A diverse workforce is a “must have” if you want your business to succeed. Hiring diverse talent is a great way to share unique experiences, drive innovation, and recruit other diverse workers. As the population becomes more diverse, it makes sense that the workforce should represent this diversity as well. Yet, many employers are missing the mark, and diverse candidates seem to be getting lost in the recruiting funnel.
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Where Is Diverse Talent Falling Out of the Funnel?
There’s good news and bad news. First, the good news: Diverse candidates ARE actually making it into your recruiting funnel. But the bad news is that they don’t make it very far. If the top of your funnel is “getting candidates to view your career site,” you’re losing them at the next stage: APPLYING after viewing your career site.
According to PathMotion’s new eBook, Diversity Recruiting: What’s on Candidates’ Minds?, 57% of talent acquisition (TA) professionals say they believe they’re losing candidates at this stage because their career sites don’t display a diverse and inclusive workforce. Additionally, these respondents also suggest that diverse talent is dropping off because candidates aren’t getting the information they need when researching a company.
As the title of this article implies, we have three strategies to help you, and if you haven’t already figured it out, updating your career site is number one.
1. Highlight Your Diverse Workers on Your Career Site
When diverse talent goes to your career site, they’re looking for answers to these specific questions:
- Am I eligible for this job?
- Where do I fit in?
- What is the work environment like?
Each question can be applied to specific groups of diverse workers. For example, workers who are concerned they may be too old/young for the job, may not have the education required, or have a criminal record usually want to know: Am I eligible?
“The first group of candidates needs reassurance that their application is not in vain,” says the report. “They want to know if they can even come to work in the first place. Evidently, the employer’s communication material failed to convey a sense of inclusion, or to clarify the employer’s diverse recruitment policy.”
Military and veteran talent are usually concerned with how they fit into the company/role. “The second group includes those who are confident in their skills, but aren’t sure the available position is best suited for that particular skillset. Once again, diverse employees appear to be missing crucial information as to where they should apply according to the skills they can offer,” says the report.
And finally, diverse talent that falls under the race, gender, ethnic, and/or religious “labels” are concerned with the work environment. According to the report, “the largest groups of diverse candidates question whether the company will support them in the long term. The company culture isn’t properly depicted, and the organisation fails to answer the specific, concrete questions real-life candidates have.”
When updating or creating your career page, you want to make sure the content on the site answers all of these questions. PathMotion says diverse talent groups “want testimonials, facts, and communication material that address specific questions, not just text and stock photos that tick the diversity check-boxes.”
2. Bring Diverse Talent to Career Fairs
Career fairs are great for everyone involved. Jobseekers get to learn more about your company, and you, as the employer, have the chance to engage and recruit these candidates in the hopes of landing them for your vacant roles. However, if you’re trying to attract diverse candidates, the employees who represent your company at career fairs should be diverse as well.
Career fairs give candidates the opportunity to interact with your staff and learn more about your company, which is why you should be sending an array of talent to represent you. Jobseekers can speak with your workers to get firsthand knowledge about what it’s like to work at your company, and these potential candidates will be able to see for themselves that your company strives to employ a diverse workforce.
When your diverse workers are able to share their stories, “they address specific answers, accurately evoke the company culture, and ease doubts in potential candidates’ minds, they are a powerful, versatile tool that shows tremendous results across all communication channels and touchpoints,” says PathMotion.
3. Create Employee Advocacy Groups
If you’ve already adopted strategy #2, PathMotion suggests that you should also try creating an advocacy group composed of employees close to your values and culture. The report says this can be a great way to optimize your reach, and you’ll be able to attract more diverse talent by making these groups scalable.
PathMotion says that “it’s not enough to send your diversity representatives to the odd job fair. They must be available to answer questions—from candidates, and their stories must be published to all other candidates through scalable, online platforms that ensure no diverse candidate will slip through the net.” And what better place to showcase these stories than through your career website! We’ve come full circle now!
Employee advocacy groups are gaining in popularity, and now due to social media, employers are able to expand their brand and show jobseekers how they are catering to diverse workers’ needs. In addition to highlighting your advocacy groups on your career site, you can also showcase them through your company’s social media channels as well. Encourage your employees to share your social media posts so their network of friends and family can see your company’s diversity and inclusion efforts.
“Diverse candidates are growing more cynical, and recruiters need to jump over higher hurdles to bring talent into their pipeline,” concludes the PathMotion report. By using the three strategies outlined above, you’ll be able to show jobseekers that your company values its diverse workers and in turn these candidates may actually start applying for jobs instead of jumping out of the recruiting funnel.