DiversityInc - July/August 2006

Publishers’ Letter

Where to Find ‘Them’

and How to Make ‘Them’ Stay

We are regularly invited speak to corporate, not-for-profit and industry-organization audiences. Of all the comments we hear, one of the most frequent is “We can’t find ‘them,’” which usually is followed by “When we do, ‘they’ won’t stay.” If you hear “We can’t find them” in your own organization, this is what you should understand: Your company’s survival may depend on breaking that recording.

The 2006 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity averaged almost 43 percent recruitment of people of color—a whopping 48 percent higher than the total U.S. work force.

Our Top 50 data also shows an indisputable link between retention, recruitment and current work-force representation. Aggressive recruitment for people of color today is going to have a dramatic effect on a company’s ability to recruit the highest-quality college graduates in the immediate future because the percent of bachelor’s and postgraduate degrees going to people of color is increasing more rapidly than the rate of representation of people of color in the population.

In light of these facts, it seems logical that “diversity” recruiting should be the most important aspect of recruiting, period. Although most of the people in the labor pool still are white, white students who are drawn to diversity in their colleges, graduate schools and recruiting promotions are going to have the right kind of attitude and enthusiasm for the competitive work environment, which is openly embracing multicultural, disabled, GLBT and multi-generational employees. For most properly trained white employees, this also will be the case.

Let’s go back to “We can’t find them.” The documentation is clear in that “they” exist and even more importantly are being recruited by a group of very aggressive companies. As this issue will explain, our education system is failing mostly brown and black students. Aside from superior recruiting, we see the Top 50 companies with plans in place to cultivate our country’s students of color.

Corporate efforts in elementary, secondary and high schools have more immediate results than what would be intuitive. The return on

investment between corporate community involvement and hiring diversely is direct because these kinds of programs are where you “find” adult talent of color—and build the relationships necessary to gain the reputation necessary to drive a successful diversity recruiting program.

Where you find “them” is where “they” are involved. Now, how do you get “them” to “stay?” They’ll “stay” when they trust that you are serving their interests.