The IT industry is recognizing that diversifying talent is not only the right thing to do but is also good for business.
Amid today’s Great Resignation and labor-market disruption, organizations have ample opportunity to hire from historically overlooked areas and build teams that represent the full spectrum of backgrounds, identities, and beliefs.
At Manifest Solutions, we have put in place the people and programs to ensure we are approaching diversity thoughtfully and proactively.
Here are some important steps that can be taken to recruit diverse talent, round out your team, and ultimately enhance company performance.
Put the Right Leadership in Place
The journey to achieving real progress in diversity, equity, and inclusion begins with one simple step: ensuring your hiring managers and decision-makers come from underrepresented groups.
Based on their own lived experiences, diverse leaders have the unique ability to see the traits of a job candidate that others may overlook or miss.
In addition to overseeing the recruitment and hiring process, this hiring manager should have the ability to weigh in on company-wide policies and decisions.
You can say all the right things, but it rings hollow without the right leaders in place.
Understand Biases
Everyone working in a decision-making role needs to understand they have implicit biases and blind spots. To assume otherwise is to be lying to yourself.
It is common to hear someone say they do not see color or that they treat everyone the same. Their heart is usually in the right place, but the idea is simply unrealistic.
Organizations and their hiring managers must be aware of biases related to names, backgrounds, educations, and other details from a résumé, as well physical appearance. Even positive biases—such as thinking you are doing an underrepresented candidate a favor by not hiring them to join a homogeneous team—can narrow the doorway of employment.
Acknowledging that we all carry implicit biases is an important step toward navigating those biases and improving hiring practices.
Hiring diverse talent begins with understanding human behavior. From there, organizations can establish procedures and go about implementing real change.
Be Open and Honest
Embracing diverse talent requires transparency on the part of hiring managers.
Candidates should be given a thorough preview of the company’s cultural makeup and team dynamics, policies, areas for improvement, and long-term strategy with respect to diversity. When a hiring manager paints an accurate picture of their organization, a candidate is able to make an educated decision about their employment.
Additionally, hiring managers should take an open and honest approach to the vetting of candidates. If the hiring manager has doubts or questions about a candidate’s previous experience or skill set, they should discuss those issues candidly. This helps prevent a strong candidate from an underrepresented background from being overlooked.
Although many organizations are creating quantifiable goals around their diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, such well-meaning goals are futile if actionable steps are not taken.
Your organization can become organically diverse by putting the right people in leadership and decision-making capacities.
The less-measurable approaches are the foundation to real change, setting the tone for a culture that people from all walks of life want to be a part of.
