Session on Diversity Hiring That Innovates Business: An Atypical Approach to Solving a Very Typical Hiring Practice with Jackye Clayton, doing it differently.

Some people in this room will be mad. (That's ok.) Some people will be mad at themselves. Others might be inspired to make a change. Jackye moved from Florida to Portland (.87 black people there), talked with a company that believed they were diverse because 25% of their workforce was Indian. It's not that we're nice or diverse because we have women or other "diversity" people, it's about making money. She was only black person in her elementary school, possibly only black family in Carrollton TX. Her sister and brother went to black universities, but she went to University of North Texas. When she moved to Oregon, she heard from others that it was white there. Others in Portland: 2.9 Korean, 1.3 Native American. She found that she was racist about her own ethnicity. The deal is in looking to be diverse, the model in your company has to be the same as the people you're trying to reach. She works at a company that wants to target college-age people, but the job description says "degree required." Is it the college or the age? Is it that you want people here? How to define your true market?

First look at yourself. Diversity profile handout: look at your environment and check ethnicity of you, your co-workers, supervisor, elementary school mates, close friends, people who regularly visit your home… notice a pattern? It's a personal thing, you don't have to share this profile. Part of the diverse puzzle is at your work. Requirements for an HR generalist include people who can "stand, walk, use a mouse," (ding!) "people can lift, move, carry up to 25 pounds without assistance... and must be able to drive a zoo vehicle." (ding!) Applicants required to submit resume online. Excluded: old, people in wheelchair, people who aren't online, don't have a degree, people who take a bus, can't carry 25#, etc. We don't have a candidate shortage, we have a restriction overload. Companies don't say what they really need.

We need to move to a more behavioral model. What does X years of experience look like? What is the company really trying to hire/accomplish? Her favorite: lift 50 pounds. She's the ambulance chaser of HR. Holiday Retirement does independent living. They hire couples (and give them a one-bedroom apartment), a particular challenge.

Sometimes a frame of reference needs to be adjusted. Example: all male development team at Apple was creating the iPad, brought it to all female testing team who scrapped product with one question: how are we going to fit this in a purse? It's not about hiring all black people when you're targeting white people. It's about money.

Look inward for your biases. Trying to hire a mail clerk but CEO's admin wants someone that is "visually appealing." Allow all candidates to be there, not just blonds with high heels. At the end of the day, what are you really looking for?

People are afraid of risks. Jackye has an arrest record and doesn't have a degree, but she's really good at what she does. Working in a highrise, she rode up and down elevator with President. She got opportunity to give honest opinion of what "suits" were about to implement, which she thought was stupid. They weren't part of the team, were removed from process. They listened to her.

Many firms have jobs open for months. They have requirements that exclude. One company (here) has several "software development" positions open, nobody wants to move to Texas, work with old school firm. Jackye suggested they post their job openings on Dallas Cowboys fan site. You have to look at what's really important. Why do you want to have X in the spot? Hire the person who can get the job done.

Some companies are hiring young but not learning from older people who know the ropes. Or hiring college people to sell independent living to people who are 80. (college people are cheap to hire.)

Who in audience has missed out on opportunities because of gender, other? (hands up) One person sent resumes as S. Name and Sylvia Name, got a call on S. She showed up for interview and surprised them that she was female. They didn't hire her.

You don't need an initiative to look at diverse candidates. If you do need to, put a price on it and show them the money. Jackye asked several questions about people in the room, their experiences (stand up if...). Lots of provocative questions!

We don't really know others, or what they're about. When you're hiring, you don't know the same things. We start judging without thinking, without proper assessment. She recruits the person who needed the job, who would do the job. The scary situation is with the lesbian-gay-transgender group. In 2003 (dot net stuff), everyone was freaked out about things. We worked with Chris who called himself Christine, wore makeup and dresses (and stubble), best coder ever. We put him in a lot of jobs.

Onboarding: when people start working with your company. Make sure the environment is in tune with actual working environment. Example: someone got fired, "let go," because they had this food that they microwaved every day that smelled so bad. Telling people that their personal hygiene and they needed to take care of that. You may need to make reasonable concessions for people. Look at your mission statement: "Be the best X in the world." then include "the world" in your environment.

Exit interviews: retaining is different from attracting minorities. When you hire someone, make sure your community is reflective of the diversity you're bringing in. E.g., sales promo package was tanning stuff? Also look internally for people who have dream, desire to do something else. They could be your next best admin. Make sure you're basing pay on skills, not random numbers.

What is biggest concern to diversity? Left vs right brain thinking. Analyze your questions. Post in various places, make process easy to apply for. Cast widest net. Accurately describe what you need. On applicant side: modify your resume for boss, job (may not be exactly same as for job description). Promote yourself, give reminders about how awesome you are.

You don't need an initiative. Make sense, find the right candidates. There's not a candidate shortage, there's a stupidity overload.

This blog was reprinted with permission from Judi Clark.
Read her in depth coverage of WITI's Women Powering Technology Summit: manymedia.com
And for more of Judi's insights follow her on Twitter: @judico

The speaker featured in the article is:
Jackye Clayton
Diversity Sourcing/Recruiting Writer - Sourcecon.com
askjackye@sourcecon.com