HIRING FOR
DIVERSITY
HOW TO LEVERAGE
ENGAGEMENT
AND EVENTS
INTRODUCTION
Events and engagement are
powerful tactics that can
help connect companies with
multicultural communities
through shared sentiments.
A robust program of events and
engagement are great tactics to
carry out Diversity & Inclusion
recruitment. Crucially, these will also
align with business-wide priorities.
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT? We all bring with us
diverse perspectives, work experiences, lifestyles and
cultures. As a source and driver of innovation, diversity
is a “big idea” in business and in society. Workplaces
are microcosms of society and providing diverse
groups equal access to enter and progress within the
working world will inevitably impact social mobility
and improve people’s quality of life.
Diversity & Inclusion workshops & events are
designed to immerse & engage companies,
employees and attendees in expert content, open
channels of discussion and suggest innovative and
actionable items. They start the process of candidate
engagement early and can drive relationships that last
for a long time after that. They can provide an entry
point for candidate engagement that can be nurtured
long term.
WHAT IS DIVERSITY & INCLUSION?
In broad terms, diversity is any dimension that can be used to differentiate groups and people from one
another. It means respect for and appreciation of differences in ethnicity, gender, age, national origin,
disability, sexual orientation, education, and religion.
Inclusion is a state of being valued, respected and supported - ensuring the right conditions are in place for
each person to achieve their full potential.
McKinsey says that most organisations must do more to take full advantage of the opportunity presented
for diverse talent pipelines: attracting, developing, mentoring, sponsoring, and retaining the next
generations of global leaders at all levels of organisations. “Given the higher returns that diversity is
expected to bring, we believe it is better to invest now, since winners will pull further ahead and laggards
will fall further behind.”
WHY DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
IS CRITICAL FOR SUCCESS
Diversity & inclusion is crucial to business growth.
Therefore, you need to set aspirational goals based
on your historic data and then start to construct a
customised event/workshop that meets these goals.
Your previous successes will help to identify partners or
professional groups who can also help build credibility
alongside representative members of your existing
team. If a culture doesn’t include or develop diverse
employees, then you won’t be able to sustain a diverse
workforce in the long term.
While diversity has increased substantially within the
general workforce over the past three years, change
has been slower to come to mid-level management,
and is even less evident among senior executives and
corporate boards, according to the Leaders 2020 study
conducted by SAP and Oxford Economics.
Remember, the ultimate goal is to contribute to your
corporate brand reputation, expanding your network of
diverse professionals and increasing cultural awareness
among current employees. Overall this makes complete
business sense, a 2015 study from Bersin by Deloitte
showed that diverse companies had 2.3 times higher
cash flow per employee over a three-year period than
non-diverse companies did.
So, devoting attention and management to these
audiences can only serve to help strengthen
engagement with diverse communities and help to
realise practical, actionable items for the better of your
organisation in future hiring campaigns.
DIVERSITY’S DIVIDEND
Will companies financially outperform competitors by investing in diversity?1
More likely
to outperform
More likely
to outperform
1
15%
35%
Gender diverse
companies
Ethicinally diverse
companies
Results show likelihood of financial performance above the national industry median. Analysis
is based on composite data for all countries in the data set. Results vary by individual country.
Source: McKinsey analysis
ROADMAP FOR SUCCESS
Baroness McGregor-Smith CBE created this roadmap to help busy leaders to
focus on the immediate requirements that will enable them to move positively
towards a more diverse workforce.
GATHER DATA:
Organisations must gather and monitor
the data by:
A ROADMAP
TO SUCCESS
RAISE AWARENESS:
All employers must raise awareness
of diversity issues by:
• Setting, then publishing
aspirational targets;
• Publishing data to show
how they are progressing;
• Doing more to encourage employees
to disclose their ethnicity.
3
HR directors must critically examine
recruitment processes by:
• Rejecting non-diverse shortlists;
• Challenging educational selection bias;
• Drafting job specification in a more
inclusive way;
• Introducing diversity to interview panels;
• Creating work experience opportunities
for everyone, not just the chosen few.
TAKE ACCOUNTABILITY:
Senior executives must take
accountability by:
• Ensuring unconscious bias training is
undertaken by all employees;
• Tailoring unconscious bias training
to reflect roles – e.g. workshops
for executives;
• Establishing inclusive networks;
• Providing mentoring
and sponsorship.
