Diversity Hire: We Are Not Hiding
By: Lusik Gasparyan
Tags: Job Description, Job Posting, Recruiting, Diversity And Inclusion, Diversity

People want to work for organizations they admire.

With the BLM movement, many organizations have had to take a hard look at the demographics of their employees and their company’s commitment to diversity. Now, most companies are looking to diversify their staff and are even hiring recruiters with the express purpose of looking for diverse candidates for their job openings.

As a job seeker who would be considered a diverse talent; a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)Practioner; and someone who has experience recruiting and hiring talent, being unemployed for close to nine months now was not what I expected.

In the past nine months, I have looked at an endless number of job postings, interviewed for positions, and been in contact with many recruiters. Like myself, many people from my network are diverse talent, the type of job candidates that companies are really looking to hire right now. Many of us either don’t get interviews or don’t get past the interviews so what is not adding up?

If you are an organization that wants to bring on diverse talent but cannot find your perfect match after all the interviews, perhaps think about what you can do better. No, you cannot find a token person of color just to diversify your pool of candidates. Diverse talent should look at your job posting and think to themselves that your company culture is perfect for them. Diverse talent would apply for your job postings, then it is up to you to hire the candidate that is the right choice for the role.

So, what things might you want to consider when creating job postings that attract amazing diverse candidates?

You’re Missing Your Branding. One big mistake is that you may be carefully branding your image everywhere else but quickly put together a job posting that may not reflect your brand image. Most job postings I have seen will not mention the organization’s values. Recently, I came across a job description that listed the company’s values and one of them was, “We disrupt more, improve everywhere, and learn forever.” What a great value! If your company value is diversity, having it in your job description will attract job seekers who are looking for a workplace that will value them as diverse talent.

Your Grammar is Disappointing. If your job posting is a grammatical nightmare, some job seekers will think twice. No, it is not because we love proper English, but often a poorly written job posting is a sign of an absence of an HR department or HR department that does not take proper care of the hiring process and may not take care of onboarding as well. If you are missing an HR department and are a non-profit, you can look into catchafire.com and post your need there as a project.

You’re Language is Not Inclusive. Your job posting needs to reflect the diverse, equitable, and inclusive team and organization that you are committing to building. If your job description does not mention that “they can email the X person if the candidate is disabled and needs assistance with filling out the application,” a disabled candidate may already feel discouraged to apply. If the job posting uses insensitive language, the candidate would not feel comfortable applying. An example of an inclusive job posting I came across was by Collective DEI Lab. At the end of each job description, they provide what they call a “Not-so-fun fact,” where they tell the possible applicant that women are less likely to apply for a job if they do not meet 100% of the job requirements and encourage the person to still apply and that they will figure it out together.

You’re Not Mentioning Your Inclusive Resources. On the other hand, if you have Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), that absolutely belongs on the job posting page. LGBTQ+ candidates, People of Color, and anyone else from historically marginalized groups would absolutely love to know that there is an ERG that will welcome them. If you have a DEI committee or department, that should be celebrated and highlighted as well. It is great that the organization was founded in 1974, but what is even more fantastic is that the organization has ERGs, or gender-neutral restrooms, amazing maternity and paternity leave, and so on.

You’re Missing Posting Opportunities. We know about the common job search channels, like Indeed, LinkedIn, GlassDoor, etc., but there are so many other amazing organizations or groups that are for BIPOC or diverse unemployed individuals. Do not stick to just the common channels. Post in these groups that serve diverse talent. Some that I know of are #HIREBLACK, Future For Us, and Wonder Women Tech (executes Career Fair during their summit). Posting a job in women of color group guarantees that at least some women of color will see it. This is how you can diversify the pool of people who see your job posting.

Diverse talent is not hard to find; we are out there, unemployed and ready. If organizations put their best foot forward starting with these simple steps to brushing up their job descriptions, every candidate that applies for the job would be very excited for the role and do their best as well.

Let the hiring start!