Diversity in the Workforce is Important Regardless of the Economy
Now is not the time for companies to limit their hiring options by rejecting out-of-town candidates. In his article for ERE, “How to Hire True Diversity and Get Beyond Hiring Only Local Candidates,” David Dalka addresses the issue of companies willingly providing for summer interns and recent college graduates, but rejecting the idea of paying for upper level new hires to relocate.
When he Googled the phrase “local candidates only,” he received over 250,000 choices for primarily low skilled jobs like cashiers, retail workers, etc. To his surprise, when he added first “vp,” then “mba” to his search terms, he received more than 5,000 choices each time. Naturally, the reason for this comes down to money.
“Long-standing, legacy budgets fund college graduate and intern relocation programs and are regularly renewed while mid-level, experienced-hire budget resources are highly irregular and often insufficient to acquire the best talent,” Dalka says.
Many companies don’t have a sufficient budget to cover the expense of hotel accommodations and airfare during the interview process. Dalka suggests that it’s worth their while to set aside a separate pool of finances, strictly for the purpose of financing candidates’ travels during interviews or for providing relocation assistance to new hires.
Dalka gave the following suggestions for hiring a more “geographically diverse” workforce:
- Actively seek out renters as candidates – it’s easier for renters to relocate because they tend have accumulated less “stuff” than people who own their own homes.
- Target veterans terminating active duty military service – combat soldiers and EOD techs aren’t the only people separating from the military. There are also computer programmers, administrative support workers, doctors, nurses, etc. What they bring in addition to their job skills are teamwork abilities, discipline, and adaptability.
- Seek out spouses of recently relocated workers – to me this sounds like tapping local talent, but it’s still a good source.
- Target individuals who have shown an interest in your geographic region – this can be done via the Internet. Dalka also suggests keeping an eye out for candidates to who send letters to the company specifically stating their interest in relocating to your area.
- Focus on sourcing candidates who previously lived in your region – this is key for companies located in large, heavily populated cities like New York. If the candidate lived there once before, there’s no concern that he might not be able to handle it.
It’s important to have a diverse workforce, especially in the fast-paced era of the 21st century; and diversity is about more than race, gender or disabilities. It’s also about bringing in people who have a completely different perspective because they grew up in small towns, in rural areas, or close to a beach. It’s well worth the time and money spent for companies to find ways to continue growing and staying competitive by hiring people from various parts of the country.
