Debbie Nolan, 55, retired from
the IRS and now works at Ernst
& Young
“I was really looking
for a good cultural fit
… where my values
matched the firm’s.”
Scarlett Abraham, 28, works
at Bright Horizons Family
Solutions
“I wouldn’t be
stereotyped because
I sometimes have a
Latina accent.”
Raymond Armstead Jr., 25,
works at IBM
“We were hit with the
stereotypes that [in]
certain jobs or places,
you’re just only going to
see a white male.”
Nolan, Armstead and Abraham are
examples of top recruits who accepted offers of
employment from their current employers because
of their publicly demonstrated commitment to
diversity. Nolan works for Ernst & Young, Armstead
for IBM and Abraham for Bright Horizons Family
Solutions, Nos. 17, 9 and 41, respectively, on The 2008
DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity® list.
How do progressive diversity companies stress their
branding as national diversity leaders? They start with
their web sites, which should prominently feature
the Top 50 logo as evidence of their credibility. The
homepage should have a direct link to diversity and
there should be a prominent quote from the CEO on
the benefits of diversity. The site itself should feature
frequent images of Black, Latino, Asian and American
Indian employees and customers as well as employees
and customers with disabilities. Content aimed at
LGBT people must be included as well.
Companies that demonstrate their diversity
commitment on their web site, during the recruitment
and interview process, and in the representation of
their leadership will attract top-level recruits from
underrepresented groups, people who will become
engaged contributors who want to make a difference.
LEADERSHIP
“I wanted to contribute to an organizational shift
and help others to do the same and advance diversity
and inclusion,” says Nolan, who ended up accepting a
partner position in national tax with Ernst & Young.
High on Nolan’s criteria for a diversity-conscious
company is leadership. While at the IRS, she
had come in contact with some of E&Y’s leaders,
including the firm’s CEO and vice chair of its tax
organization. They had invited her to participate
in Discover Tax, a program that attracted students
from underrepresented ethnic groups into the tax
profession. The program brought a group of students
to New York where they met the firm’s leadership
and learned about the business and the culture.
“That told me something about E&Y—that they
not only valued diversity and sought out diversity for
their work force but that they [also] were forward-thinking and strategic-thinking in a way that gave
back,” says Nolan.
Less than two years later, Nolan was approached
by E&Y’s leadership for a position. But first she had
questions. She asked, “How do you think I could
contribute to the firm? How would you describe my
success one year, three years and five years from now?”
Nolan says, “What stood out is [that] what they saw
about my role was not only providing top solutions
to clients but working on a business-globalization
strategy and an inclusion diversity strategy for the
firm. The leadership commitment distinguishes one
place to work from another. It builds recruitment and
employee engagement and builds the business.”
RECRUITMENT
Word-of-mouth is the fastest, most effective way to
spread your branding as a diversity leader. And it’s
very prevalent in underrepresented communities.
People want to go where they feel welcome, where they
aren’t the first to break the barrier.
It’s also critical to have recruiters who both look like
the applicants and understand them. Coming out of
high school, Armstead never thought he’d find what he
did when he attended a job fair and was approached by
IBM. An IBM recruiter came to talk to Armstead and
other students about internships. The recruiter was a
Black woman, who stressed what a good company it
was for diversity.
“I was blown away,” says Armstead. “I’m about to
start Ohio State and I’m being asked to be part of an
interview, and the first thing I saw was the person
interviewing me was a person I could relate to. That just
turned my world upside down.”
