Diversity hiring is not the problem. It's the Solution!

How many times have you heard as a recruiter, hiring manager, or talent leader, "We need to address our diversity hiring problem?" Or fielding the numerous calls from vendors that have a diversity hiring product they would like to present to you to solve your "diversity problem." You are very likely to hear from your HR business partner on the diversity statistics within a given business unit and they would like to hear what Talent Acquisition is doing to address, "The Problem."

Luckily, there is a solution and in my opinion, we have it completely wrong when it comes to Diversity hiring. Diversity & Inclusion hiring is much more about the "Why?" than it is about the "How?" Let me explain. Being diverse is not about fitting into a category. Anyone in a diverse status when it comes to employment in a particular industry is there due to one factor. Opportunity. Somewhere along the way the opportunity was not afforded.

What if hiring diversity was the solution rather than the problem? Great talent is out there in the talent jungle! Much of that talent is diverse, but in order to accept your value proposition, they need to know your organization is inclusive. They need to see it through examples of people like them having success at your company. Creating a banner or a sticker isn't enough. Marketing D&I, attending diversity hiring events and letting the world know you are inclusive is fantastic as long as you are truly backing up what you are selling. Rather than seeking and sourcing, let's change our mindset to including and developing.

A hypothetical solution would work as follows (feel free to laugh):

Hypothetically, Hiring Leader A opens a new headcount to hire a mobile software developer. The description calls for 5 plus years' experience developing enterprise applications using iOS, Android, Windows, Visual Studio, xCode, Java and Xamarin mobile apps. Plus, candidates preferred from top engineering schools, first names that end in Y who were born on a Wednesday during a leap year.. :{). Recruiter A conducts the RKOM (Recruiting Kick-Off Meeting) and starts searching. Weeks go by and no viable candidates are in the pipeline. Interviews are falling short due to trendy names not ending in Y during a leap year. Plenty of Blake's, no Bobby's. Tons of Ava's, no Mary's? Now Hiring Leader A tells you they must hire for female diversity and wants to know why Recruiter A has yielded no candidates... "What are you doing to find diverse candidates?"

It's very clear ANY candidate meeting the qualifications would be welcome at this point. However, Recruiter A has now narrowed the candidate pool even more. In this situation, Diversity is the solution and the answer. Why? It is an opportune time to provide the opportunity. Realizing you are losing time you offer up a solution to the hiring manager. Recruiter A has screened an Ashley with a strong development background. Ashley was born during a leap year, but has only worked on mobile development in a team/project environment. She has strong JAVA, but no Xamarin mobile apps or Android. Light iOS and techno-functional understanding. She could write code, but would need some training on mobile development to run on her own. She attended a credible university, but not a top engineering school. Essentially Ashley has 70% of the requirements met. The question is; will Hiring Leader A afford the "Opportunity" to Ashley and make an investment of time & training for the missing 30%? This is the SOLUTION for Diversity hiring.

Imagine if you will the impact of a diversity investment? What message would it send to the outside world about Diversity & Inclusion at your company? What message would it send to Ashley's talent network? What type of retention would it yield to Ashley to be given the opportunity and development? What would the cultural shift in your business look like? Time is already lost on the difficulty of the search. Why not use that time wisely developing diverse talent? The return on investment would be on another level of understanding.

The best way to create is to afford the opportunity, invest the time and create a diversity solution culture whenever possible. We've just been focused on the problem far too long. and we spin our wheels redefining the problem. It's there and it's real. We can all agree that it is time to take action and focus on solutions.