Insights

Any hiring manager, executive search recruiter, a member of the talent acquisition team, or really anyone who has visibility into an open role in their company will continue to see a push for more lists of diverse candidates. Some organizations are mandating diversity numbers as a benchmark for DEI success, resulting in an influx of diverse candidates at the executive level as a result.

The challenges are dependent on the type of diversity: the range of diversity including and not limited to ethnicity, age, gender, sexual orientation, religion, disability, socioeconomic status, and background. One of the biggest challenges talent acquisition faces is the shortage of diverse talent to source from at the leadership levels, particularly within sectors like manufacturing and tech.  Different groups have historically not been afforded the same opportunities. Addressing diversity at the senior-most levels takes thought, effort, and creativity; the payout is that teams with diverse thinking, backgrounds, and experiences outperform those that don’t.

It is essential to have top leadership driving the diversity and inclusion agenda within organizations. Genuine senior-level commitment and involvement is necessary in helping businesses understand why it’s important to build an inclusive culture and organization to ensure hearts and minds are fully engaged at all levels. As younger generations come into the business, senior leaders are becoming more accountable for ensuring their workforce supports everyone across the organization. It is incumbent on them to understand the moral and business case for inclusion and lead from the front.

Recruiters need to constantly reach out to and connect with all types of candidates and make sure that they are aware of not only the searches being worked on, but the general state of the hiring market.  A recruiter’s job is to show hiring managers interview candidates whose backgrounds may not be perfectly cookie-cutter; it is often a candidate whose background is slightly different who brings the most to the table in terms of experiences, creativity and perspectives. Diversity in Executive Search can sound tricky, but it is important to demonstrate real support around candidates and to help them land successfully.

At Talent Partners, our approach to diversity is experience; we have a six-person SWAT recruiting team assigned to each search that identifies and sources as many qualified candidates as possible. We have the business intelligence of a larger sampling of candidate comparison and more diversity in the pool to ultimately find quality HiPo candidates for our clients that can help move corporate initiatives forward. Contact us today to learn more.