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Using Performance-based Hiring to Build a Diverse Workforce

By Jason Weseman, January 25, 2006

I hope you were able to join us for our free Diversity conference call on January 19th. We revealed some of the best practices we have uncovered during our diversity sourcing and recruiting research study and discussed many of the challenges that companies of all sizes face (send me an email at jason@alderconcepts.com if you would like to participate in this important ongoing study). Isaias Zamarripa, the Director of Talent Acquisition and Diversity for General Mills in Minneapolis, was our special guest, and gave his wonderful insight into how his company finds and attracts top diverse talent. General Mills won the Latina Style magazine Company of the Year award in 2004, clearly showing that they put their money where their mouth is. I want to highlight a few of the points that we discussed on the call and describe how Performance-based Hiring can be your greatest ally in building a diverse workforce.

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I hope you were able to join us for our free Diversity conference call on January 19th. We revealed some of the best practices we have uncovered during our diversity sourcing and recruiting research study and discussed many of the challenges that companies of all sizes face (send me an email at jason@alderconcepts.com if you would like to participate in this important ongoing study). Isaias Zamarripa, the Director of Talent Acquisition and Diversity for General Mills in Minneapolis, was our special guest, and gave his wonderful insight into how his company finds and attracts top diverse talent. General Mills won the Latina Style magazine Company of the Year award in 2004, clearly showing that they put their money where their mouth is. I want to highlight a few of the points that we discussed on the call and describe how Performance-based Hiring can be your greatest ally in building a diverse workforce.

It's Not a Choice

One of the first questions that I ask in the study is "In your opinion, what is the most important reason for having a diversity initiative at your company?" The #1 answer for the overwhelming majority of respondents was - competitive advantage. Your diversity sourcing and recruiting efforts will have a direct impact on your profitability now and your viability as a company in the near future.

As the buying landscape changes, your ability to penetrate emerging markets will depend on the strategic thinking and creativity of the people you employ. You have a distinct advantage over your competition if you can utilize the knowledge of your diverse workforce to relate to different groups in the marketplace. A quote from Pepsi's 2004 annual report: "The growing Hispanic market, for one, is a big opportunity for us today, as we continue to focus on products and marketing designed for Hispanic consumers." To realize this opportunity, Pepsi targets and promotes employees that have an in-depth understanding of this market, as evidenced by their place as the #1 ranked company for Latinos in DiversityInc's Top 50 Companies for Diversity Survey 2005.

Organizational Commitment

The most important aspect of any successful diversity initiative is commitment throughout the organization. While diversity campaigns can, and often do, start at any level, if you don't have backing from middle and upper management, it will be doomed from the start. Upper management has to be on board because they set the culture for the entire organization, and they control the purse strings. Middle management has to be up to speed because they have a great deal of influence over the people they lead, as well as other managers within the company.

This commitment takes many forms. Time is one such commitment. Successful diversity recruiting involves identifying candidates very early in their education and courting them for 2, 3, 4 years or longer. Top diverse candidates are very selective when making career moves, and a strong, established relationship is a must if you wish to have a chance to bring them to your organization. You absolutely won't be able to show up at a recruiting event their senior year of college, hand them the latest company report and a pen and expect them to choose to work for you.

Clearly, another major commitment is money. To attract top diverse candidates, you need to establish and nurture long-lasting relationships through internships, sponsoring scholarships for college minority groups, hosting diverse association meetings and events at your site and encouraging your employees to become active leaders in diverse professional networks and alumni groups. If you heard Isaias talk about flying candidates in from all over the country for the large number of diversity events that General Mills hosts, you start to understand the financial commitment that their leadership has made to the initiative. Without it, you'll be using the Band-Aid approach and never realize lasting results.

It's Not a Zero-Sum Game

The best people, including top diverse candidates, seek and accept offers based on job match and job content. You need to have exciting, compelling ads that focus on what the candidate will do on the job, rather than only looking at what they have in terms of years of experience or degrees. Using Performance Profiles rather than traditional boring job descriptions puts you at an advantage for two reasons: 1) You won't artificially exclude top talent from applying, and 2) You will attract the best since your ads will focus on how candidates can grow and help your company become the star in your galaxy.

Finally, diversity is not about promoting one group at the expense of another. This is the zero-sum mentality that holds back many diversity efforts. Using performance-based criteria as your basis for hiring and promotion decisions ensures that you are always selecting and promoting the best employees. Since performance is the yardstick by which everyone is measured, rather than politics or who you know, standards will never be compromised as you build your diverse workforce. As you begin to tap the potential of all employees, your company will quickly see the fruits of your efforts!

These are just a few of the points to consider when deciding to make a diverse workforce your priority. No matter where you are in your diversity initiatives, we can help. We are creating a class focusing on how top talent looks for and accepts new positions, and how using performance as your standard will attract them to your company. You can also join the study and let others hear about your challenges and successes. Together, we can find ways to tap into the potential of your diverse workforce.