce and is welcoming to wide a range of applicants.

Help Wanted advertising messaging is only a part of a comprehensive messaging strategy to encourage diverse candidates to apply.  Companies that are leaders in diversity hiring include diversity in their Employment Branding messaging and often have fully built-out recruitment websites where diversity is highlighted throughout the messaging.  Check out Best Buy’s career page, https://www.bestbuy-jobs.com/diversity/, or Medtronic’s:  https://www.medtronic.com/us-en/about/careers.html  The common theme on these two career sites is that diversity is front and center.  Employment Branding tells the story of why employees at a company are happy there and in turn, shows prospective employees what to expect working at the company. 

Another way organizations demonstrate their commitment to diversity is through social network messaging.  Images of team members volunteering in the community, employees celebrating promotions or a birthday, and pictures of people working together.  These visual stories of a company communicate to prospective and current employees what the company is about, and specific to diversity hiring, who makes up the team.  Planning for social media that expands your diversity hiring objective by thoughtfully including diverse voices and images will positively impact prospective diverse employees that search out your messaging. 

Making the decision to prioritize diversity in your hiring efforts and creating messaging that spans the recruitment process are simple steps in the complex landscape of pursuing a diverse workforce.  In our next installment, we’ll tackle how to avoid bias in hiring by taking a look at job descriptions, resumes and interviews.