Monday Talent On Attracting and Retaining Diverse Talent
At Monday Talent, we care deeply about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) and are dedicated to using recruitment as a vehicle for significant and lasting change. As our firm is uniquely positioned to see the best and worse practices businesses use to attract and retain diverse talent, we thought it would be helpful to share some of the successful insights and processes we have seen, particularly in the last year.
Define what DEI means to you - Create core values around what DEI success looks like. Then set the tangible metrics you need to achieve your goals.
Start with your leadership - Everything your leadership does affects the greater business and its perception; therefore, leaders must be fully committed to DEI and it should be woven into every aspect of how they choose to lead their company.
Create company policies that appeal to diverse candidates - Consider factoring in more religious holidays and community events into your corporate time off and scheduling policies. Encourage flexible work hours that will allow every member of your workforce to continue being involved with their communities.
Audit your job postings and specs - Engage a DEI expert or utilize technology that will steer you in the right direction and attract candidates from a variety of backgrounds. Remove unnecessary requirements in job descriptions such as “education inflation” (requiring a bachelor’s degree or higher) or a minimum number of years of experience.
Reevaluate your interview process - Understand your own hiring process bias by actively asking for feedback from recruiters and even newly hired personnel on your approach, and as an immediate step, ensure you’re using standardized interview questions with all candidates. Be intentional and deliberate - Offer internships to targeted groups where diverse candidates congregate and over-index talent pipelines with diverse candidates. It’s also important to encourage your diverse employees to refer their connections as you look to expand the company’s bench of top talent.
Ensure the support is in place - Surround your team with tools that will allow them to thrive. Engage in an open dialogue with your staff regarding current processes and practices. Make adjustments as needed so that they feel supported as you work together to build and foster a more inclusive environment for your company.
Changes like this don’t happen overnight and without hard work. It takes long-term commitment and continual actions. There are three critical steps organizations need to take and prioritize to build diverse and inclusive teams.
The first is hiring more black and brown people at the junior level. Internal HR and talent acquisition are the gatekeepers of any organization, so putting people in these roles who are authentic, compassionate, and accepting is essential to bringing in new BIPOC talent.
The second is looking outside of traditional talent pools at the mid-level; otherwise, we are just cannibalizing the industry.
The third is promotion. Black and brown people need to see leadership that looks like them so that getting to the top feels achievable.
To be blunt, while the PR industry is making the right moves, thanks to organizations like the Diversity Action Alliance, we need to see more intentional action. Change must be swift, strategic, and most importantly sustained.
It does not matter how bad the numbers are now, they must improve and keep improving. We must find diverse candidates from non-traditional sources, promote BIPOC staff from within, and create openings for entry-level talent that has not existed previously.
We are encouraged by what we are seeing industry-wide but know this is only the beginning.
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