Executive Recruitment Diversity Strategies 101

Executive recruitment has to be focused around people, not a hiring transaction. The majority of executives are seeking to be a part of a leadership team with a diverse group and won’t even consider a role elsewhere with a lack of diversity. This emphasis on diversity, equity and inclusion has bolstered organizations to develop and implement diversity recruitment strategies, specifically at the C-suite level. Increased compensation, benefits and work perks are not enough anymore if you want to attract top quartile executive talent.

Why a diversity recruitment strategy? 

It has been for good reason that diversity has been one of the fastest growing trends in organizations. Diversity is proven to increase an organization’s performance, innovation and productivity. It brings a broader range of experiences and skills to the table, different perspectives for problem solving and innovation, increased language and cultural awareness, and increases executive candidate pools for key positions. 

By using inclusive executive recruitment strategies it sets action items and goals to reduce hiring biases and remove barriers in your process that are hindering the execution and development of diversity at the leadership table.  

The war on talent has forced organizations to understand the importance of diversity in appealing to potential executives and delivering a compelling reason as to why they should consider an opportunity. 

Creating a diversity recruitment strategy

Creating a diversity recruitment strategy will pay off and although it takes a lot of evaluating, planning and research it will definitely be worth it. We’ve outlined a few key action items to consider in order to create an effective diversity recruitment strategy. 

Perform an audit

The first step is to take a deep dive into your current processes and execution of your executive recruitment process. Identify roadblocks and any potential biases during the sourcing, screening, interviewing and shortlisting phases that may arise resulting in your organization ignoring, or accidentally discriminating against qualified, diverse candidates. 

The goal is to identify any potential areas and processes that may create biases. You need to analyze your organizations’ hiring data and get an accurate picture of the current state of your diversity before you can remove any barriers and improve your executive search processes.

Simple things such as your job descriptions or the members on your team that conduct candidate interviews can be limiting your ability to encourage diversity. 

Train your team

Encourage participation and host workshops on diversity training to help members of the human resources, talent acquisition, recruitment, managers and leadership teams identify any potential areas where they may be creating unconscious biases in their hiring processes, and provide them a different perspective to approach interviews, sourcing and more. 

Set goals

Once your team has been trained to expand their knowledge and your processes have been updated, set goals. By setting goals you will be holding your team accountable to achieve actionable results.

Hold your executive search firm accountable for diversity and inclusive practices

There are a number of roles that require the assistance from an executive search firm to ensure the right executive is hired for organizational-critical roles. Ensure that your executive search firm has a diversity, equity and inclusion policy and ask how they ensure a diverse executive search is undertaken on behalf of your organization. Make sure that their values align with yours and that you know how they will undertake a diverse executive search. 

Keynote Search – Executive Search Firm

Keynote Search is an executive search and recruitment firm with extensive experience attracting diverse executive talent pools. We find more qualified executives through an enhanced search process, screen them more effectively, and support their success with our collaborative Post-Placement Integration program.