EXAMINE RECRUITMENT:
1
2
• Ensuring executive sponsorship for key targets;
• Embedding diversity as a Key
Performance Indicator;
• Participating in reverse mentoring schemes to
share experience and improve opportunities;
• Being open about how they have achieved
success, in particular Chairs, CEOs
and CFOs in their
annual reports.
4
CHANGE PROCESSES:
Responsible teams must change
processes to encourage greater diversity by:
5
• Being transparent and fair in reward
and recognition;
• Improving supply chains;
• Being open about how the
career pathway works.
Source: Race in the workplace: The McGregor-Smith Review, 2017
MINI CASE STUDY –
NBCUNIVERSAL
One WCN client using technology to address diversity recruitment challenges is media giant NBCUniversal. The
firm is owner of multiple film & television networks including Bravo, Universal Pictures CNBC, E!, Golf Channel,
MSNBC, NBC, NBC News, NBCSN, Oxygen, Syfy, Telemundo and USA Network. Its early use of WCN technology
includes using best-in-class systems to:
Create a customised registration
process so that candidates can
register directly
Host ‘Behind the Scenes” webinars to
ensure candidates are prepared for
the interview process and know how
to navigate the application.
Host site visits and capture
feedback on promising talent.
Host & sponsor Dynamic Assessment
Processes to reach the best
prospective scholarly fits.
Run volunteer opportunities such as
providing resume & writing coaches
for high school students.
There has been a steady increase in the number of candidates from diversity backgrounds accepting offers –
particularly in areas where the industry has had historical deficits including Sports, Late Night Television, CNBC
(Business Finance News) and in Technology.
Read the full case study at:
http://bit.ly/WCN_NBCU
HOW TO GO ABOUT PLANNING
FOR DIVERSITY RECRUITING
NBCUniversal is just one example of
how a company can position a brand
to attract a diverse pool of recruits.
Almost all firms have good intentions to celebrate
diverse cultures and backgrounds by presenting
positive role models, telling diverse success stories,
commemorating heritage, and fostering dialogue.
In recruiting, it is important that you plan a campaign
that can be harnessed on a variety of platforms.
Typically, this revolves around creating powerfully
engaging content that makes a real difference in
people’s lives and emphasising this in tailored events.
It involves a subtle rebranding of your recruitment
marketing message – one that considers the
language to demonstrate your approach to diversity
– and tailoring your keywords in any associated
communications you run.
Some of the best approaches to this that we have seen
for promoting diversity to a wider audience includes:
Building up diversity content on careers pages
Using social media to spread your diversity efforts
Developing and sharing content that support work diversity
Actively engaging and interacting with your followers
Contributing to social media forums that support
diverse recruitment
CHECKLIST
OF METRICS
Estimate in percentages the diversity breakdown of candidates
engaging with your business.
JOB BOARD
CAMPUS/UNI
REFERRAL
SOCIAL
Minority
%
%
%
%
White
%
%
%
%
Female
%
%
%
%
Male
%
%
%
%
Millennials
%
%
%
%
Gen X
%
%
%
%
Baby Boomers
%
%
%
%
Disabled
%
%
%
%
Non-disabled
%
%
%
%
Civilian
%
%
%
%
Veteran
%
%
%
%
EVALUATE CAMPAIGNS
& LEARN FROM ANALYTICS
It’s important to look back at data and analytics to learn
what’s worked well and what hasn’t. It takes time to
make a change and see results quickly, but the business
case for diversity is too strong to ignore so don’t let that
deter you.
Good intelligence will mean that you can see react if
certain initiatives are not changing the ratio of diversity
engagements in your favour and find new ways of
making sure that talent remains invested in your
business.
BENEFITS FROM
MEASURING DIVERSITY
PARTICIPATION INCLUDE:
Providing stronger evidence and
recordkeeping to support hiring decisions
Identifying & quantifying any historic bias to
reduce bias in future decision making
Reducing the potential for economic bias.
