How To Recruit Diverse Talent With Employee Networks
Employee Networks can play a key role in helping organizations recruit diverse talent and retaining them after they join. In this post, we'll explore how to recruit diverse talent with employee networks.
Several studies show that having diverse talent in an organization can lead to better business decisions. The Diversity Wins report is the 3rd report by McKinsey which looks into the business case for diversity.
The report found that “the relationship between diversity on executive teams and the likelihood of financial outperformance has strengthened over time."
“…the relationship between diversity on executive teams and the likelihood of financial outperformance has strengthened over time."
McKinsey, Diversity Wins: How inclusion matters (2020)
Aside from financial reasons, hiring and promoting diverse talent is simply the right thing to do. Hiring diverse talent can lead to retaining diverse talent.
If I come into an organization as a Black woman and I notice there are no women or Black people in senior leadership positions, the unspoken message I might get is "this isn’t a place where you can advance in your career."
Badger Maps is a tech company based in the US.
Their founder shared in an interview that when they recruit from colleges they do so:
"..where the student body is rich in diversity and reflects the community of the Bay Area, which gives us great and very talented candidates. 50% of our employees are women—including the engineering team—and we have people from across the world, such as France, Italy, Germany, and India."
He also shared that their turnover rate was less than 1% in that year and:
"almost everyone who has joined the team since 2012 is still with the company to this day, holding leadership roles in their areas of expertise."
"Almost everyone who has joined the team since 2012 is still with the company to this day, holding leadership roles in their areas of expertise."
Steve Benson, CEO, Badger Maps
3 Ways To Recruit Diverse Talent With Employee Networks
Referrals
Members of Employee Networks can refer candidates from diverse backgrounds into roles.
Recruitment teams can coordinate referral drives in partnership with your employee networks to encourage members to submit referrals. This can help to diversify the pool of candidates that apply.
Feedback on your attraction strategy
Employee Networks can provide valuable feedback and insight on your candidate attraction strategy.
Members of Employee Networks can help you identify partnership opportunities with community-based organizations.
Partnering with these organizations through events and campaigns can attract a more diverse pool of candidates.
Candidate mentorship and coaching
Lastly, members of Employee Networks can provide mentorship and coaching to entry-level candidates like interns and graduates through the interview process.
This can significantly increase the interview success rate of the candidates.
Hiring diverse talent is not enough. Diversity without inclusion will mean you’ll hire diverse talent but struggle to retain them.
In this post, we explore the role of Employee Networks in your talent retention strategy.
Subscribe to our mailing list for more content on how you can drive diversity, equity, and inclusion in your organization through Employee Networks.
