Recruiting Brain Surgeons & Other “Minorities”

• Author: Amitai Givertz
• Posted: March 26, 2007
• Category: Recruiting, Sourcing Strategies
• Tags: No Tags
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It seems the word “Minority” used to describe a distinct group of candidates is going out of vogue. Sadly, in our efforts to be “correct” with our use of language we sometimes throw the baby out with the bath water, missing opportunities to explore non-traditional recruitment communications and sourcing strategies.

To the extent that “minority” might imply subordination to a majority – such a negative word when we think in terms of people defined by their race, creed, ability, orientation, vulnerability or disadvantage – then it is easy to understand why some would prefer to jettison the word in favor of something that sounds more “inclusive.”

Conversely, to the extent that the word by definition means “the smaller in number of two groups forming a whole,” it is quite proper to describe brain surgeons as a minority in exactly the same way as women in technology and Black engineers are truly minorities too.

So, why the semantics?

Conventional wisdom has it that diversity recruiting requires its own set of tools, resources and in some instances teams of highly trained recruiters. Budgets too. Like college recruiting perhaps, diversity recruiting is a specialty. Specialty recruiters – like specialty surgeons – are often enigmatic because they are, well, so special; in a minority.

Not to oversimplify things here, there is a case to be made that the more narrowly you define a population by demographics, occupation, skills, experience and professional association the easier it should be to source from it.

Granted, attracting, engaging, hiring and keeping a large number of minority candidates might be a good enough reason to have a specialist recruiter or two. But knowing where to find minority candidates using lists, alumni pages (especially from HBCUs), spotting competitors for generating talent-popping names and any number of sourcing strategies — online and in print — is rarely equivalent to brain surgery.

Just like the term “affirmative action” is becoming old-hat too, employers are looking for ways to create a more “inclusive workforce” today. The challenge for many is that as easy as it might be to source minorities — by the definition of their grouping, easier to find — reaching a broad enough audience to attract the greatest number of qualified candidates while still honing in on the most desirable is never easy.

There are, however, exceptions that prove the rule. Strategies like the upcoming regional feature in USA TODAY which specifically targets visitors to the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) in Columbus, OH and Women in Technology (WITI) also going on in Boston, MA this weekend are worth considering, exceptional maybe.

If you are recruiting technical and engineering talent and want to draw from a pool of diversity candidates — active and passive — you might need a sourcing strategy that includes any combination of the following elements. Bear in mind, some minority recruiting is more inclusive than others:

• NSBE Annual Convention Career Fair: March 28-April 1, 2007
• NSBE magazines
• NSBE Job Postings Service
• WITI Career Event: March 29- 30, 2007
• WITI Careers Channel
• WITI 4 Hire
• Building a Diverse Workforce (USA TODAY targeting NSBE/WITI)
• Careers for Winners (March Madness Final Four/USA TODAY College & Diversity)

Next week recruiting rocket scientists.