What measures can you take to make certain that hiring operates on an equitable basis?

Everyone has personal likes and dislikes that may affect hiring outcomes. This is normal, natural, and a part of being human. Skilled recruiters have developed techniques to minimize the impact of affinity and to redirect focus on core competency. A rubric can be an effective tool to help regularize the search process.

A rubric is a checklist of qualities, attributes, and experience that your ideal candidate ought to bring to the task. Some rubrics are complex and include analysis of competing attributes. Others are relatively straightforward. For these purposes, a simple rubric will work as well as something more sophisticated.

Develop Checklist that is Accurate and Complete

Start with the position description. Cull skills and identify the ten or so most important. Circulate that list as many times as you need to get a rough consensus. Then, rank order skills with the most important at the top and the least at the bottom. A good list for an executive director or development professional might look like the following:-

1. Updating the Vision and Mission
2. Development/Resource Generation
3. Budgets and Financial Management
4. Networking/Outreach
5. Capacity Building
6. Strategic Planning
7. Marketing
8. Succession Planning
9. Community Presence
10. Public Presence and Presentation Skills

Getting to the point where you have a complete list may take some work. There are often many other worthy qualities, and the pre-negotiation will help to iron out, before you meet real candidates, what the operating priorities really look like. 

Apply the List to Everyone

This is probably the most difficult piece of the process. As you start to meet professionals, you might identify a few who are absolutely charismatic but lack some of your Top Five qualities. You will have to consider whether you are going to move such candidates forward. Other candidates will be known to members of your selection committee and might have an advantage from those personal relationships. However, the rubric will help you tease out those with core competence and distance those whose charisma, personal relationships, and knowledge of how to interview well might otherwise give them advantages in the process. It will also minimize personality jockeying. It is hard to argue that someone who scores 3/10 on the rubric should get the opportunity to advance in the process.   

Give Yourself Permission to Update the List as the Process Develops

Sometimes a search becomes its own education. That is, as the process moves ahead, an organization becomes aware that additional/different qualities are really at the core of their requirements. When this happens, simply upgrade the rubric and examine each candidate against the updated requirements. This will ensure that everyone interviewed gets assessed by the same or similar criteria. In the end, it makes it more likely than not that you will emerge with a pool that is technically adept and has many of the leadership qualities you seek.

TRAINING & BALANCE     

Once new hires arrive, how can we ensure that all receive similar opportunities to advance?

The biggest gift you can give your DEI hiring program is a strong training series within your organization. You see, training circumvents the social and personal factors that make it hard for those who are perceived as “different” to advance. Training equips everyone to do well, and it will give those who are hungry to move forward many of the tips they will need to make smart, professional choices based upon their ability to perform their roles well. 

Strong training assumes that, given appropriate supports, everyone can acquire and build the skills necessary for success. By having a strong training program, you provide everyone a roughly equal chance to absorb the materials and to apply them. This is quicker, easier, and far more effective than waiting for the Country Club Clique to consider a new member or expecting those with generations-long notions related to race, religion, and politics to alter their opinions. Knowledge transcends many social, political, and even economic barriers. Also, most people respect competence. So, when you build the tools for competence into your orientation and ongoing professional development, you are literally creating opportunities. 

Really good training programs offer different kinds of learners opportunities to absorb new information. Visual learners will do best if charts, graphs, and illustrations accompany the trainings. Similarly, those who learn well by listening will respond well to engaging lectures and messaging that enters via the ears. Others will respond well to hands-on sessions, simulated learning, and shadowing those who know the process well. A thoughtful program will incorporate these kinds of learning tools and more.

Many employees enjoy attending conferences and out-of-the-office events. Today’s remote learning tools have opened up many more virtual learning options, and smart companies are taking advantage of these methods to keep their trainings current and accessible.

Do not assume that your managers have all of the tools that they need to become effective executives. Train them on specific topics, depending on our industry and core business, that will make a measurable difference to outcomes. You do need to train people on how to manage board, how to raise funds, how to build networks if they have not done these things before. You may even need to train people on how to give effective speeches and public presentations. The list of potential trainings is endless. You know your organization best. You probably know which skills and attributes will distinguish an “okay” leader from one who truly excels. Provide the training that will make good potential leaders the best leaders your organization has ever had.      

Particularly if you have a tight budget and you are committed to creating pathways for a range of qualified professionals to move up your organization’s ranks, focus on a rigorous training program. It will be an investment well worth the time and funds required to create something that prepares your incoming employees for success. 

Karen Alphonse is a senior search solutions leader and resume, online profile, and career coach. Learn more about our executive search consulting services and writing resumes, bio, and online profiles, reviewing job applications and interview coaching, or write to Karen at contact@execsearches.com.

Last updated on January 20th, 2022 at 01:21 am