When you’re asking yourself how to source diverse talent for your company, you’ll most likely run into a few questions. For example, what is diversity sourcing really? How can you implement it?
And if you’re already working on sourcing diverse candidates, how can you fine-tune your efforts for the best results?
This article will provide a guide to diversity talent sourcing that covers some of the most essential tips, then share what makes a diversity sourcing audit so important.
What is Diversity Sourcing, and Why is it Important?
The practice of sourcing diverse talent essentially means looking for candidates of all kinds when you’re recruiting for a role.
Diversity sourcing means making a deliberate effort to include candidates of color, LGBTQ+ candidates, people of any or no gender, disabled people, and individuals from other marginalized groups in your pool of candidates.
This practice is crucial. That’s because the world is a diverse place, and including more perspectives and voices in your company gives you access to a broader range of ideas and boosts innovation.
Plus, when you put in the effort and source diversely, you can guarantee you’ll have access to the deepest pool of candidates for any role. That means you’ll have a much better chance of finding an ideal fit every time you hire for a position.
How to Recruit Diverse Candidates: 9 Techniques to Use
Any time you’re looking to improve the hiring process, it’s well putting in the effort to make sure you’re recruiting diverse candidates. The following tactics will help you achieve true hiring diversity.
1. Recruit across platforms
There’s no one-word answer to the question of where to find diverse candidates—except maybe ‘everywhere’.
Not all types of people use the same platforms, recruitment centres, or tools. That means that you should move towards recruiting in as many different places as possible.
This lets you access the broadest possible pool of candidates and makes it easier to attract diverse talent as you do so.
With proper reporting tools, you can gain insight on where your diverse candidates and hires are coming from. This allows your recruitment team to focus efforts on advertising your jobs where there is a better chance of finding fantastic, diverse candidates.
2. Address unconscious biases
One of the most critical diversity-sourcing best practices is to consciously choose to focus on the biases you might not even realise you have.
For example, you might be more inclined to hire employees with a ‘conventional’ or ‘easy to pronounce’ name. This inherently excludes large groups of candidates, particularly ones from minority ethnic backgrounds.
This is not a reflection on anyone’s character—rather, unconscious bias is a product of cultural and societal norms. That’s why just about anyone can benefit from unlearning these biases and why this practice is crucial to hiring diverse talent.
Anonymising the screening process can greatly help with this. Oleeo’s Name Blind screening tool will hide any personal information about the candidate from the recruiter so they can focus on the important information and make an informed decision on the candidate. This tool can also anonymise candidates’ CVs so to further ensure anonymity and unbiased recruitment decisions.
3. Transform your company’s culture
When considering how to source diverse candidates, a vital thing to consider is whether your whole company is geared towards this goal. Is it only the hiring team that’s dedicated to bringing in diverse talent, or is everyone excited about the prospect?
In other words, we’re talking about company culture.
It’s a great idea to work on your internal company culture and make sure that every team, group, and project is welcoming to diverse candidates. For example, you’d want to make it clear that your HR policies around fertility support do not limit the benefit to couples diagnosed with infertility, as LGBTQ+ employees are unlikely to be included in this.
An inclusive policy makes it clear to LGBTQ+ employees that they would be supported at your company.
4. Integrate diversity into your brand identity
In a similar vein to changing your company culture, you’ll want to adjust your messaging and brand identity to reflect these values.
For example, if you’re a clothing brand, consider diversifying your products, as well as the models you use to showcase them. When you provide these direct, visible displays of your values, you’ll have a much easier time drawing in diverse candidates.
Your brand messaging should also be consistent so as to construct a cohesive identity. That means your website, ads, social media accounts, and more must all incorporate diversity. This way, you’ll communicate authenticity and integrity.
5. Partner with programmes
It can be a lot of pressure for just one diversity sourcer, or team of sourcers, to assume full responsibility for finding diverse candidates. That’s why it’s a great idea to partner with the kinds of groups that are also working towards these goals.
For example, you might find a great partner in a university that’s working to promote diverse candidates in your industry. This gives you access to a strong pool of candidates to choose from.
