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Archive for the ‘Diversity’ Category

Hiring a Veteran

Tuesday, November 6th, 2012

As an employer, you know what makes your business the best that it can be – your employees! Regardless of the industry, your employees directly impact the quality level of the products and services that you provide to your clients.

When seeking highly trained candidates that have the capacity to lead and innovate, a veteran may be the perfect fit for the position. Armed with years of specialized training, a respect for established procedure, and an unparalleled work ethic, veterans have proven to be desirable employees that demonstrate a higher rate of retention.

Even with a laundry list of outstanding characteristics and dynamic skill sets, many veterans face unthinkable challenges upon entering the workforce. Yet, their loaded résumés are still not enough to pique the interest of every potential employer.  In addition, not all employers have mastered the art of cracking the ever-changing code of military acronyms that embody a veteran’s experience.

In order to progress past these issues, it is essential that businesses are equipped with the proper education on military culture and skill translation during hiring initiatives. Consider the following when implementing such a program:

Design a Strategy: Identify the key needs of your organization and how the skills sets of a veteran candidate may prove beneficial.

Welcome & Educate: Take the time to learn about military experience and culture, including solutions to the problems that veterans face in your workplace.

Actively Recruit: Broaden your knowledge of where and how to find veteran candidates.

Proactively Retain: Develop and promote vet-to-vet peer mentorship programs within your organization.

Tools & Resources: Utilize social media to keep yourself informed and up-to-date on trends and issues affecting our transitioning veterans.

Despite years of military service, a four-year degree, and security clearances, many transitioning veterans are still unable to find employment. Given the incredible sacrifice made by members of our armed forces and their families, employers should be strong advocates in increasing the opportunities available for those brave individuals – not based on a sense of obligation, but based on their unique set of qualifications that set them apart from other candidates.

This Veteran’s Day, let’s honor our many esteemed veterans by employing them!

 

Written by: Cari Castillo
Connect with Cari on LinkedIn 

Posted in Diversity, Veterans | 2 Comments »

Hurry… these Boomers are leaving

Tuesday, October 2nd, 2012

We are standing in an extremely unique triangle of three generations converging into the workplace simultaneously. The ingenuity of the technically savvy Millennials, the hardworking steadfast Generation X, and knowledgeable stability of the Baby Boomers.   A big question in the HR profession today is “how do we leverage the knowledge of the boomers, as they transition out of our organization, to help develop future leaders?”

It’s clear that there is value to gain by soaking up every ounce of experience of the boomers to ensure younger generations understand the groundwork and culture that they have created.  In understanding how important this is, it becomes the responsibility of organizations to recognize and foster the growth of needed enablement programs.  They are facing the loss of valuable business insight and time-tested practices that impact the ability for the future of their workforce to innovate, expand and build upon the current infrastructure. Yet even with recognizing the obvious, fact proven, I still see many organizations failing to miss the mark. With thousands in this generation retiring daily, there is only one shot at executing knowledge transfer before the boomers become obsolete in the workforce.

The boomers are likely the last generation we will see have their careers been “born, raised, and retired” within the same company – there is something to be said for loyalty.  Some view the generational differences as obstacles or conflict to overcome in order to find cohesion, and technology may be the biggest culprit in creating larger gaps in those entering and leaving the workforce.  However, those with a keen vision view this as opportunity. The elements which likely cause conflict can be easily transformed into priceless learning experiences with an investment in internal education and a deep understanding of how generational learning styles and preferences are unique to each group.

It’s the learning that lies outside of the formal training sessions that often defines culture and emotionally engages or distances individuals from their work. Integrating methodologies to share experiences happening over the span of decades is vital, such as created processes and internal cultural etiquette.  Again, I am referring to the informal teachings that are passed down by true mentors.  This is where gaining buy-in and appropriately motivating all levels of the organization comes into play, from those planning the programs, those providing the mentoring, and those learning.  A true investment in incentivizing more experienced generations to provide a legacy cannot be bought in the same way as the promise of those absorbing and utilizing the intelligence.

