According to the 2018 LinkedIn Global Recruiting Trends Report, “78% of talent professionals and hiring managers say that diversity is the top trend impacting how they hire”. Indeed there is growing evidence that “diverse teams are more productive, more innovative, and more engaged”.
It is fair to say then, that quality candidates who are considering work with your company, will want to know more about your diversity and inclusion policies and how they benefit employees.
You need to create a compelling message in the recruitment process about how your diversity and inclusion initiatives have a positive impact on your employees.
So how can you demonstrate your company’s commitment to a diversity strategy as part of the recruitment and talent acquisition process? Making your initiatives more visible to candidates is pivotal when you are looking to secure the market’s top talent.
Showcasing diversity strategies
You should showcase all of your diversity and inclusion initiatives in some shape or form as part of your recruitment and talent acquisition strategy. Your policies might include gender, racial, cultural bias and stereotype training, mentorship programs or the use of technology and behavioural science to reduce bias in performance evaluations.
You might like to highlight how you have reengineered hiring processes, normalised flexible working hours or how you measure the success of your diversity programs. You might talk about the successful implementation of structural interventions or make reference to the mental health and affiliated health service assistance you provide to every employee.
Whatever your diversity and inclusion policies are, you need to find ways to effectively communicate them and their employee benefits, through your recruitment and talent acquisition process.
The ways you can showcase your commitment to diversity and inclusion are only limited by your company’s imagination (and your core brand message guidelines of course!!).
Conveying your diversity initiatives to candidates
Here are some ideas for making your diversity and inclusion initiatives more visible to candidates considering joining your company:
- Social media content: As part of your social media strategy, make sure you create posts, on all relevant social media platforms, that reference how your diversity and inclusion policies are improving the performance of the company and the lives of your employees. Here are some examples:
- photos of your team getting together to learn about one another’s cultures
- shots of employees working from home
- pics of your recruitment or talent team sitting down to review how your diversity initiatives are working
- photos of different teams coming together to work (or play!)
- Shots of mentoring relationships in action, explaining the positive results that are created as part of that initiative
- Content acknowledging various culturally significant days
- LinkedIn content: Author LinkedIn articles about how your company is implementing diversity and inclusion programs
- LinkedIn content: Comment on diversity articles written by others to demonstrate your company’s commitment and interest in diversity and inclusion
- Website content: Create content for your Employment/Careers page that articulates your diversity and inclusion policies and how they benefit employees
- Recruitment strategy: Include a diversity and inclusion statement as a standard inclusion in all of your job advertisements
- Recruitment strategy: Make sure each interviewer makes reference to your diversity and inclusion policies as part of the interview process. Make sure those interviewing understand the benefits of your diversity and inclusion strategy inside out!
- Industry contribution: Contribute to industry events by sitting on diversity and inclusion conversation topic panels. This speaks volumes to your commitment to supporting diversity and inclusion strategies
- Industry contribution: Sponsor industry awards related to diversity and inclusion
- Interview process: Make sure you incorporate a diverse range of interviewers as part of your recruitment process
- Talent Acquisition strategy: Create content in periodic digital newsletters to your talent pool that showcase how your diversity and inclusion policies are improving the lives of employees
- Email signature: Create a diversity by-line for your email signature. Candidates will see this when you are corresponding with them
Making your diversity and inclusion policy count
Simply having a diversity and inclusion strategy or individual policies is not enough to impress candidates in a highly competitive marketplace. To really impress candidates, you need to find ways to demonstrate and communicate how your diversity and inclusion strategy benefits employees.
Use the many digital channels available to your company to consistently showcase your strategy in action.
Keep an eye on what your competitors are doing to make sure you keep pace. Better yet, race ahead of the competition with innovative policies that you measure regularly for success. Your employer brand will thank you. And you can be sure that candidates will sit up and take notice.
Further Reading and Resources
Does Diversity Training Work the Way it’s Supposed to
3 Ways to Promote Gender Diversity in the C Suite
Launching a Diversity and Inclusion Program Isn’t Enough – Here’s How to Make a Meaningful Impact
5 Ways Companies Celebrate Pride All Year Long – and Show LGBTQ+ Employees They Care
15 Gender Identity Terms you Need to Know to Build an Inclusive Workplace
Here’s how your word choices could affect hiring gender-diverse talent
How to create a diverse talent pipeline: 4 tips from Shopify, PowerToFly, and Vbro