As a company, you value diversity. However, what steps do you take to actually attain it? If you’re not sure, it’s time to start looking at your hiring process. If you want a diverse and inclusive team, you need to begin building one when you’re recruiting, interviewing and hiring. How can you get there? Here are some steps to follow:

Evaluate your current hiring practices.

Before you make any changes, take a look at how you hire. Do you use inclusive language in your job postings? Are there any discrepancies or built-in biases during the hiring process? If you’re consistently bringing on board the same kind of candidate when hiring, it’s often a sign of an unconscious bias or other roadblocks to a more diverse candidate pipeline. It’s your job to find them, so you can increase diversity in hiring.

Set diversity goals.

These will depend on your unique company and industry. So what works for one organization in terms of diversity goals, won’t make sense for another. However, in order to increase diversity on your workforce, you need to set some goals, so you can then measure your progress. This might be increasing the number of female executives on your team by 10% within a year. Or it can be to boost the number of minority employees by a certain amount within six months.

Source candidates in more diverse places.

If you have want to build a diverse team, you can’t look in the same places you always have for qualified candidates. Instead, expand your outreach efforts by connecting with minority advocacy groups, or creating a presence on social media sites that cater to women or minorities. If you have a diverse workplace already, make sure you’re promoting it when advertising jobs. According to a report by Glassdoor, 67% of candidates consider diversity when evaluating a potential role.

Minimize bias in the screening process.

You might not even realize it, but a candidate’s name or where they went to school can lead to an unconscious bias toward them. This doesn’t necessarily mean better hires, but can cause less diversity and inclusivity.

Instead, try techniques, like blind hiring. This is where a recruiter removes information about each candidate, such as gender, name, and even schools, from their resume. As a result, you’re simply focused on their degree, skill set, experience and accomplishments.

Create a diverse hiring team.

Before you’re reviewing resumes and conducting interviews, assemble a diverse hiring committee to help with the job. A balance of perspectives will bring about a more meaningful conversation with candidates and help them feel more comfortable. It will also offer an array of viewpoints into the best candidate to hire and why they’re the right fit.

Do you need help building a more diverse, innovative team?

Turn to Murray Resources. We’re a top Houston staffing agency and know where to source and recruit the most talented candidates in a range of fields. We can also give you access to a more diverse candidate pipeline, so you can build a creative, innovative, competitive team. Contact us today to get started.