How To Recruit Diverse Candidates and Build a More Inclusive Workforce

Diversity seems to be the talk of the town nowadays. Still, most of it feels empty. While some efforts have been made, most of them weren’t successful. People from minority groups are still largely underrepresented and discriminated against.

For instance, according to Statista’s 2022 report, the unemployment rate among African-American people in the U.S. is twice as high as it is among those who are White.

Source: Statista

Besides the lack of opportunities, marginalized groups have to deal with pay gaps. Harvard Business Review found that women earned 11% less in 2022 than men, even when they shared the same position and seniority level. Minority groups are also less likely to occupy high-level and leadership roles—not to mention the bias and discrimination they have to face every day. 

We have to do better. And to achieve that, we need to educate ourselves on diversity and the best practices surrounding it. 

In this article, we’ll explain how to recruit diverse candidates and make your company a more welcoming place for them. We’ll also briefly discuss Workello, a solution that can help you keep up with your candidate pool and streamline the hiring process.

Why Diversity Matters

When we say diversity, we usually mean the whole DEIB package:

1. Diversity—Including people of various ethnicities, age groups, genders, sexual orientations, mental and physical abilities in your organization
2. Equity—Treating all individuals fairly, i.e. providing them with equal access, opportunities, and compensation
3. Inclusion—Making every employee feel safe and welcome in their work environment
4. Belonging—Encouraging each employee to be their authentic self and celebrating the differences

If your business is lacking in any of these aspects, your diversification efforts won’t work. Although it may be difficult, achieving diversity is a must. After all, human rights are non-negotiable. 

Diversity hiring can also bring numerous advantages for employers:

Check out some more results from McKinsey’s study below:

Source: McKinsey & Company

1) Develop an Effective Diversity Recruitment Strategy

Before you make any changes, you need to come up with a solid diversity recruiting strategy. The first step is to educate yourself and your team on the subject of diversity. Form a diverse panel of recruiters to assess candidates. Also, support any employee resource groups (ERG) that might emerge. 

Your strategy should be data-driven and contain clearly defined:

• Steps
• Milestones
• Responsibilities for each team member
• Timelines
• Indicators of success

Below you can read about the most common mistakes employers make with DEIB strategies and their more appropriate alternatives:

2) Use Different Outreach Methods

To source diverse candidates, you should expand your recruitment efforts. The more methods you combine, the better. Depending on the country or industry you’re targeting, some might be more suitable than others. 

Research where your target audience is to identify the best job boards to post on. Here are some options to consider:

• International, regional, local, or remote job boards
• Generalist or niche job boards
• Diversity job boards 
• Job boards for women

When it comes to job ads, they should be transparent and use inclusive language rather than discriminatory terms. If possible, avoid specific qualifications and consider loosening the criteria to make diverse candidates encouraged to apply. 

Workello can make this stage of the process much easier. It has a collection of expert-made job descriptions ready for you to use. Additionally, it generates a unique application link, which you can include in the ad. Regardless of the channel, it redirects applicants to a destination of your choice and allows you to uniformly collect all data.

Besides posting on job boards, consider recruiting passive candidates from social media channels like LinkedIn, and Facebook.

3) Assess Fairly

At this stage, discrimination is usually most evident. As a last resort, candidates from marginalized race groups tend to “whiten” their resumes, removing any indicators of their ethnicity. The method seems to be working. One study put it to the test and found out that the scrubbed resumes were twice as likely to receive interview invitations.

Source: JobFlare

To ensure equal treatment, you need to figure out how to evaluate candidates objectively, without the influence of unconscious bias. Here are some suggestions:

1. Try blind resume screening, i.e. hide the name, gender, image, and other indicators
2. Focus on skills, aptitude, and motivation rather than background 
3. Take pre-hire assessment results with a grain of salt, as some tests might not be successful at assessing people from diverse groups
4. Use assessments to identify areas for improvement and provide training rather than imposing strict selection criteria
5. Form a diverse panel of recruiters and make sure they all get a say

By leveraging automation and an applicant tracking system like Workello, you can evaluate a high volume of candidates with minimal effort. Workello’s assessments are crafted by industry experts. They mimic real-life tasks, allowing you to get a sense of how the applicant might manage on the job.

4) Ensure a Smooth Candidate Experience

Another way to make diverse candidates feel welcome at your company is by providing a positive candidate experience. Check out 4 suggestions on how to achieve that, which are applicable in all cases but especially important when recruiting diverse candidates:

1. Simplify the process—A long and complicated application process will likely deter any candidate, especially if such an experience is new to them
2. Offer support—Assign a contact person who the candidate can direct their questions and concerns at, and provide language and accessibility options
3. Build trust—Make sure they’re heard and know that they’re heard to make them feel more comfortable and help them do their best
4. Communicate—Keep them updated on their status and if they end up being rejected, give feedback so they can learn and improve 

With Workello’s automated responses and job portal, candidates are always in the know. They can find all information in one place, including their application status, assessment results, expected timeline, and more.

5) Onboard With Care

The work doesn’t end once the candidate accepts the offer. You should know how to recruit and retain a diverse workforce.

To help with onboarding, provide the new employee with resources and support, especially if they aren’t fluent in the language. Assign them a mentor they can refer to in case they have any questions or run into issues. Establish clear expectations from the get-go, but ensure some degree of flexibility, especially in the beginning.

According to Gallup’s 2022 State of the Global Workplace Report, only 21% of workers are engaged at work and 33% feel like they’re “thriving in their overall wellbeing.” Also, more than half of employees have witnessed some form of discrimination in the workplace. Besides being disheartening, such issues reflect poorly on business performance, as they lower productivity and revenue, and increase employee turnover. 

Source: Gallup

To make your business a more welcoming place for diverse employees, create a positive work environment by:

• Promoting and rewarding achievements
• Being transparent and honest about pay and your DEIB efforts
• Offering constant support, especially to marginalized groups
• Asking for feedback and improvement suggestions
• Encouraging discussions around DEIB
• Providing all employees with opportunities to develop their skills

6) Audit Progress

The only way to know if your DEIB initiative was effective is through constant monitoring and measuring. Doing so allows you to identify the bottlenecks at every stage of the process and develop an appropriate improvement strategy.

Here are some common metrics to consider:

• Demographic representation at all levels of seniority 
• Employee job satisfaction
• Turnover rate
• Number of reported discrimination incidents
• Financial performance, innovation, and decision-making 

Conclusion

Now that you understand how to recruit a diverse workforce, you can begin planning your DEIB program equipped with knowledge and empathy. It will likely be a difficult and lengthy process, requiring immense self-reflection and adaptability. Still, with the correct attitude and approach, your diversity recruitment strategy can be a triumph and bring numerous advantages in the long run.

By using Workello, you can ensure a simple and bias-free recruitment process for your diverse candidates. Focusing on skills, identify the best candidates for your business and keep them engaged with personalized status pages. Try Workello for free and let it handle the most mundane tasks, while you aim your attention at improving DEIB and other crucial matters.