Step 1: Conduct an evaluation of your existing recruiting process for diversity.
Examine the diversity of your present recruiting process and look for bottlenecks and anomalies. Is there a problem at the top of the funnel? Is it more of a leaky pipeline problem?
You can't get an accurate sense of how to shift the needle unless you study your diversity hiring statistics.
Consider the following:
What are the advantages of my diverse hiring?
What are the difficulties in my diversity hiring?
Step 2: Select one recruiting diversity measure to improve.
It might be difficult to alter your diversity hiring metrics. The CEO of Intel has set an ambitious aim of achieving diversity parity by 2020. But you don't have to be quite that ambitious. The easiest method to enhance your diversity hiring is to focus on one indicator.
For example, it may be raising the ratio of competent female workers in tech-related areas by 10% during the next six months. Alternatively, within a year, increase the ratio of qualified visible minorities on your sales staff by 15%.
Step 3: Increase the variety of your applicant source.
If your diversity recruiting audit indicates that you are failing to locate and attract diverse applicants in the first place, you have various options.
Tip 1: Rephrase your job ad.
According to research, the wording you use in your job description might assist or hinder different people from applying for your available position. To attract more female applicants, avoid using too many "masculine-type" phrases in your job description (e.g., ambitious, dominant, tough). Using this handy tool, you can see whether your job ad is discouraging female applications.
Tip 2: Demonstrate your current workplace diversity (or the diversity you aspire to)
One of the most significant impediments to fostering workplace diversity is the fact that diversity attracts diversity. According to Glassdoor, 67 percent of job seekers perceive diversity to be an essential consideration when evaluating firms and job offers.
Examine the photos and videos of your workplace on your website and social media platforms. Photos and videos of your workers should demonstrate their variety.
3rd tip: Provide workplace flexibility.
A lengthy commute has been demonstrated to be a major predictor of employee turnover. Because distance from central office sites is often associated with more varied neighborhoods, providing work from home choices and flexible work hours not only attracts more diverse applicants, but also helps reduce costly turnover.
Encourage minority workers to suggest others.
In general, individuals's social and professional networks are formed up of demographically similar people. You may take advantage of this network similarity effect by encouraging minority workers to recommend members of their community. Minority employee referrals help you enhance diversity recruiting while also reaping the advantages of hiring via recommendations in the first place.
Step 4: Increase the variety of your applicant screening.
Many of the standard applicant screening factors, such as their previous business, school, or personal connection, often reduce the diversity of the candidate pipeline.
If your diversity recruiting audit finds that your applicant screening pipeline is leaking, there are a few of terrific techniques you may explore.
Tool 1: Pre-hire evaluation
According to research, organizations that employ a pre-hire personality profile have more ethnically diverse workforce. Personality evaluations aid in increasing workplace diversity since minority group members' personality ratings do not vary considerably (i.e., no adverse impact).
Tool number two is blind hiring.
Blind hiring refers to any strategy that anonymizes or "blinds" personal information about a candidate from the recruiter or hiring manager, which might result in unconscious (or conscious) prejudice against the applicant.
Software that anonymizes resumes by deleting names, schools, and even addresses, as well as software that anonymizes pre-hire testing, are already available and show encouraging indicators of decreasing unconscious prejudice.
Step 5: Increase the variety of your applicant shortlisting.
If your diversity recruiting audit finds that your applicant shortlisting is the bottleneck, there are two approaches you should be aware of.
The "two in the pool effect" is the first technique.
According to Harvard Business Review research, when the final applicant pool has just one minority candidate, he or she has almost no chance of getting hired.
If there are at least two female applicants in the final candidate pool, the chances of employing a female candidate increase by 79 times. If at least two minority applicants are included in the final candidate pool, the chances of employing a minority candidate increase 194 times. As a result, the "two in the pool effect" occurs.
Technique 2: Selective shortlisting
Automated intelligent shortlisting enhances workplace diversity by automating the most time-consuming and unpleasant component of the recruiting process: manual shortlisting.
Intelligent shortlisting software is embedded into your ATS and leverages your resume information to learn about current workers' experience, talents, and other criteria. The shortlisting program then applies this criterion objectively and consistently across all applicants, reducing difficulties associated with unconscious biases and unintended prejudice.
Step 6: Examine your recruiting metrics for diversity.
Return to the diversity hiring measure target you established in Step 2. Did you achieve your objective? Which techniques were successful and which were not? Rinse and again if you were successful in meeting your diversity recruiting target. If not, assess which techniques were successful and which were not, and repeat your approach.
The key takeaways
HR's #1 focus in 2016 is workplace diversity and inclusion. Hiring for diversity is based on merit, with additional attention given to ensure that processes remove prejudices related to a candidate's age, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation, and other personal factors that are irrelevant to their work performance.
Take the following six measures to boost your diversity hiring:
Step 1: Conduct an evaluation of your existing recruiting process for diversity.
Step 2: Select one recruiting diversity measure to improve.
Step 3: Increase the variety of your applicant source.
Step 4: Increase the variety of your applicant screening.
Step 5: Increase the variety of your applicant shortlisting.
Step 6: Examine your recruiting metrics for diversity.
Remember to gather data before and after any diversity recruiting campaign to evaluate the effectiveness of your methods and iterate on what isn't working.