A Holistic Systems Approach to Diversity Recruiting

D&I issue

You need a more-effective diversity recruiting strategy. Perhaps you are experiencing one or more of the following situations that we hear about regularly:

• Difficulty attracting a sufficiently-diverse set of candidates.
• People of different, non-majority cultural backgrounds are not being selected to fill open positions.
• Representation of Women, People of Color, or other non-majority groups is low in parts of, or the entire, organization.
• A lawsuit settlement requires improvements in the organization’s diversity recruiting strategy.
• It takes a long time to create diverse slates of candidates.
• Need for more-effective metrics by which to manage the organization’s diversity recruiting work.
• The Board of Directors has asked what is being done to improve diversity and inclusion in the organization.

Frequently the question most “top of mind” is, “What is the real situation and what do I need to do?”

D&I solution

It is generally most effective to consider the full-stream process from initial applicant sourcing through selection to onboarding as illustrated in the following figure:

The first step is to assess the current situation and determine what changes will best meet your business needs. The assessment will include at least some of the following elements, customized to your situation:

• Analyze the sourcing and selection process including the training and tools provided to the people doing the sourcing and selection work (e.g. the recruiters, interviewers, and hiring managers).
• Analyze the career and diversity sections of the organization’s website.
• Survey or interview the people doing the sourcing and selection work to determine how they think about and manage their work regarding diversity and cultural difference.
• Measure the recruiters’ and hiring managers’ mindset regarding diversity and cultural difference (i.e. how they tend to think and feel about diversity and cultural difference. This is important since these peoples’ mindset determines the success or failure of any diversity recruiting plans. We use the Intercultural Development Inventory for this purpose.
• Analyze applicant flow and workforce data including hires, promotions, and separations.

The assessment and needs analyses provide the basis for a strategy and implementation plan. Typically, the scope may be:

• A comprehensive strategy and action plan addressing the full-stream recruiting process. This includes reputation, external relationships with associations, schools, and key influencers, external and internal sourcing, web presence, applicant flow management, selection, and onboarding.
• A focused plan addressing just one or more parts of the full-stream recruiting process.
• More-effective measures to build a culture of inclusion and to manage, develop, and retain a diverse workforce, which frequently complement the need for a more-strategic approach to diversity recruiting.

Sample D&I results

See representative results achieved by MDB Group's principals at Diversity Recruiting .

Related links

Diversity recruiting is frequently a key component of plans to increase workforce productivity, innovation, and creativity in support of organization growth. Click the links below for further insight:

Next steps

Please call us so that together we can develop the diversity recruiting strategy and plan that will help grow your organization and its business results.