7 Common Mistakes for Diversity Recruiting

Last Updated: December 16, 2021

Diversity and inclusion recruiting is hard, but here are seven common mistakes that even the best-intentioned hiring managers have made and how you can avoid them, writes  Keysha Rolon, Account Manager at Breezy HR

Your job as a hiring manager has an abundance of requirements, but one major role is to eliminate the bias in your hiring process. A lot of major companies are cranking up their diversity and inclusion tactics, but it isn’t uncommon for annoying and unnecessary obstacles to pop up, removing potential candidates from certain groups or minorities. Often this takes place under the idea of ‘cultural fit’ or with skills screening, meaning it’s going on during your hiring process.

For any business to grow and thrive, diversity is a requirement. If you are going to emphasize diversity and inclusion in the workplace, then you have to do it right. In order for that to happen, you first have to look at what you might be doing wrong. Here are seven common mistakes that even the most well-meaning hiring managers have made:

1. Going through the motions of diversity recruiting

As a recruiter, your working towards your company’s diversity and inclusion commitments to be signed, sealed and delivered. As exciting and exhausting as it is to get that statement in writing, don’t forget that it’s only just the beginning. Diversity recruiting does NOT rely solely on policy change.

Stacey Gordon, HR advisor and diversity and inclusion expert talks in her own LinkedIn training about the diversity recruiting mistakes. In Stacey’s words, “When your company has made the decision to actively diversify the workforce, it’s similar to unlocking a door that’s been closed for years.”

With Stacey’s advice, recruiters shouldn’t let talent walk away because they think the door is locked. Instead, the hiring manager should make sure any diversity recruiting policy is fool-proof and that potential talent knows about it.

A great telltale sign of this is through job postings, double-checking for discouraging language that could prevent candidates from applying to your company. But, you shouldn’t stop there. Make sure the company as a whole is aware and informed on any and all diversity and inclusion efforts and why the policy is a beneficial change.

Learn more: A New Approach to an Age-Old Challenge: Giving Your Diversity Training a RefreshOpens a new window

2. Rely on data

Trying to measure diversity? Most companies are, but unsuccessfully.

Atlassian’s head of diversity and inclusion, Aubrey Blanche, explained in her op-ed for WIRED, “The status quo involves measuring diversity company-wide (e.g.c reporting that two percent of all employees are women of color), which is simply the wrong unit of analysis. That’s because company-level measurement doesn’t actually measure diversity – it measures representation.”

3. Holding back on company culture

Often companies put an emphasis on diversity but don’t follow through on inclusion. Yet, diversity without inclusion is not worth the time and effort if you won’t put 100 percent into both.

New hires are putting a major emphasis on company branding when looking into potential jobs. Even with this new priority, companies are still hesitant to take action on inclusion. You might be great at selling your company during the recruiting and hiring processes, but if a few months into the job, the new hire quits because of company cultural issues, the word of mouth on their reasoning for quitting will not be in your favor.

You and your company might have the right diversity strategy thought out, but look into what inclusion means for your company. Talking the talk is one thing, but walking the walk when it comes to diversity and inclusion is another.

You, as the hiring manager, can put the emphasis on values instead. This would include taking into consideration what diverse groups think about your company. It’s important to ask what you can do in your position to make sure that they feel comfortable and valued sharing their opinions, insights, and experiences with you and the company. Their ideas and experiences can have a major impact on conversations outside of the company, hopefully leading to positive word of mouth.

4. Not utilizing the right technology for sourcing

Technology can only go as far as you let it when it comes to diversity recruiting. With social mediaOpens a new window , smart recruitment management toolOpens a new window Opens a new window a new window" target="_blank">s, and cool apps, you can broaden where you pull talent from and do so without bias. On top of that, applicant tracking systems can be used to actively screen the right people rather than weed out the wrong ones.

Technology is great for sourcing, however, you can’t solely rely on it for all recruiting needs. If humans aren’t using technology responsibly, it will not work to the standards you expect. Better sourcing efforts begin with better beliefs, and that is something only humans can deal with. Tools and platforms are all great but only if and when they are supported with a healthy strategy and culture.

5. Forgetting the ‘human’ in HR

As a hiring manager, you want all your hires to lead to a profit-generating, balanced, and productive team, and great diversity recruiting can and will do that. In order for your dream team to work out, you have to put an end to the overall representation approach and take a deeper look into each and every person on your different teams. Take into consideration how each person’s background, personality, and ideas contribute to their team and how those could transfer to the organization as a whole.

It’s always good to trust your gut, but keep in mind that your gut feelings are sometimes influenced by bias. Instead, from day one, diversity and inclusion should be built into your hiring strategies and efforts. Thinking about where to even start with this is intimidating, but different tools can be incorporated to work with personality tests and skills assessments to help remove any bias and putting the priority on the best candidate.

Diversity recruiting is more than age, gender, or ethnicity, but instead, being open for everyone in order to get the dream employee to build up your dream team.

6. Proposing a biased offer

There are indisputable discrepancies in payOpens a new window , and lower offers to a woman, a person of color, or any minority just because you know they will accept it’s most definitely a way to destroy your company’s image. On top of that, it’s illegal. Make sure you’re following all U.S. equal pay laws and not going against any regulations.

In any case, always be sure to pay employees based on their value and what skills and experience they bring to the company. As easy as it is to be oblivious to unfair offer prices, it’s also easy to remind someone of the price of a lawsuit.

7. Undervaluing your ability as the recruiter

Your job as a recruiter is to shut down any and all bias that is influencing the hiring process and preventing you from hiring the best candidate. Sitting down with other hiring managers, stakeholders, and anyone else who is involved in the process can help you hold your ground for diverse hiring and even allow you to educate them on why diversity and inclusion are a must. Don’t go into these meetings winging it, instead bring with you numbers, case studies, and tangible goals for best diversity and inclusion practices.

It’s never too late to switch up and change your company’s diversity and inclusion policies. This might take time and can be a taboo topic, but stand firm and proud. You might experience some pushback, but remember that you are on the right side of this hiring initiative and with the right information, effort, and time, everyone will get on board, too.

Learn more: The Definition of Diversity in the Workplace Has Changed – Here’s What That Means for Your BusinessOpens a new window

Keysha Rolon
Keysha Rolon

Account Manager, Breezy HR

Working as an Account Manager at Breezy HR has allowed Keysha to dive into SAAS & leverage her background in recruiting, HR & candidate experience management. She has worked with employees across all sectors & understand the importance of maintaining a "people-over-profit" mentality. Few things make her happier than facilitating a new path for someone, except maybe Taco Tuesday.
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