Recruiting Your Diverse Slate

At this point, we’ve discussed why diversity matters and how to understand where you really are today. You’re probably ready to get down to business – to start fixing some of the problems you’ve identified and put diversity to work in the right way, because you know it’s important to solve your most important problems. It’s time to start talking about hiring your high-performance team.

Who you put in which job is one of the most critical decisions a leader makes.

Let’s state the obvious: to achieve a diverse team, you need a diverse set of candidates for every job.

But as simple as this first step seems, this is unfortunately where people get stuck, right at the starting gate. If you’ve sat in a hiring meeting, you’ve no doubt heard these complaints and excuses:

“Everyone who is qualified for this job is a man.”

“I can’t find candidates who are different.”

“Every resume that came through is for a white person.” 

These statements undoubtedly feel real to the people making them but, as the leader, you have to make it clear: it is not acceptable to present a list of candidates who all look the same. When people tell you that they can’t find a diverse slate of good, qualified candidates, you need to tell them: “Keep looking. Try harder. Come back when you have found a good, diverse slate.” 

Yes, you may need to look in new places. Where do you start? I’d recommend you ask a diverse set of people in your company and in your community: “Where should I look for qualified candidates?” You may be surprised at the answers you get when you talk to more people.

Another simple step you can take is to use blind resumes in your recruitment process. Block out all the clues that give away gender, ethnicity, and other demographic factors – and go purely for candidates who demonstrate the right skills. You could also take this a step further and consider a universal application or qualification sheet that is more focused on application of skills than specific experiences or length of time doing a certain job. 

Maybe you’re thinking to yourself that you’ve been the person tasked with recruiting candidates and that you haven’t been able to find a diverse slate of qualified candidates. If you’re that person, then I’m here to tell you: “Keep looking. Try harder. Come back when you have found a good, diverse slate. Find new places to source candidates. Talk to more people.”

Sometimes the most inspiring thing a leader can do when the going gets tough is to stick to their guns, stick to the plan. “No, we are not changing course. This is important. It’s our plan. And we’re going to follow through.”  

That may mean that you need to provide more time and support as the hiring process takes longer. That’s okay – if diversity truly is your goal, then you must set up a system and a process – and make the investments necessary – to support an effective hiring process.

Finding a diverse slate of candidates is the most important step in hiring to build a diverse team – but it’s obviously not the only step. You still have to work through the actual decision-making process, and that means evaluating options and assessing risk. We’ll talk more about that in my next post.