CFW Careers Best Practices: Hiring Toward Diversity & Inclusion
A critical component of building diverse and inclusive organizations is around recruiting and hiring, and it often presents one of the greatest challenges. “How can we build a more diverse candidate pool?” “How can we diminish drop off through the hiring process?” and, ultimately, “How can we improve our retention statistics?” The implications are significant, not only relevant to fulfilling a corporate commitment, but fundamentally impacting long-term employer brand.
While the demographic starting point varies across function, nature of work, geography, etc., we have identified best practices that improve the outcome of recruiting efforts.
So…what’s been proven to make a difference? Here’s our go-to list of recommendations:
Adopt the Double Rooney Rule: The Rooney Rule is a National Football League policy that requires league teams to interview at least one ethnic-minority candidate for head coaching and senior football operation jobs. While the policy has its critics, it has significantly increased the number of minority hires since it’s implementation in 2002. And the research shows that including at least two ethnic-minority candidates is an even better practice; in fact, the NFL updated its policy to this approach in 2020. We advocate for implementing corporate mandates that each hiring slate has more than one candidate of color, and informing hiring managers that an interview process can’t be closed until this requirement has been fulfilled.
Express diversity throughout the hiring process. A diverse & inclusive Employer Brand should be expressed through every touch point, from the Careers Page of a company’s website, to any corporate marketing documents, to the make-up of the Interview Committee. Doing so communicates, “There are others like me in this organization.” and “Diversity of individual and perspective is embraced in this organization.” Further, this makes it psychologically safe for the candidate to discuss their identity and the surrounding company culture.
Train managers on the nuance of interviewing candidates of all backgrounds, including using appropriate language, pronouns, etc. and ensuring that they are not focused on culture-specific norms and mores. Anticipate potential missteps that can derail the hiring process.
Hire for “culture-add” NOT “culture fit.” We have been talking about culture add for ten years, and it always bears repeating. Whenever a hiring manager says, “The candidate is just not a culture-fit…” the organizational response should be “that’s not a valid evaluative criteria; what do you mean by that?” Moreover, the follow-up question should be “how does this individual add to our culture?” The goal should be to include as many additional perspectives as possible in an organization so as to remove blind spots for the product, the company, and the industry.
Mitigate the “culture fit issue” by having scorecards for each interview based on the agreed upon critical requirements and attributes for the role, ensuring every interviewer is evaluating for the same skills, and assign a person in the interview committee to say say “stop” when they hear the phrase “culture fit” in order to reframe the conversation around skill sets. Scorecards lend the additional benefit of creating a level playing field for hiring decisions, enhancing the process efficiency and ensuring every voice is heard.
Look to hire based on skills versus experience. One way to do so is through interview tasks that assess relevant skills and bring those attributes into consideration. Consider integrating a task early in an interview process, so that a candidate who may not shine in a typical 1:1 interview setting has an opportunity to knock your socks off with their abilities.
Prepare candidates for the interview process. Ensure that recruiters are reaching out to candidates and outlining exactly what to expect: what to wear, protocol for video interviews (e.g.- recommending digital backgrounds) and any other manifestations of company culture. Doing so will make candidates more comfortable and, from the start, will convey the effort to set them up for success.
Partner with external recruiters to expand relevant networks and diversify candidate slates. It goes without saying: that’s the value we seek to provide at CFW Careers.
Monitor and survey candidate experiences. Follow up surveys are beneficial in myriad ways, from portraying BIPOC candidate experience, to identifying any missteps, identifying members of the interview committee who may require coaching and revealing potential process improvements. Take the temperature around your hiring process for BIPOC individuals, and implement their feedback.
Remember that interviewing and hiring is a long-term play. Building relationships with individuals and channel partners (e.g.- HBCUs) is one of the most significant sources of future candidates. Consider drawing current employees into the process (including activating your ERGs).
Increase ROI on diversity recruiting through an intentional and proactive approach to retention. Set up new hires for success before Day One and beyond, providing tips and, potentially, coaching around soft skills and assigning mentors to help them navigate tricky cultural situations and understand the unspoken rules of the organization.
Coach and prepare hiring managers, around how to onboard employees from different cultural backgrounds. Provide coaching for managers around “stay” conversations and transparent trust-building conversations around career growth for every team member.
Offer training resources and career pathing to all employees to support retention and growth. Measure the success of these programs through frequent employee engagement feedback.
CFW was founded in 1973 by David King, one of the first men to champion and place women in sales. We remain committed to our roots and place Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at the center of all our talent development efforts. Our commitment to our clients and partners is to always empower them with the tools to implement equitable hiring practices, present diverse slates, and help them increase retention with career pathing and coaching programs that help employees thrive.
Email us at CareersTeam@Cfwcarers.com to get a copy of our scorecard.