As we announced in June 2020, we are committed to dismantling systemic inequality in recruiting.
Part of this commitment involves quarterly updates surrounding our efforts. Here are some updates on the initiatives we have been working on.
Strategic Initiative for 2023:
We have set a strategic initiative for 2023 to make our commitment to dismantling systemic racism in recruiting equally as important as our revenue goals and two other strategic areas of focus for the year. This means that we are dedicating the necessary resources and efforts to ensure that we are not only meeting our revenue targets, but also making progress towards our goal of achieving diversity, equity, and inclusion in the recruiting practices and the services we provide to our clients and candidates.
Textio Trial:
We recently completed a trial of the Textio platform, which uses AI to help write more inclusive job postings. While the trial was informative, we chose not to purchase the platform as we found that the learning opportunities focused more on improving grammar than on inclusivity edits that we weren’t aware of. Instead, we have decided to focus on continuing to provide training and resources to our recruiters to help them identify and overcome any biases that may exist in our hiring process. We believe that this approach will be more effective in achieving our goal of dismantling systemic inequality in recruiting.
Eliminating opportunities for bias in job descriptions is an integral part of dismantling systemic inequality in recruiting.
Case Study on Hiring:
During our March all-hands meeting, we reviewed a case study that evaluated a hiring scenario and how each of us on the team would respond. The case study provided valuable talking points and helped us identify areas for improvement in our conversations with hiring teams. It also highlighted the importance of being curious and asking further questions to learn what would add the most value to role being recruited for. The exercise highlighted the importance of identifying and removing bias from the hiring process.
Census Data at Our Fingertips:
As a reminder, our team discussed having census data at our fingertips when reviewing recruitment efforts with our hiring teams. Using census data, we better understand the demographics of the areas where we recruit and how that may impact the diversity of the pool. This information has helped us to tailor our recruiting efforts to reach a more diverse pool of candidates.
Census data helps recruiters understand the demographics of an area and how that impacts the candidate pool.
Fundraiser for Underrepresented Students:
Attending the NASPA conference in April allowed us to conduct a fundraiser to support students in the following three organizations:
The funds raised will support mentorship, training, and networking opportunities to students from underrepresented backgrounds throughout the U.S.
Updated Boolean Search Strings with New Acronyms:
Finally, we have refined our Boolean search strings to include new acronyms that will help us be more inclusive and reflect the diversity of our candidate pool. This will help us identify more qualified candidates from diverse backgrounds.
In conclusion, we are making progress towards our goal of dismantling systemic racism in recruiting. We look forward to updating you on our progress and welcome any suggestions or feedback you may have.
Another Source donated a total of $4,200 to three non-profits serving underrepresented students.