3 Ways to Create Intentional Hiring Practices
Understanding how to source people in a way that will grow an effective team is critical. Pursuing inclusion—where all members of an organization are valued and appreciated as people and for their uniqueness—is the first step.
However, our past experiences influence our thoughts, shape our perceptions, and guide our feelings, whether consciously or unconsciously. We can be more influenced by past experiences than the dynamics related to current events—reflected in social-media posts, but not always manifested in a company’s or individual’s actions. This disproportionately impacts women and people in socially underserved racial, ethnic, nationality, and religious groups.
As a business leader, you can steward change—you have the power to embrace creative recruiting and holistic assessments of talent. Your business can be a powerful platform for creating social connections and distributing opportunities. As a business leader, you hold the power to network, mentor, and create opportunities.
At PFD Group, we have put these tools into practice and are seeing the benefits of building a team with diverse backgrounds. Not all of our hires have the same level of education or certification, but they all share a few commonalities: they are the right culture fit, approach work with a learning and growth mindset, and they have the Want To Factor.
Looking at our core RRP Model - Recruiting, Retaining, and Promoting, in that first “R,” Recruiting, it’s important to invest in strategies to expand the funnel and diversify who comes to the organization. Be intentional about your hiring practices to include people with new experiences and perspectives, even if they don’t have the traditional qualifications jobs sometimes require.
Practice I: Analyze whether barriers to entry are necessary.
Qualifications such as an experience requirement on a job application can create barriers to potential leaders in your organization, especially for underserved communities. Higher education is expensive, and many internships are unpaid. Many individuals simply can’t afford to take advantage of these opportunities for those reasons.
Some jobs require higher education and work experience, like for doctors and attorneys, but for others, a degree isn’t always the best indicator of knowledge and capability. Higher education and previous professional experience can create real value, but they aren’t the only experiences that do. If you’re in a field that generally requires higher education, you could consider investing business resources into helping talented people overcome any barriers to education they may face.
Practice II: Show your clients and prospective employees that you value all people.
If you believe that representation matters for people seeing themselves as a part of a better future, then you must believe that the same is true for your company. If new hires were to enter your building and see a team of people with diverse backgrounds and with people who represent them, they would be more likely to see a future with you.
This is where Retention and Promotion in the RRP model can impact Recruiting; diverse talent is attracted to diverse teams. A lack in retaining diverse employees impaires the promotability factor. Mentorship and helping your employees find a more fulfilling balance in their professional lives helps retention, which by definition increases promotability.
Potential hires need to be able to see there is a clear path to leadership, and to see themselves reflected in the leadership team. This is especially important for hires and team members who are hungry for growth. If grit and determination to move up is a reason to hire someone, then representation that it’s possible to do so gives them reason to stay.
Practice III: Take action to improve inclusion through building relationships.
If you currently don’t have a diverse team, here are two critical actions you can take to help change that:
Create community connections that increase the possibility of diverse applicants.
Collaboration with community centers is critical because it can lead to lasting relationships with talented pools of potential employees.
Genuinely try to understand your applicants and employees.
Creating a shared basis of understanding will make them feel more welcome within your organization.
At PFD Group, we create intentional opportunities throughout an employee’s life cycle for them to share their own lives and experiences with us and for us to share ours with them.
We always kick off our onboarding process by taking new employees out to a meal, during which we make a note to try to understand who they are as people and for them to understand us. We also have a set time in our weekly meetings to share personal highs and lows, so everyone knows when a team member needs support.
These highs and lows also give everyone on the team a sense of where their peers are, which helps to build a connection and limit feelings of isolation.
Leveraging tools like creative recruiting and holistic talent assessments not only helps build your company culture, but it puts the foundation in place to build relationships and cultivate inclusion with employees and community partners. This inclusive mindset will only beget more opportunities for interpersonal connection in interviews and beyond.
Like so many other practices we advise on, coming from a place of love and encouragement will shine through in your recruiting efforts; potential hires can tell (and appreciate) when the pursuit to inclusion comes from a genuine place. To learn more about building a more diverse team, see our new book, The Mentorship Engine, or reach out to us to schedule an exploratory call.