diversity

Tayo Rockson–Hiring Hero of the Week

March 4, 2019 diversity, HEROES OF HIRING, HR No comments

If you don’t know the name Tayo Rockson you should and do now. He’s using his difference to make a difference (those are his words and I love them). Tayo is a diversity and inclusion expert who has lived and worked on four continents. He’s credited with having built high performing cross-functional teams in startups and multinationals. Tayo also leverages his acumen in cross-cultural communications to guide those he serves in developing global mindsets and strategies to become more inclusive. Another part of his service to the global community is his popular podcast–As Told By Nomads. Thank you Tayo for honoring the beautiful differences among us and for using your difference to do heroic work each day!

P.S. Connect with Tayo on LinkedIn and Twitter, and be sure to listen to his podcast.

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ABOUT THE HEROES OF HIRING

We’ve all heard it said that a company’s most important asset is its people. When we say we love a company, what we’re really saying is we love the work being done by the exceptional people in these organizations. Talented employees who do outstanding work are the secret ingredients that make their companies great. That’s why recruiting and hiring is so important. Each person involved in the hiring process is influencing the future of their company. These individuals are also impacting one of the most important aspects of people’s lives—their careers. The individuals who play a role in the hiring process are changing companies and lives, making hiring a heroic act.

The hiring heroism of a select group of people goes above and beyond. These unsung hiring heroes are making a lasting difference on a grand scale. That’s the reason for this distinction—the Hiring Hero of the Week. The hope in bestowing this honor is that people across the globe can celebrate and learn from these truly amazing human beings.

6 Professionals Who Become Great Recruiters

January 29, 2019 diversity, HR, recruiting, staffing, talent acquisition No comments

As the skills shortage persists, so does the demand for recruiters. The increased demand has put a further strain on an already over-tapped pool of experienced talent. More and more organizations are turning to people without any recruiting experience to stem the shortfalls.

Problem is, hiring people without experience can be hit or miss. But some roles consistently transfer exceedingly well. Why? Because of the nature those jobs. And more importantly, the types of people drawn to those professions.

In reviewing recruiting teams in 1100 organizations, 6 roles have shown up consistently in producing transferable talent who become great recruiters. Great in how quickly they’ve ramped up, fit in, and gone on to meet or exceed expectations.

Does everyone from these 6 roles become a stellar recruiter? Of course not. There are no absolutes, especially in hiring. However, the consistency among these 6 makes them top contenders for your next recruiting hire.

Role #1
Commercial Collection Agents
The skip tracing skills of commercial collectors help them efficiently research the whereabouts of top talent. Since persistence is the name of the game when collecting debt, they tend to have better than average abilities at following through and staying in touch. Add this to the B2B focus of their work, and you’ve got a potent combination that’s made this a favorite hire of recruiting leaders.

Role #2
Professional Fundraisers
You hear lots of “no’s” when selling people on an idea to get them to part with their hard-earned cash. The thick skin of professional fundraisers makes them well prepared for handling rejection and savvy at selling top talent on the idea of parting ways with their current employer.

Role #3
Retail Managers
Managers in retail spend long hours and many weekends dealing with difficult customers. The typical weekday schedule in recruiting is a welcome change as they apply their customer service and problem-solving skills. Retail managers are particularly successful in organizations where recruiters spend more of their time in face-to-face meetings with candidates.

Role #4
Political Campaign Staff
The fast-paced high-octane environment of a campaign prepares these prospective recruiters with important skills. These include managing competing priorities, dealing with challenging expectations, and achieving difficult deadlines. A recruiting opportunity offers them many of the adrenaline filled opportunities without the career interruption that comes at the end of campaign.

Role #5
Professional Organization Staff
People from trade associations, chambers of commerce, and other membership organizations often have superior networking skills and extensive contacts. Selling opportunity is second nature as is building rapport. The income potential in recruiting frequently exceeds the compensation ceiling in their current line of work.

Role #6
Call Center Managers
Recruiting teams seeking people who can create a positive candidate experience over the phone are having success with call center managers. Their background helps them effectively compete for top talent and efficiently make and receive a high volume of calls.

As you consider people with these backgrounds take steps to ensure their fitness for the unique needs of your team. Here are three methods that will help.

Define cultural attributes
People who come from transferable roles don’t always fit it. The most common reason is culture. Cultural fit on a recruiting team can be quite different from fundraising, retail, politics, and the other roles. Look for patterns among the backgrounds and personalities of the people who’ve succeeded on your team. These attributes codify your culture as it relates to hiring. Make these attributes a requirement for every person you hire.

Show instead of tell
The verbal skills of people from these 6 roles tend to be above average. Don’t let them talk themselves into a job on your team. Leaders who do frequently regret these hires. Instead have candidates show you (by performing sample work in an interview) that they possess the transferable abilities and traits required for success.

Do a reality check
Nothing kills a new hire quicker than unclear expectations. Required daily activities is a repeat offender. Too many people coming into recruiting don’t understand the sheer volume of work required on a daily basis. During interviews make clear the amount of calls, documentation, interviews, e-mails, paperwork, and other activities that come with the job. But don’t leave it at that. Include these expectations in writing and have the candidate sign-off their acknowledgement. This will scare off some people, but better that a glimpse of reality end a future bad hire than having to terminate someone for real.

