New Ways to Recruit Diverse Candidates with Amazing Results

Oooh! I am very excited! See, I did this interview with the Head of Talent Acquisition at a large US software firm. The interview is part of a series of interviews I am doing for a Diversity and Inclusion Best Practice Guide. My interviewee shared what she has been doing to attract and recruit more diverse candidates. Three of her initiatives were new to me. They may not be new to you, but…if you aren’t doing them yet, you should!

All three things are super practical and easy to implement. Yet, specifically, those three are having the biggest impact on diversity in the funnel. Soooo exciting! I love coming across practical ways to help you find new ways to recruit diverse candidates. Especially when they are easy.

Three new ways to recruit diverse candidates:

1. Use Boolean string in searches

When you are searching for candidates to approach, type in the job role you are looking for, then use AND/OR commands to include information that may suggest they have a diverse background. For example, type in ‘teachers AND ‘name of college with a high number of ethnically diverse students’. The company has now developed a list with educational community organisations, educational charities, sororities, and fraternities that are linked to particular characteristics.

2. Use market intelligence

The Talent Acquisition team use a software tool – Talent Neuron – which enables them to see market data on talent pools anywhere in the world, including identifying locations with strong diverse pools of talent. This data can be searched with Booleans too, eg ‘software developer’ AND ‘gender’. This informs where to focus talent acquisition and regional branding strategies. It also helps the team to understand why it’s harder to recruit diverse candidates in some areas at the moment.

3. Inclusive Sourcing meetings

The global Talent Acquisition (TA) team convenes weekly to focus specifically on identifying, researching, and networking with diverse candidates. These sessions begin with an education component (e.g. a guest speaker or sharing of research and best practices) followed by a devoted sourcing session. That way all our TA staff feel responsible for inclusion, and they are considering involving hiring managers in the future as well. It puts inclusive sourcing front of mind for all, makes everyone responsible, and leads to new ideas. The idea for Boolean searches came from one of these sessions.

Of course, they have also introduced ‘diverse slates’ for senior roles, are reviewing job descriptions and requirements, training hiring managers, and started partnerships with educational charities, colleges, and schools, to reach out to candidates early in their careers. Nothing new there.

In case you are new to the topic though, or this is the first time you have come across my blogs, you may like to look up some of my previous blogs (and video!) on those strategies. You will find plenty more tips, strategies, and creative ideas to recruit diverse candidates.

• A quick overview in my video ‘Recruiting Women in Tech and Engineering’
• The same topic, but in a bit more detail in my blog – Recruiting Women in Tech and Engineering
• What Works to Recruit Women into Tech and Engineering – my own story of finding a job in tech
• The top 10 questions for attracting diverse candidates
• Attracting diverse candidates – some great examples of what others are doing that works
• Demystify Technology – It Works to Recruit Women into Tech and Engineering
• Recruiting Women into Science and Technology – a New Dutch Model
• Role models in Gender Diversity Work