3 action steps for achieving a more diverse workplace

Achieving a diverse workforce demands employers are open to it. They must not only be active in diversity but think of it in terms of the job candidate and building a business.

To help explore these issues, College Recruiter recently hosted a College Recruiting Bootcamp on LGBT and other diversity hiring issues on Tuesday, September 29, at the Twilio headquarters in San Francisco.

College Recruiter has been publishing the opinions from a number of talent acquisition and recruiting leaders about why and how employers should diversify their workforces. Consider taking these three action steps to achieving a more diverse workplace, suggested by CEO/Founder of UsersThink, John Turner.

John Turner, CEO/Founder of UsersThink

“1. Be proactive. You can’t just hang a sign out saying ‘we want diversity, come on in.’ You have to take the lead on this, work hard, research, and strive to improve.”

“2. Reassess what you think makes for a qualified job candidate. If you think diversity is just checking off squares on a list, this part won’t matter. But if you truly want diversity, you need to think hard about what really makes for a good candidate. Does what you value really matter, or is it just a correlation between what you value and what works? This will come across not only during recruitment and interviews, but also when candidates look at your company; if they will self-select that, you’re not a good fit for them.”

“3. Build a company that actually values diversity. Does everyone act, dress, talk, and think the same as everyone else in your company? Do you allow for real discussion and disagreement, or do you have a ‘smile or die’ atmosphere? If you don’t, job candidates can tell this from a mile away, and also realize that you’re only looking at them for the appearance of diversity. Make it a place that actually values diversity along a number of lines, and you will have much less trouble recruiting.”

BIO: John Turner is CEO/Founder of UsersThink – http://usersthink.com/ – a tool that delivers user feedback on demand for website landing pages, helping to increase conversions and improve usability and UX.