My own father, self-proclaimed as “one of the last dinosaurs” left in his organization let me sit down and pick his brain, providing great insight to the topic (full interview can be read online in HRO Today at: http://www.hrotoday.com/content/5197/preparing-boom).  After hearing the perspective right from the “dinosaur’s mouth,” it echoed my sentiments that this is such a crucial time for organizations to strategically plan for knowledge transfer and mentoring programs.

Posted in Diversity, Gen Y, Recruitment | No Comments »

Embedding Diversity and Inclusion into Your Company

Monday, March 28th, 2011

Author:  Andrea Neal, http://www.linkedin.com/in/andreaneal

As a continuation of our monthly interview series, we had the pleasure and honor of speaking with the Senior Director of Talent Acquisition at one of Fortune Magazine’s “Most Admired Companies.” Not only is this organization the world leader in Quality of Daily Life Solutions in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, but they are also ranked as one of DiversityInc’s Top 50 Companies for Diversity. 

Before getting to the interview, we have to point out a few quick facts. First, unless you can personally relate to the commercial of the guy living under a rock, you have noticed that diversity and inclusion have quickly become buzzwords within the workplace. Many organizations are stressing the importance of diversity and inclusion without completely understanding their meaning, much less what they are truly trying to accomplish.  Wikipedia says that, “Diversity is the range of ways in which people experience a unique group identity, which includes gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity and age.” An organization’s culture tends to determine the extent to which it is culturally diverse. It is reasonable to believe that in order to promote diversity, you need to actively practice inclusion. Inclusion is defined as 1) the act of including 2) the state of being included 3) something that is included.  Adam Lloyd, President of Executive Search, at WilsonHCG comments, “Before a company can implement strategies for diversity and inclusion, they must first evaluate and define what diversity means to their organization. The same characteristics that make an individual diverse within one company could also make that same individual the majority at another.  It’s about acquiring unique experiences, points of view and strategies in order to create a rich culture.”

We hope this interview can provide you with information needed to incorporate diversity and inclusion into your company’s corporate culture.

Q:  Your Company was ranked by DiversityInc as one of the Top 50 Companies for Diversity in 2010.  This marked the fifth consecutive year that your company has been recognized and in 2009, the company went from 12th to the 6th ranked position. Can you share with us some of the things your organization did to jump up to the top two in 2010?

A: It all starts with our CEO. We have diversity goals as an organization, and it’s a total company effort, not just within Talent Acquisition.  Our goals are measurable and every member of our management team is tied to and incentivized by those specific goals. If you look at all of the functions within our business, you will see that everyone is on board.

Q:  You were a keynote speaker at ERE’s fall expo where you discussed ways to build a diverse, multi-generational workforce.  What led you to this topic and what piece of advice do you have for companies looking to improve their diversity strategies?

A:  I wanted to share our best practices with other companies out there looking to build a stronger presence within diversity and inclusion. My advice for other companies is to have a clear picture of where you are right now.  Know exactly where you are, and where you are not.  Take baby steps because it’s a journey, it’s progressive, and it most certainly doesn’t happen overnight.

Q:  How exactly do you measure the success of your diversity and inclusion programs?

A:  We measure the success of our programs in several different ways.  First of all, people are incentivized, so you see that they are now actively participating in employee network groups and putting themselves in situations that cross ethnic and gender lines, when they otherwise would not.  Our employees take pride in these incentives and none of this happened overnight.  We have goals and take pride in making our company one that weaves diversity into our culture.

Q: Where do you see diversity and inclusion within talent acquisition evolving over the next five years?

A: I think that companies wanting to be successful will have to embrace diversity into their cultures.  The demographics of our country are rapidly changing.  If you look at a successful organization that is not currently including diversity and inclusion, and a competitor that does – you will see that the company with strong diversity and inclusion initiatives will be the one still here in years to come.  The bottom line is that companies are going to have to embrace diversity and inclusion or will suffer the possibility of no longer existing in years to come.

We would like to thank this organization for leading the way in embedding diversity and inclusion into their workplace and if you have any questions or would like to discuss ideas for doing the same, please reach out to us at marketing@wilsonhcg.com.

Posted in Diversity, Executive Search, General, Human Capital, RPO, Talent Acquisition | 1 Comment »

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