Tech companies are starting to realise that to attract diverse talent in tech they need to be proactive in doing so. Some tech organisations are already going the extra mile by posting on women job boards and offering perks within their employment packages. Having diverse talent can bring many benefits to your company, however, it is impossible to choose who applies for your open positions. Finding diverse candidates is possible if you consistently make an effort to reach out and find potential hires and of course make your company appeal to them. There are some simple things you can do which can increase diverse talent, like removing unconscious bias in hiring processes, but this alone won’t fix the diversity problem that the tech industry faces today.
Develop your current diverse talent
When attracting diverse talent in tech, you should start by shifting your focus to your existing diverse team. By effectively promoting diversity within your organisation, minorities will see your company as an excellent place to work and may apply for any open positions. Not only will promoting diversity within your organisation attract diverse talent in tech but it may also give you a competitive advantage. Having a diverse team will also help to remove any bias within your organisation and it will help minorities feel more welcome. A diverse team also gives you the opportunity to have a diverse interview panel. The interview panel is an important step to ensure that diverse candidates aren’t overlooked, it helps to bring a better perspective to your organisation and enables balanced feedback which can lead to diverse hiring.
Assessing your hiring practices can also have an effect on attracting diverse talent in tech. Unintentional bias recruitment can exclude a candidate from a position which can be solely based on a check box. Also, if you are using a recruitment agency to find candidates for you, then it is essential that you tell them you are serious about wanting to find diverse talent. It is also beneficial if you introduce a blind screening process during the recruitment stage. This not only gets rid of unintentional bias but helps to attract diverse talent in tech as this is a fair way of hiring. Removing names and schools from a CV but keeping important skills on their such as a degree allows for an unbiased selection process.
Build partnerships with the community and minority institutions
Developing effective public relations can help you attract diverse talent in tech as it is good for business and creates partnerships for you to promote diversity. Partnering with minority colleges can also help you attract diverse talent in tech as they can help target specific hiring criteria. Working with these partnerships can help yield strong candidates who can help grow your team, enable your organisation to become more diverse and hopefully rise to leadership positions.
Inclusive wording in job descriptions
The choice of words used in a job description can be critical when wanting to attract diverse talent in tech. Ensuring that you promote your company as ‘inclusive’ can aid diverse candidates to apply for the position, however using masculine words can intimidate some candidates, particularly women. Organisations need to be conscious of how they word their job descriptions and include a variety of inclusive words that will appeal to range of people. A job description can say a lot about a company, especially their company culture. For example, if your job description projects a white male, then you are likely to see most of the applicants to be white males. This is not only seen as bias but can prevent highly skilled diverse candidates from applying.
Actively seeking diverse candidates
Companies that are actively seeking diverse talent should think about posting their jobs on specifically designed sites that appeal to their non-traditional candidates. Going beyond posting on sites such as Indeed and Reed will help to attract diverse talent in tech as there are specific boards for women and minority groups. You cannot control who applies for the position, but you can control where you advertise your roles and which candidates you will attract. Rather than waiting for diverse candidates to apply for your roles, you can actively seek them out by attending events, universities and communities.