Diversity Recruitment: A Lot More Than Just Some Words On Paper
An article from Forbes.com reports some interesting findings in terms of diversity recruitment, with regard to which companies are viewed most highly by minority students, the importance of executive involvement, and the kinds of recruitment sources preferred.
What are some of the companies viewed most favorably by minority students?
Unlike white student applicants, minority MBA students are much less likely to include government agencies among their top choices. The same is not true for minority undergraduate students, who included the U.S. Department of State among the top four companies to work for.
Meanwhile, government agencies, including the CIA, are stepping up their minority recruitment.
Microsoft , Google, and Disney beat out the State Dept. in minority undergraduates’ preferences.
Executive involvement in recruitment was viewed as a strong sign by minority students, who reported that lack of executive involvement was seen as an indication that the company did not take diversity hiring seriously.
Students also took note as to how comfortable recruiters seemed with minority applicants, which affected candidates’ interest in working for such a company.
Finally, the article notes that minority student applicants preferred “personal recruitment methods like career fairs over impersonal routes like Web sites…”Companies that are serious about diversity recruitment should take note of this fact.
Read more here about new trends in diversity recruitment.
George, thanks for the deeper questions here about diversity…. In fact your good ideas sparked a blog of my own on the topic…. In my city Wegman’s cultivates doiversity at levels where it is evidenced and effective! Your notion of executive involvement was crucial to that happening… Ellen
Thanks for the comment. Michael is the one who deserves the thanks for this post, though.