“If you can look past the color of my skin, the slant of my eyes, the thickness of my brow, the curls and coarseness of my hair, the broadness of my nose, perhaps and only perhaps then, can you experience the uniqueness of my culture and allow me the opportunity to excel in your world.”
It just simply amazes me how over and over again, I hear from corporate recruiters, all over the country, how difficult it is to find qualified diverse candidates for the many opportunities their companies have to fill. Why? And where are you looking, I ask? Well, this I know: They have the systems and best practices in place, so they know what to do; in fact, many are going through the motions so very well.
Diversity MBA’s Inclusive Leadership Index results has these insights:
– Companies recruit from an average number of 60 colleges; well beyond the Top 20 colleges;
– 85 percent of companies sponsor at least one campus activity for the purposes of diverse recruiting and creating awareness;
– 75 percent of companies target Historically Black Colleges & Universities;
– 60 percent of companies target Historically Hispanic Colleges;
– 45 percent of companies target Asian-dominated colleges;
– Colleges are matriculating 42 percent diverse candidates from undergraduate programs across disciplines (according to U.S. Census Data/Higher Education, 2013).
U.S. Census Data/Chronicles in Higher Education 2011 reported that 18 percent of African Americans and 13 percent of Hispanics are graduating from college. That may not be an extremely high rate, but the reality is that talented college graduates of color are available; they are not all coming from the top colleges and universities, but they are available. While companies seem to be casting a wide net to look for talent, they are not gaining the results they need because the gap continues to grow.
Understand this – targeted efforts are the goals; impact is the result. So while our good recruiters have their goals, if they are expanding the net, where’s the impact? We can no longer afford to continue to do the same activities and expect different results.
