How To Find More Diverse Candidates For Your Open Job Opportunities
Most business leaders agree that improving workforce diversity leads to tremendous success. Diversity offers many noteworthy benefits for businesses. By promoting different perspectives and integrating different skills, you open the door to more significant innovation within the industry and boost satisfaction among your employees.
When it comes to finding diverse candidates, it can be difficult. You may not be sure where to look for diverse candidates with the skills and characteristics you’re looking for to fill your company’s job openings. Attracting these candidates to you may be even more difficult if you are unsure how to get their attention.
Attracting a wide variety of talent to your company is vital to improving your diversity. Let’s look at ways you can find and attract more diverse candidates for your open positions.
Diversity in All Forms
Diversity in the workplace is about more than skin color. Diversity includes ethnicities, genders, ages, cultures, backgrounds, and ideologies. The best ways to convey your company’s openness to diversity are through inclusive language and diverse recruiters.
Inclusive Language Invites Applicants
When it comes to the language you use in your job advertisements, begin with the end in mind. Inclusive language is really about cultural competence. By understanding how language can encourage or limit others, you ensure that job descriptions and postings invite rather than intimidate.
For example, a job ad for an entry-level position that is filled with corporate jargon and excessive experience requirements may discourage younger applicants from applying.
Another example: Female applicants are more likely to hesitate to apply if they do not meet all requirements. With that in mind, removing unnecessary “must-haves” encourages more women to apply.
Diverse Recruiters Welcome Applicants
Diversity attracts diversity, so a workplace with a diverse culture naturally attracts diverse candidates to apply. When your company displays diversity in high-visibility positions, including recruitment, it sets a tone for the company brand that gets noticed.
Diverse recruiters also understand both sides of the job search and hiring process. They know what attracted them to your company and who will be a good fit for it. Skilled recruiters are an invaluable resource for building workplace diversity through hiring.
Adjust Your Application Process
The application process is the first step in the hiring process, the first meeting between you and your prospective employee. However, that first meeting may never happen if the process is complicated or discouraging for diverse workers.
Assessments and paperwork can impact protected groups in different ways, so take the time to review your hiring process and see what impact they might be having and what you can do to ensure qualified candidates are not getting lost along the way.
Ensure that candidates understand the job requirements from the beginning and limit your “must-haves” to keep opportunities open to experienced applicants.
Hire Remotely
If possible, open your recruitment to remote workers. For many positions, working remotely is not only a possibility but an ideal way to open access to a global talent pool. Remote workers not only increase your workplace’s diversity but can also be an economical way to expand your employee roster.
Living costs in some major cities and metropolitan areas can limit and prevent well-qualified workers from pursuing positions. You will find many diverse candidates ready to join your team for reasonable salaries by eliminating the need to relocate for work.
Get Active with Professional and Social Networking
When you want diverse talent, you have to go where the diverse talent is. Expanding your recruitment pool should include getting involved and connecting with a wide variety of organizations, including:
- Cultural organizations
- Community organizations
- Professional associations
- Professional social groups and forums
- College and university alumni services
- Specialized networking groups
Networking within these groups and organizations puts not only diverse talent within your reach but also provides invaluable resources and education that teach you how to meet the needs of diverse talent. When your business demonstrates an understanding and eagerness to embrace true diversity, prospective workers take notice.
Conclusion
Building a diverse workplace begins within your company. Showcasing a diverse leadership structure and diverse recruitment roster shows prospective job talent that you are serious about building true diversity within your business.
When you embrace diversity in the workplace, you put out a welcome sign for people with the skills, qualifications, and experience to step up and start the hiring process. Whether you are adding permanent employees to your company or searching for qualified candidates to fill positions on a temporary or contract basis, the diversity of your workplace culture invites others in.
When you work with a staffing firm like Vector Talent Resources, you can expand your hiring pool and connect with experienced, vetted talent. With a wide variety of workers available to suit your company’s needs, staffing firms cut through the hiring process, delivering qualified candidates directly to you.
Ready to start building diversity in your company? Contact Vector Talent Resources today!
