Diversity and inclusion hiring strategies have become increasingly important topics in the workplace, and for good reason. With a diverse workforce comes a variety of perspectives, ideas, and experiences that can lead to increased innovation, creativity, and overall success for the company. One example of this would be problem-solving by inviting diverse voices to share ideas that would be relevant to a broader audience. Another example of this would be the powerful culture that an inclusive hiring strategy weaves into the fabric of a brand.

Understanding Diversity Hiring:

Before diving into the checklist, it is important to have a clear understanding of what diversity hiring means. At its core, inclusive hiring practices actively seek out and recruit candidates from underrepresented groups to increase diversity within a company. This includes but is not limited to diversity in race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, and abilities. It also means creating an inclusive workplace where all employees have support, feel valued, and have equal opportunities for growth and career advancement.

Building a Diversity Hiring Checklist:

1. Create a Diverse and Inclusive Hiring Strategy: Before beginning the hiring process, it’s important for companies to have a clear and defined diversity and inclusion hiring strategy in place. This can include setting specific goals for diversity representation, interviewer diversity training, creating an action plan for achieving those goals, and regularly reviewing and updating the strategy as needed.

2. Review Job Descriptions: Job descriptions are often the first impression candidates have of a company, and they can play a significant role in attracting diverse candidates. Review job descriptions to ensure they are gender-neutral, free of biased language, and focus on skills and qualifications rather than specific backgrounds or experiences.

3. Partner with Diverse Organizations: Partnering with organizations that focus on diversity and inclusion can help companies reach a larger pool of diverse candidates. This can include attending job boards, career fairs, educational organizations, and events hosted by supportive groups. It's also a "low barrier to entry" way of finding great talent for specific roles. Posting job openings on their websites, engaging their audience, and collaborating on diversity initiatives usually leads to a flood of qualified candidates

4. Use Inclusive Hiring Practices: During the hiring process, it is important to use inclusive practices such as blind resume reviews, structured interviews, and diverse panels. This helps eliminate bias and ensures that candidates are evaluated based on their qualifications rather than any personal characteristics

Let's pause the checklist to hone in on one of the most important topics that will affect the lives and futures of your candidates- inclusive hiring practices. Inclusive hiring practices begin with the removal of all biases in the hiring process. While challenging as we all struggle with some form of subconscious or even unconscious bias, it is essential to the success of an inclusive hiring process.

One way to combat bias is through structured interviews, where all candidates are asked the same questions in the same order, with no deviation based on personal characteristics. This helps eliminate any potential bias towards certain candidates and ensures a fair evaluation process.

Additionally, using diverse panels for interviews can also help eliminate bias and provide a variety of panel interview questions that have been pre-selected by HR, hiring managers, and recruiters to create equal and objective criteria for the entire pool of candidates.

If you're struggling to come up with questions for your interviewers check out Pillar's interview intelligence software. Our software has a library of more than 1,000 questions for recruitment and selection that can be added to your interviews in as little as a couple of clicks. We specialize in increasing objectivity and fairness in interviews to minimize bias.

Inclusive Hiring Checklist

Back to the inclusive hiring checklist. Inclusive hiring takes forethought, strategy, measurement, and the right tools to execute effectively. There are many sources of inclusive hiring training out there, so we won't cover that here. Here are some key points to remember:

- Inclusive hiring is important for creating a diverse and productive workforce.

- It helps eliminate bias and promotes equal opportunities for all candidates.

- Diverse perspectives and experiences can drive innovation and success within a company.

This is why inclusive hiring training is important. In fact, "important" isn't a strong enough word. Let's use vital instead.

Now let's continue with the checklist:

5. Train Interviewers on Diversity and Inclusion: Interviewers should be trained on diversity and inclusion to ensure they are aware of potential biases and understand the importance of a diverse workforce. This can include workshops, webinars, or online training modules.

6. Use Blind Resume Reviews: As mentioned earlier, using blind resume reviews helps eliminate any potential bias based on personal characteristics. This involves removing identifying information such as name, gender, and race from resumes before they are reviewed by hiring managers.