3 Steps to Cultivate an Inclusive Workforce in a Conflicted World

June 14, 2017 diversity No comments

It’s no secret that diversity in the workplace is a good thing. Having an inclusive workforce helps businesses better serve their diverse client base. Research even shows that the most diverse workforces are likely to general better financial results. But even though most leaders want to make their businesses more diverse, they may not understand how to help their company grow by including talent of all races, genders, ethnicities, and sexual orientations.

Organizations that strive to hire diverse talent look at the whole person when hiring. Their leaders recognize that each individual is more than a title, skillset, or member of an ethnic group. They’re not colorblind or gender neutral; just the opposite. They’re hyperaware that maintaining a diverse and dependable workforce requires being able to select from a robust flow of different types of people.

Leaders are sometimes frustrated by standard selection methods aimed at improving diversity. They bristle when told to hire someone solely because of race and take issue with meeting gender balance quotes. Plus, blind hiring techniques like masking names on resumes and conducting anonymous interviews through chat rooms and voice-masking technology doesn’t eliminate bias. Instead it makes leaders biased to the process itself. These leaders need a solution to make diverse hiring simpler and more sustainable, while still allowing them to choose the person who’s the right fit.

If you’re ready to help your own company become a more diverse workplace, here are three steps you can take to help you achieve diversity and reap its many benefits.

Step #1: Enrich the flow of diverse talent.

Slight adjustments to your hiring profiles can substantially increase the flow of diverse talent. For example, for years a large banking institution had required candidates to have a finance degree. However, they noticed that top candidates at competing banks didn’t always match this background. This insight challenged their preconceived notion that a finance degree was required for success. They changed their own requirements and experimented with an expanded recruiting effort that included candidates with any type of two- or four-year business degree. This created a richer flow of highly diverse talent to choose from and the hires from this improved flow turned out to be some of the best they ever made.

Step #2: Watch out for hiring bias.

Hiring bias can be cunning. Without realizing it, we can pick people who appear to be a “good fit.” Unfortunately, sometimes we end up choosing people who are like those already in the department. This can unintentionally create departments of people that lack diversity. Hiring teams—selected groups with a blend of hiring styles dedicated to finding the best candidates—can help counter this unconscious bias.

This was the case in a corporate accounting department. Bart, one of the members of the team rejected a candidate the rest of the team wanted to hire. Ensuing discussions uncovered an uncomfortable reality. The candidate was different from everyone else in the department, and Bart was concerned about how well the individual would fit in. Was he purposely engaging in discriminatory hiring? No; he had the best intentions. However, his fear that the individual would not fit in impacted his decision-making. By discussing this situation with his team, Bart could safely acknowledge his unintended bias. He and his team ended up hiring the candidate, who became a very successful part of the department.

Step #3: Sustain an inclusive flow of diverse people.

Once you enrich and harness the flow of highly qualified diverse individuals, you must sustain this flow in order to fill jobs swiftly and keep your workforce a talent-rich, inclusive environment. How do leaders do this? They maintain a rhythm in which they’re always interviewing and occasionally hiring.

This method is how an engineering firm I’ve worked with keeps their seats filled with a diverse group of engineers. Every month, managers interview a few candidates for their core engineering roles—even when they have no openings. This gives them a pool of people ready to hire the moment a job opens. As a result of this practice, jobs are filled the same day they become open. Plus, they maintain a diverse company that continues to delight their customers.

Building a diverse group of talent takes diligence, but the effort is well worth it. When you make a point of being inclusive in your hiring processes, you’re able to find the best talent available and can ultimately create a dependable workforce of complementary people.

How to Use Hiring to Heal Divisiveness

April 13, 2017 diversity, video No comments

Research has proven that diversity makes companies more successful. You can also put diversity to use in others ways. Ways in which will help your community and make your organization more successful. In this video, you’ll learn the three steps to make this happen.

Improve the Gender Flow: How to Celebrate Women and Improve Your Organization

March 8, 2017 diversity, leadership, succession No comments

International Women's Day I believe that all lives matter. Not just those that are black or white, gay or straight, rich or poor, male or female. Each life is important. Every person has a purpose.

Does this mean that the “lives matter” movements are unnecessary? No. Just the opposite. The need for these movements shows us that our world is imperfect and imbalanced. Raising a voice about one group does not diminish another. It calls to light that there’s still work to be done.

Today, International Women’s Day, is our opportunity to make progress. Since I focus on hiring, I suggest making progress in these four areas:

Enrich the genders in your talent flow.
Many organizations have an inconsistent flow of job candidates. Often, that flow contains more men than women. Tapping in to more female talent will give your organization the candidates you need and women more career opportunities.
Speed up the hiring process.
People’s lives are busier than ever. Multiple rounds of interviews drain valuable time and unnecessarily delay hiring decisions. Take a hard look at your hiring process and cut out wasted effort. You’ll have more time to get work done. The women and men who interview with you will gain back time to devote to their lives and families.
Treat equal pay as a moral imperative.
Pay people based upon the value they provide, not their gender. Rewarding value encourages all workers to keep delivering more value.
Create a rising tide of talent.
Organizations are only as strong as their leaders. Strong organizations gain strength from a variety of viewpoints from a variety of people. Supporting women in their succession into managerial and executive roles enriches your organization’s collective wisdom

Let’s honor and celebrate people of all backgrounds, ethnicities, and genders. And on this day, this special day, take at least one action that will improve the lives and careers of women.