How to Recruit and Retain Diverse Candidates
by Simma Lieberman

If there is not enough diversity in your employee base or
there is high turnover with certain groups of employees,
your organization will not be able to leverage the power of
diversity. Building diversity in a company through
recruiting and retention is an important step to creating an
inclusive workplace. Are your recruiting efforts doing the
following? Here are some tips to help build diversity in
your organization through recruitment:

- Begin to recruit from middle and high schools. Attend
career days and come prepared to discuss the benefits of
working for your organization and your industry.

- Identify stereotypes of people who work in your industry
and develop strategies for changing perceptions i.e.
Firefighting should only be a male occupation.

- Use more inclusive language and visuals in rule books,
orientation, and recruiting materials.

- Create cross-cultural and cross gender mentoring programs
and provide training for mentors.

- Develop relationships with associations and organizations
that are geared toward underrepresented groups.

- Be aware of your own biases and stereotypes and their
impact on the environment.

- Create processes to make people who are different from you
feel welcome and included in your organization.

- Mentor people who are from different cultural or ethnic
backgrounds or gender from you. It will help you become more
comfortable with other people and will help your staff grow
in their careers.

- Incorporate ideas from other cultures to solve problems
and be more innovative.

- Use resources that are already in place and research what
other organizations have done to be successful.

- Provide cross-cultural communication training to help
staff work better together and serve the client population
more effectively.

- Survey and interview staff across demographics to
determine their needs in order to create a strategic plan
for retention and increased recruitment under represented
populations.

- Examine your definition of leadership qualities to include
ways in which people who have different thought processes
and communication styles can lead. If you have been
hierarchical in the past, start learning that people with
consensus styles can also be effective leaders.

- Conduct exit interviews and identify patterns and themes
if they exist.

- Be willing to change to accommodate and use new ideas and
creativity.


Simma Lieberman helps organizations create environments
where people can do their best work and be successful. She
specializes in Diversity and Inclusion,  Diversity
Dialogues, and Eliminating Fear and Self-doubt. Simma is the
co-author with Kate Berardo and George Simons of the book
"Putting Diversity to Work." She can be reached at
http://www.simmalieberman.com