Diversity recruiting is a key organizational success factor. Hiring underrepresented populations is economically and socially beneficial, yet difficult. Everyone would do it if hiring and retaining a diverse workforce were easy. You’ve lost a competitive advantage. Here are seven tips for success that will impact your DEI analytics.
Eliminate Negative Thoughts
First, eliminate negative thoughts that are holding firms back. Do you believe the lack of women is a pipeline issue? Do you think women aren’t as competent as white men? All evidence suggests otherwise. Although robotics isn’t a diverse sector, the Silicon Valley Robotics Online Job Fair averaged 33.3% women and 10% minorities last year. This is our target demographic.
Companies generally stifle qualified, educated women. Job descriptions, credentials, recruiting, and company culture are all problematic. DEI analytics can show these weaknesses.
Forget the Pipeline
Bust the “pipeline” myth. It’s irrelevant to diversity hiring now. Consider instead what keeps women and minorities from applying for jobs at the same rate as others. What’s stopping them from getting hired and remaining at a company? Women leave the job twice to three times as often as the typical white guy, thus clever women won’t join a firm without diversity understanding.
Fixing women won’t help you employ them. You can fix recruiting and culture. Ideal recruiting pipelines reflect local demographics. Every stage of the process should be assessed and analyzed for missed targets. Multistage procedures with multiple solutions. There’s no silver bullet.
Diversify Recruitment Practices
Ask yourself, where do you recruit? Unless you’re seeking diversity, a company’s “friends of friends” network is the best employment resource. Alumni networks are the same. Have you tried Women in Engineering or women’s colleges? Have you invited women and underrepresented groups to apply? Diversity-awareness helps.
Advertise Open Positions Differently
It also helps if your commercials are less sexist. If you want “rockstars” or “ninjas,” women won’t apply. In those and other areas, women are competitive. Absolutely. Why bother applying if the obvious answer is “not female”? Timed technical interviews and personality exams eliminate underrepresented groups.
Change Your Assumptions
Showcasing a job’s social and communication features can attract more applications. It helps to rethink company-wide assumptions regarding job criteria. Diverse candidates may have attended less-prestigious institutions or worked in various fields. They haven’t pursued the same professional routes as the ordinary white male, so don’t eliminate them.
Studies reveal that women apply for jobs with 100 percent of the required skills, whereas males apply with 50 percent or less of the listed talents. Details are less known. In interviews, women are expected to prove their talents, whereas males are recognized as having potential. Women don’t need greater confidence. Interviewers must rate both men’s and women’s potential positively.
Retain Diverse Talent
This imbalance in appraisal leads to women and underrepresented minorities getting paid less and climbing the job ladder more slowly. Women are denied fast-track chances for spurious reasons and then punished for lacking leadership skills. Women who assert themselves are seen unfavorably, according to studies.
Can you prove your company’s female-friendliness? Women will join your organization if you show them women in technical jobs loving their work and being rewarded. We all know those hardhat-and-lipstick stock pictures. Consider making pay bands and compensation clear. We know that historically, negotiating hasn’t benefited women or minorities.
Transparency in salary ranges and a workplace culture that supports diversity are key draws. When the C-suite and board of directors are all white guys, it’s hard to think a firm is devoted to diversity. Create a managerial track with a diversity commitment to coach diverse applicants.
Diversify the Workforce Early
Diversity makes it easier for a firm to prosper. If you have 10 employees, every new recruit might affect your demographics and business culture. Once you have hundreds of employees, changing the ratio has less influence. You’ve racked up a “diversity debt,” and turnover may be an issue.
Don’t quit; improve. Diversity hiring isn’t merely good practice. Better recruiting processes provide you with a competitive market edge and improve innovation possibilities.