Diversity Recruiting Crash Course - Part 2: The Employment System

This is #IncreaseDiversity, a weekly newsletter series + Increase Diversity Toolbox sharing best practices for employers who want to learn how to….well, increase diversity. To see previous editions, visit JenniferTardy.com. | IG: @IncreaseDiversity | Increase Diversity - YouTube

JTC News + Events

THE CAREER COUNSELORS’ CONSORTIUM | I have been invited to speak at an upcoming event hosted by the Career Counselors’ Consortium on November 2, 2022. In this event, I will be coaching career counselors and coaches about best practices in effectively supporting job seekers from historically underrepresented groups. Hurry and register today as there are only 2 seats left! CLICK HERE

HIRING MANAGER TRAINING | Looking to fast-track “inclusive hiring” training for your leaders, hiring managers, HR Business Partners, and DEI Practitioners? Try our Fast Track Qualified Inclusive Leader Training. CLICK HERE

FREE PLATINUM CHECKLIST |  We have a FREE, downloadable CHECKLIST for leaders called The Platinum Checklist for Hiring Professionals: 10 Immediate Actions Leaders Must STOP Doing to Increase Diversity. CLICK HERE

Last week, we talked about important diversity recruiting terms and what they mean. But to understand diversity recruiting and increasing representation, there is one other essential element to unpack - Systems. You might have already heard a lot about systems, but if you haven’t, here’s a crash course for you.

Systems are the policies, practices, and behaviors according to which something gets done. Some of the most powerful systems in the world are the: housing system, legal/criminal justice system, mass media, educational system, and healthcare system.

On one end, we may be employed by the system. Many of us know someone who may be working in one of these industries now like your cousin may be a Nurse working in the healthcare system. But on the other end, we are experiencing the system. You may be a patient in a hospital experiencing the healthcare system. 

As humans, we are tied to these systems. More specifically, our outcomes are tied to these systems. These outcomes include things like quality of life, a sense of safety and security, and even opportunity. 

Remember this: Systems can put individuals at an advantage, or a disadvantage based on the ability to access the system and based on our ability to navigate a system.

Do you want to guess another all-too-powerful system?  The Employment System. I often refer to the Employment System as the hiring system. Our entire business here at Team JTC is based on the hiring system.

I’d like to spend today’s newsletter talking to recruiters. Here’s the first thing I want you to know. 

“You have top-level access to one of the most powerful systems that impact the outcome of human lives when you have access to the HIRING system.” 

Some people tie the system of hiring and wealth together because one supports the generation of the other. Having access to the hiring system is having the power to decide who gets access to a job that can put money in their pockets. The money that goes into their pockets is tied to the money that supports their homes and families. It is tied to the money that is poured into neighborhoods and communities. It is tied to the money that fuels states and ultimately economies.

I want you to take a moment and consider just how powerful you are in your role, simply because you have access to the hiring system. And in case you did not realize it, as a recruiter, you have direct access to a system that has such a deep impact on society and the outcome of lives. That is power and that is powerful. 

To be effective in increasing diversity, you must also be positioned in a way where you can best influence the hiring system so that there is fairer and more equitable access for people to get hired and get promoted. 

Unfortunately, our systems, specifically in this context of a hiring system, are doing exactly what it was designed to do over the course of the previous four centuries. It was designed to be an obstacle course for all groups that were not considered white and male. Even though many of the policies, practices, and behaviors have changed (in large part due to the Civil Rights Act of 1964), there is still a long-standing bias that hides within the hiring system. And that is what we all want to end.

And this is the mission of JTC and all you amazing diversity-hiring leaders that are part of this community. Little by little, we are impacting the recruiting and hiring practices of organizations around the country and we are educating hiring leaders around the world with training and resources on our website. 

We hope this has been an insightful and educational read for you and we encourage you to share the knowledge with others in your organizations and invite them to join our ever-growing Increase Diversity community.

Join us in the comments section: I want you to think about the hiring system in your organization and your industry and I want you to tell me the most prevalent biases and issues underrepresented communities have to face in your industry. Let’s get the conversation started.