80%
24m 2040
in business performance among
those with high diversity levels
in European workforce
if women’s employment
rate stays as it is
improvement
Shortfall
50%
$712bn
who believe their CEO is
committed to gender diversity
of the LGBT community in the US
Employees
Source: New York-based Center for Talent Innovation (CTI), 2015
Estimated spending power
MINI CASE STUDY:
BRITISH TRANSPORT POLICE
In the UK, the British Transport Police - the national police force for the railways in England, Scotland and Wales –
has had similar success attracting more diverse candidates through focused events and engagement.
Intake
Confirmed
Numbers
Male
Female
May 2015
20
15 (1BME)
5
June 2015
20
15 (4BME)
5 (2BME)
July 2015
40
29 (13BME)
11 (4BME)
August 2015
40
27 (7BME)
10 (3BME)
August 2015
20
12 (2BME)
8 (2BME)
September
39
28 (7BME)
10 (1BME)
Since deploying WCN, the BTP has seen numerous benefits including:
Improved use of government positive action provisions to improve diversity in their workforce when
recruiting and promoting candidates.
Detailed reports and filters so it can report information to ministers or chief constables at any given time
and demonstrate full compliance in doing so.
Read the full case study at:
http://bit.ly/WCN_BTP
MAINTAIN THE ENGAGEMENT
TO DRIVE CONVERSION
Events are just the first step to
securing talent and embedding
diversity in your organisation.
Building a stronger relationship with diverse candidates relies on strong
engagement at every step of a recruiting journey. It is important to
empower the candidate to learn more and stay engaged with your
business. Central to achieving this is taking steps to attract candidates
to your company, not just your openings.
Efforts need to be made to keep interested candidates warm after the first approach. Engagement
along the way is critical to taking the positive sentiments captured at an event and making sure the
most promising candidates go on to become recruits.
Intuitively recruiters can use CRM tools to make sure they are flagging the best of the best from
the moment they register to an event. From there, it is important to keep emphasising your EVP in
all your communications including on the system where candidates check-in to find the progress of
their application.
Recruitment Marketing is the new norm. Providing relevant content at key moments of candidate
receptivity can help to build trust. It also demonstrates an understanding of candidate needs via
personalisation. This can be achieved by amplifying existing marketing content with contextual
placements. For example, you can maximise existing career site real estate in a cost-effective way.
Furthermore, recruiters can look at using talent pools to capture prospective candidates when you
do not have an open campaign and then issue invites to events. This same technology can be used to
keep unsuccessful candidates warm so if a future position opens up, they can be put forward for a role
without needing to reapply from scratch.
Every interaction counts in making your brand stand out against competitors!
SPEAK TO WCN
TO SEE HOW WE
CAN HELP YOU
WCN’s award-winning talent acquisition suite has a
platform to help you get the most out of recruitment
technology to deliver diversity and inclusion targets.
WCN Diversity is an exclusive solution designed
specifically to help recruiters make sure they engage
and secure the best diverse talent ahead of the rest
and includes the event management technology used
by NBCU and BTP in this paper – covering event
management and talent engagement.
If you already have a system in place but still have
recruitment gaps, some of our products can help you
take your recruitment marketing to the next level.
Event: Handle the complexity of planning and managing
recruiting events – from onsite to offsite events, private
or public events, or even virtual or interview events.
Empower candidates to register, upload resumes/CVs
and check into events on any device.
Engage: Easily amplify your recruitment marketing and
deepen your relationship with candidates throughout
the candidate journey. Connect with candidates through
targeted, personalised content. Use a CRM to monitor
engagement and talent pools to empower candidates to
invest in your employer brand from an early stage.
Top recruiters might receive over 150,000 applications
a year and rising from a mixture of core and non-core
schools and not have time to sift fairly. Intelligence,
WCN’s innovative predictive analytics product, can ease
this pressure helping to instantly and automatically
review all applications globally and flag up to 33%
of all candidates they will end up extending an offer
to – opening you up to more diversity and social
mobility in the process. This decision intelligence can
free up significant amounts of recruiter resource each
year – time which could be spent on adapting better
engagement techniques to ensure a leading candidate
with many offers at their disposal are more likely to buy
into the culture, mission and vision of our clients ahead
of market competitors with equally tempting offers on
the table.
Intelligence: Exploit the power of predictive algorithms
and automation to prioritise the best candidates.
T: +44 (0)20 8946 9876
E: [email protected]
www.wcn.co.uk
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