Challenges in Recruiting, Interviewing and Hiring a Diverse Workforce and How to Overcome Them

To remain competitive in today’s market, it is important for employers to make an effort to attract, hire and retain qualified diverse employees. Unfortunately, organizations sometimes lose qualified job applicants during the hiring process. This can happen because of two reasons. One, the applicant’s potential for the job is underestimated, and the applicant is screened […]

Both Interview Skills and Cultural Competence Are Needed in a Tight Labor Market

“If you get a resume with somebody’s name, like Saeed, on the resume, don’t get that already negative perception of that person, ‘Oh, this guy is Saeed, I know where he’s from. . .’ Why don’t you just give that person a chance to come in, have eye contact with that person, and talk to […]

Tips for Strategic Diversity Recruiting: Networking and Outreach to Diverse Communities

Assessing Recruiting Resources Diversity Recruiting to be sustainable needs to be done in a strategic manner, which takes planning and persistence. First, what would you like your organization’s workforce to look like in the next 5, 10, 15 years? Thinking of all the diversity recruiting resources available, what approach is going to allow you to […]

Diversity Discussion Group – Lila Kelly’s Report on Monthly Meetings

Lila Kelly, of Lila Kelly Associates, LLC and DiversityIntegration.com, facilitated this Diversity Discussion Group for over 20 years up until 2023. This group started as a Special Interest Group (SIG) with the American Society of Training and Development (ASTD) and was co-sponsored by Human Resources Professionals of Minnesota (HRP-MN), where Lila was on the board […]

Could Unconscious Bias Be the Real Reason a Diverse Applicant Rejects Your Job Offer?

When an applicant receives a job offer, they decide to either accept or decline it. When they accept, the reasons for their positive decision are easy to discover. But, rarely do we hear the underlying reasons why our top choice does not accept the offer. A diverse applicant might decide that a particular organization is […]

Now Is the Time for a Strategic Approach to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

With the uncertainty surrounding so many people and organizations during COVID-19 and the social unrest since George Floyd’s killing, organizational diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) work is more important now than ever. Many organizations have been taking a piecemeal approach to DEI, including random diversity trainings and a few attempts at diversity recruiting. Most of […]

A Strategic Approach to Diversity Recruiting

In the past, research as shown that 65% to 80% of jobs are filled (versus “finding” job leads) through referrals and networking. With a shifting labor market and internet job sites becoming the norm, I did some research to see if these percentages have changed. I found that research shows up to 70% of all […]

Assessing the Cultural Competence of Your Organization – Where Are You in Meeting Your DEI Goals?

By Lila Kelly Hiring a diverse workforce starts in the recruitment, interview and hiring process, but the work does not stop there. Nor does the responsibility for its success lie with the interviewer, hiring manager or recruiter alone. The likelihood of success with efforts to increase workplace diversity is most likely pre-determined by the organization’s […]

The Hidden Face of Discrimination for Diverse Internet Applicants

As advances in technology continue, organizations are using a variety of electronic recruitment tools to assist with their diversity hiring efforts. Electronic job boards, online social networks, as well as several different versions of applicant tracking systems are widely used across the country. Employers striving for diverse and inclusive recruitment practices continue to struggle with […]

Diversity in the Job Interview Process—The First Impression

“You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” In my last 15 years of teaching interviewing techniques, I’ve used this phrase often with people in job transition. After conducting research on diversity in the job interview process, where I interviewed over 70 people of diverse backgrounds about their job interviewing experiences with […]

Cultural and Religious Occasions of Significance

Included in this document of cultural occasions are explanatory comments about this document, a “Did You Know” list of cultural occasions and explanations of the significance of the occasions. Here is a list, compiled by Ouida Crozier, of the many occasions of significance of varying cultural and religious backgrounds, and explanations in alphabetical order of the significance […]

Jazz: America’s Original Diversity Success Story

By Jeff Perry Long before the Civil Rights Act, long before Brown vs. The Board of Education, and long before President Truman’s integration of the armed forces, black and white jazz musicians where breaking social taboos in order to share and learn from each other. In the 1920s white musicians in Chicago would head down […]