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VIDEO: Recruiting for Diversity and Inclusion
Helen Hale Tomasik MSc CHRL • Feb 22, 2021
"At ProspectHR MMI we know achieving Diversity and Inclusion is a journey."
“Black Lives Matter”, Gender Equity in leadership, news of harassment and discrimination in our public institutions, recent calls for police reform, etc.... have escalated and renewed the need for Diversity and Inclusion Strategies across all public services and industry sectors. As an HR professional, I am seeing evidence of organizations taking action as announcements of Equity Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) positions come across my screen every week.
But achieving diversity and inclusion cannot be the sole responsibility of Human Resources or dedicated EDI positions. It is the responsibility of leaders to own the strategy. Leaders must set the tone for a workplace culture that embraces diversity and creates a sense of belonging for everyone. Current and future employees need to see, hear, and feel that the leadership values diversity, equity, and inclusion. Otherwise, all the well-researched benefits of diversity and inclusion will not be realized by your organization.
At ProspectHR MMI, we recognize that achieving Diversity and Inclusion is a journey. To build a diverse workforce and an inclusive respectful culture requires organizations to implement proven best practices every step of the way. We offer organizations assistance with a foundational step which is to recruit diverse employees.
Diversity recruiting is the practice of hiring candidates using a process that is free from biases for or against any individual or group of candidates. Our method of interviewing and selecting candidates, the Multiple Mini Interview (MMI), has been proven through extensive university research. Our MMI assesses for soft skill attributes to identify candidates who will best contribute to your aspired organizational culture, a culture that embraces diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Our ProspectHR MMI is designed and structured to give all candidates, regardless of their background, an equal opportunity in several ways:
- In an MMI, there are 8 to 10 different scenarios independently assessed by 8 – 10 trained interviewers which significantly reduces rater bias.
- Our MMI process ensures that every interviewer has equal influence, unlike panel interviews, where one individual usually has the greatest say in the outcome.
- Our process enables organizations to engage and train individuals from their Employee Resource Groups and/or members of Diversity and Inclusion Groups from their community to be on the MMI interview team. Seeing diverse interviewers communicates quickly that your organization values diversity.
In addition, ProspectHR MMI has invested in a rich database of scenarios with interview questions standardized to eliminate bias and support diversity. Our MMI scenarios address matters such as unconscious bias, microaggressions, discriminatory behaviours, gender bias, sexual orientation, harassment, as well as assess for ally behaviours that support inclusion and a sense of belonging in a workplace.
We also have scenarios that assess for attributes of leadership character such as empathy, self-awareness and collaboration which are so important when it comes to fostering a culture of respect, diversity and inclusion.
Recruiting for diversity will not only ensure that your workforce is more reflective of the public you serve, it has the added benefit of providing your organization with a diverse talent pipeline for future leadership roles.
Contact me at helen.tomasik@prospecthrmmi.com
if you are ready to talk about recruiting for diversity and inclusion.