7. Provide Equal Opportunities for Growth: It is important to provide equal opportunities for growth and career advancement to all employees regardless of their background or personal characteristics. This promotes a sense of inclusivity within the workplace and encourages diverse employees to stay and thrive in the company.

8. Regularly Review Diversity Metrics: Companies should regularly review diversity metrics to track progress toward their diversity and inclusion goals. This can include tracking representation across different levels within the company, turnover rates, and employee satisfaction surveys.

9. Create support systems for diverse groups: Lastly, it's important to create support systems for diverse groups within the company such as employee resource groups or mentorship programs. This can help employees feel celebrated, supported, and valued, further promoting a diverse and inclusive workplace culture.

These are all things that should be included on your inclusive hiring checklist. For more on this topic, check out our blog. We have resources from thought leaders on recruitment and selection, diversity and inclusion, AI, interviewer coaching, and more.

Diversity And Inclusion Hiring

Inclusive hiring practices for a diverse workforce look a bit different than what most of us who graduated in the mid-2000s are accustomed to. The best part about these changes is the space that they've made for "new voices" at the "table." This concept of "new voices at the table" was introduced at Google a few years ago by "The Trillion Dollar Coach." Knickname such because of his impact on companies in Silicon Valley, William "Bill" Campbell, a former high-school football coach turned investor and eventually, CEO of Intuit, was the first to introduce the concept into Silicon Valley by coaching young executives and hosting dinners with young CEOs from Google, Microsoft, Cisco, Intel, HP (now Hewlett Packard Enterprise), Apple, and others. Bill realized that there was a need for diverse voices in decision-making within these companies to give them the slight edge they needed in a global marketplace.

Since then, we've seen an increase in companies prioritizing diversity and inclusion hiring practices. However, it's important to note that simply hiring diverse individuals is not enough. Companies must also create an inclusive environment where all employees feel valued and have equal opportunities for growth.

One of Bill's biggest "pet peeves," was when young CEOs would tell him they wanted to "hire for diversity." He would emphasize that it's not about hiring for diversity, but instead, it's about hiring the best candidates from diverse backgrounds and creating inclusive environments where their unique perspectives are supported, respected, and where they can thrive. This mindset shift is crucial in ensuring the success of diversity and inclusion hiring.

Finding and hiring the best candidates starts with creating a brand they aspire to work for. Remember when everyone was clamoring to work at Google? What was the sales pitch? Stock. Diversity. Freedom. and Food! Seriously. But that was enough to have hundreds of applications for a spot in the Google Plex. But Google was looking for "interesting people" who "created cool things," and "thought outside the box" (literally phrases pulled from their early job descriptions), and to find them, they needed to provide resources that attracted interesting people. Think about building panel interview question and answer frameworks for those criteria.

Gone were the 8-5 work schedules, and in came the idea that a company could be a campus where people were inspired, challenged, fed, and surrounded by like-minded individuals. Google even invented the 20% rule for employees to use 20% of their time at work to develop new ideas that could benefit the company. This mindset shift allowed Google to hire a diverse workforce and foster an inclusive environment where everyone's unique skills and perspectives were valued.

See, true diversity and inclusion hiring is not just about filling quotas (we must still keep this in mind), but it's about creating an environment that promotes diversity in all aspects - from recruitment to thought. It's about creating an environment where people genuinely love to be, collaborate, and where people feel supported enough to do their best work.

In conclusion, diversity and inclusion hiring is an ongoing process that requires continuous effort and commitment from companies. By following the checklist and implementing inclusive hiring practices, organizations can attract and retain diverse talent, fostering a more innovative and successful workplace culture. Let's all strive to create workplaces where everyone feels valued and included. Together, we can make a positive impact towards building a more diverse workforce that supports everyone.

To see how Pillar's interview intelligence software can help you increase diversity hiring by 30- 50%, book your demo today! Let's work together to create more inclusive and diverse workplaces for a better future. So, don't wait any longer - let's start building a diverse and inclusive workforce today!