it focuses its recruiting efforts in
the areas of finance, marketing
and information systems. The
company also recruits from state
colleges and universities in
California because they feature
diverse student bodies.
At KeyBank, Copeland says top
recruiters find recruits through their
personal networks.
“You can’t beat the people on the
ground sourcing the community,”
says Copeland. “It’s important to
have those niche players in locales
who can point you to people.”
For example, Copeland was in
Syracuse, N.Y., meeting with executives from a local health institution
and met an executive who sits on
the board of a few companies in the
Syracuse community.
“He knows who is who in that
area. You take him out to breakfast
and ask how we can get into the
community. It’s about relationships
and networking and it’s something
you have to constantly develop,”
says Copeland.
Most of Altria’s senior recruits
are found through networking,
says Edith Chen, senior director,
Recruitment of People of Color
Nationally
21.9%
18.9%
29.9%
Top 50 Cos.
37.7%
23%
Top 50 Auto
33%
34.4%
Top 50
Telecoms
46.4%
0
20% 40%
New hires Total work force
60%
Source: DiversityInc Top 50 and Bureau of Labor Statistics
ed groups, Walker makes sure
to send representatives who
reflect the conference attendees.
For example, if the conference
is the Society of Women
Engineers, Walker sends female
executives to sit on panels and
debate the industry’s issues.
ence career fairs are good places to
find qualified recruits. She advises
recruiters to keep in mind which
conference job fairs are best so they
don’t waste time.
“Altria has all of its companies
attend job fairs, and if you go to a
specific job fair, you bring people
from your organiza-
tion who represent
that fair. It’s all an
effort to recruit
minorities at a higher
percentage than what
they are at currently
in our organization,”
says Chen.
“We look at the
location of an event to see where
they are going to draw their talent
from—is there a likelihood that people attending will be interested in
working where we are?” says Fenn.
“To recruit high-caliber diverse
talent you have to have networks and
understanding of a community.”
Edith Chen, Altria
leadership development and diversity. “To recruit high-caliber
diverse talent you have to have
networks and understanding of a
community,” she says.
Conferences
At major professional conferences
that attract executives of color,
women and other underrepresent-
“We make sure to get people
on those panels so that diverse
people in the audience think of
us,” says Walker.
Walker is not the only diversity
leader who uses this strategy. Altria
has all of its companies attend job
fairs. And, Chen’s counterpart at
Kraft, Janice Fenn, senior director,
global diversity, agrees that confer-
Recruiters
Some companies use recruiters to
find their diverse recruits, which
Chen and other representatives
