With diversity, equity, and inclusion taking center stage in today’s legal and media landscapes, organizations eager to hire diverse talent find themselves navigating a highly polarized environment. Leaders often wonder how to adjust their hiring practices to be both inclusive and legal. This article outlines a step-by-step approach to legally hiring and retaining diverse talent without falling into the pitfalls of preferential treatment or quotas.
Step 1: Expand the Candidate Pool
The first step to hiring inclusively and legally involves focusing on broadening the pool of candidates rather than setting quotas or specific goals about who is hired. A common misconception among dominant group members is that they should avoid hiring people similar to themselves and should only focus on women or people of color. This misunderstanding does not foster an inclusive environment where diverse talent would want to remain.
Recruiters often receive a high volume of applications for quality job postings. They typically rely on algorithms or AI tools to sift through resumes for specific keywords related to location, education, and job titles. This reliance significantly narrows the diversity of the candidate pool and fosters the false perception that “diverse, qualified candidates are hard to find.” Changing this approach is essential to discovering more diverse talent. Algorithms often filter out resumes based on baseline criteria like location, education credentials, or previous employers, which might exclude historically Black colleges and universities, technical schools, or startups where diverse talent may be present yet overlooked.
Recruiters need to broaden their scope by reassessing and widening their search criteria. For instance, instead of solely searching within a specific geographic location, they should consider candidates willing to relocate. Broadened search criteria might include looking at a more varied range of educational institutions, industries, or previous job titles, thus diversifying the candidate pool. Michelle Volberg, CEO and founder of the diverse recruiting platform Twill, shared an example from her platform: “We worked with a firm recruiting for a senior IT position in Boston, and the software filtered out everyone outside of Massachusetts. They were unable to find many diverse candidates. Through Twill, they found a qualified woman in Philadelphia and hired her much more quickly than traditional sourcing platforms.“
Step 2: Enable Verified Referrals
Affinity bias is one form of subconscious bias where individuals show a preference for being around and working with people similar to themselves. This bias often translates into hiring practices, where people are more likely to refer and interview candidates from within their close circles. Those circles tend to be homogenous, thus reinforcing the lack of diversity in hiring. Leaders must be intentional about creating pathways for diverse hires by encouraging and facilitating verified referrals.
Verified referrals offer a credible way to discover diverse talent. By implementing systems that prioritize these referrals, organizations can bridge the gap between awareness and action. Volberg highlights the dangers of relying on like-me hiring networks, stating that “eventually, recruiters and hiring managers will run out of talent or continue to bring in the same type of person through like-me networks.” The Twill model simplifies this process: diverse members result in diverse referrals which result in diverse hires. Statistically, 50% of referrals through this model are candidates from diverse backgrounds.
To enhance the effectiveness of these referrals, it is crucial to have a process where each referred candidate receives thorough and fair consideration. Unlike traditional resumes that might get lost or overlooked in the flood, Twill’s process involves each candidate being reviewed by an actual person, not just an algorithm. On average, Twill prioritizes 15 candidates per role, expediting the hiring process significantly. Consequently, qualified hires are often made within 22 days, nearly half the industry standard time of 44 days.
Step 3: Select the Top Applicant
In today’s legal and media environments, where diversity, equity, and inclusion are in the spotlight, organizations eager to employ diverse talent must navigate a highly polarized landscape. Business leaders often find themselves questioning how to adapt their hiring practices to ensure they are both inclusive and compliant with the law. This article provides a comprehensive, step-by-step guide to help organizations legally hire and retain diverse talent. It aims to help companies avoid the pitfalls associated with preferential treatment and quotas, allowing them to build a workforce that is both inclusive and diverse without crossing legal boundaries. The guidance focuses on legal frameworks and strategic adjustments to current hiring practices, ensuring organizations can foster diverse work environments responsibly. By following these steps, leaders will better understand how to create a welcoming and inclusive workplace while staying within legal limits, thus promoting sustainable diversity and equity.