What makes an employee great? The answer should have everything to do with the staff member’s job performance, and zero to do with factors such as age, race, gender, or other characteristics unrelated to the position employers are looking to fill. By recruiting diverse candidates, we are helping you create the kind of well-rounded workforce that can drive innovation, provide a variety of valuable perspectives to your company, help improve decision-making, and even increase your company’s bottom line.

Why Inclusive Hiring is Important 

Diversity Recruiting Strategy: Inclusive hiring practices are important when it comes to maintaining a well-balanced workforce, which means a diversity recruiting strategy is necessary. Identifying what our clients need from potential employees is the first step in a talent search, and if hiring a diverse staff is among your priorities, that is an objective we can help you achieve. We understand that the goal of inclusive hiring is not to increase workplace diversity for the sake of diversity, but rather to identify strengths and reduce potential biases when sourcing, screening and shortlisting potential employees for consideration.

Benefits of a Diverse Workforce: Inclusive hiring is more than a trend or buzzword, it is a practice that is backed by research. Studies have shown that diverse workforces practice a greater degree of innovation, and that increased creativity is reflected in a similar increase in revenue. Employees that come from a variety of backgrounds and experiences have been shown to be more readily able to adapt to the needs of a changing client or customer base. However, companies need not start from scratch in order to diversify their workforces. Being intentional in hiring for new positions and filling existing ones with an eye on searching beyond the typical candidate pool to uncover fresh talent from varied backgrounds is an area in which a skilled recruiter can be particularly helpful.

Steps to Take When Recruiting Diverse Candidates: Rethinking requirements when it comes to job descriptions is an easy shift to make when it comes to implementing a diversity recruiting strategy and inclusive hiring. An oft-cited example of why this matters relates to a Hewlett Packard study that found men applied for certain jobs even when they met only 60 percent of the necessary qualifications, while women did not feel confident applying unless they were at 100 percent. A diversity recruiting strategy that removes checklists that might keep women and minorities from applying is an important first step. Working with a recruiter who can help you define and achieve your inclusive hiring goals is another means by which to be more intentional in your candidate search.

Diversity Equals Success: Practicing inclusive hiring with the objective of diversifying your workforce is more than simply the right thing to do for the times in which we live. According to a 2017 study, companies that have committed to recruiting diverse candidates and implementing a culture of inclusion at every level reap the benefits of a diverse workforce in that their teams make better business decisions nearly 90 percent of the time, do so twice as fast as their less-inclusive counterparts and deliver 60 percent better results. These are compelling reasons to work toward creating an inclusive workplace, and it all begins with recruiting diverse candidates. It is an exciting time for inclusive hiring and we would love to help you build a stronger, more creative, more well-rounded staff. Contact our Executive Search and/or Staffing professionals today!