Also, consider partnering up with organisations dedicated to specific kinds of diversity. For example, you could seek out a group focused on providing valuable employment opportunities to autistic people.
6. Use dedicated software
Another great idea is to start using diversity-sourcing solutions. These can help you track diversity statistics and implement measures you come up with to further your diversity sourcing goals.
You could use a candidate management system that lets you reduce churn and boost retention. This shows diverse candidates that you’re interested in genuinely carving out a space for them in your company on a permanent basis, which helps with attracting candidates hoping to make a career with you.
Software solutions can also generate automatic insights into your current hiring statistics. This lets you draw up plans and solutions to specifically address gaps in your diversity sourcing strategy.
7. Offer accessible accommodations
A crucial part of implementing truly diverse hiring practices is making sure that candidates of all kinds will feel safe, happy, and welcomed within your company. You can do this by demonstrating that you’re dedicated to accommodating them.
In some cases, candidates might feel like they won’t truly have a place at your company if you can’t prove that you’re willing to cater to their needs. For example, a hard of hearing(HOH) candidate might feel excluded automatically if your branded videos don’t include subtitles and/or closed captions.
Working to ensure your candidate application portal meets WCAG accessibility standards set out by W3C can help ensure that all candidates can confidently and easily navigate your application process as well as feel empowered to join your company.
By making sure you’re transparent about accommodations, you can create an environment that automatically attracts more diverse candidates.
8. Look beyond qualifications
When you’re looking to recruit diverse talent, it’s important to remember that many candidates won’t have had access to the opportunities they’d need to gather traditional experience.
For example, someone from a lower socio-economic status might not be able to afford to take unpaid internships that would pave the way to valuable experience. They may also not have had the means to attend university.
Oleeo’s Social Mobility tool can help put candidates’ achievements in perspective for recruiters so they can see just how fantastic a candidate is and not miss out on a great hire!
This is why it can be a great idea to avoid eliminating people immediately based on a lack of experience. Instead, focus on their soft skills, their enthusiasm for the role, their personality, and the ways in which they would fit into their prospective team.
9. Keep an open mind
‘Diversity’ is a broad, far-reaching term that includes vast numbers of sub-groups. This is a wonderful thing—the more diverse your hiring practices are, the more unique perspectives your company gets to benefit from.
This also means that diversity won’t always look the way you’re expecting it to.
Maybe you’ve already worked with people from lots of different racial and cultural backgrounds, and you’ve been hiring more LGBTQ+ employees. But what about people with different kinds of disabilities, those from socio-economic backgrounds, or those with lower education levels?
Always remember that there are just about as many ways to quantify diversity as there are planets in the universe (it’s hard to put an exact number down, but there are lots). By being open to new kinds of diversity, you can enrich the experience for everyone and ensure your company hires from an extensive selection of candidates.
The Importance of a Diversity Sourcing Audit
Figuring out how to find diverse candidates is just one part of the process. You’ll also want to conduct regular diversity sourcing audits, which collect data and measure how your company is boosting its internal diversity.
Diversity sourcing audits matter because they let you quantify and analyse your progress.
This means you’ll be able to adjust your strategy and assess both your strengths and weaknesses, making room for growth in the future. By auditing your diversity sourcing process on a regular basis, you can ensure you’re keeping up with changes in your industry and continuously improving.
Create a Solid Diversity Sourcing Strategy Using Talent Acquisition Software
Diversity sourcing is a challenging yet necessary and rewarding process. The best way to make sure you’re doing it right is to continuously monitor your progress and to use the right tools as you do so.
Talent acquisition software like Oleeo can help you secure both candidate quality and diversity, making the matter of sourcing diverse candidates more straightforward than ever. That’s because diversity recruiting is built into the bones of what Oleeo offers.
By using Oleeo’s Diversity Recruiting Platforms, you can ensure that all your effort bears fruit and that your company is a welcoming place for diverse talent of all kinds.
Plus, you can easily prepare yourself for the future with this kind of software. Oleeo helps you keep your diversity sourcing practices fully up to date so you’re always ready for what the future has in store.
