5 campus recruitment best practices to increase candidate diversity

Going by global trends, there is no better time to adopt and highlight your diversity initiatives than now! Most of the talent you seek is from millennials and Gen Z, who are vocal about their preference for diversity in the workplace and how it’s a non-negotiable aspect of employment for them. As it happens, diversity is not only about attracting talent. It is the cornerstone of progress, innovation and inclusivity. In today’s interconnected world, where a global workforce is the norm and collaboration transcends boundaries, fostering a diverse workforce is not just an option; it is imperative for the success of an organisation. And what better way to bring home this point than to let the facts speak for themselves?

Here are some startling insights from a LinkedIn Learning article titled, Why Is Diversity and Inclusion Important?

• Companies that are in the top quartile for gender diversity have more than 25% possibilities of outperforming their peers financially.
  
• 87% of the time, diverse teams make better decisions.
• When considering job offers, 76% of employees and job seekers rated diversity as being important.
• 80% of respondents expressed a preference for companies that value DEI.

These findings from the LinkedIn survey make a strong business case for diversity. However, it is also true that not all companies can set and achieve their diversity goals as planned. Effectiveness depends on how organisations harness diversity to achieve their goals. And to harness it properly, organisations must shape the narratives early on, when people begin their careers. And where better to begin than at campus recruitment?

As we all know, despite all talk about the recession and the hiring slowdown, campus recruiting continues to be prominent in the hiring landscape today. It is still the go-to place for companies to find top talent that can help shape their future. Campus is where the seeds of future talent are sown, cultivated and harvested. It is easy to see why it is essential to interlink diversity and campus recruitment. If you want diversity in your workplace, especially in the C-suite, and improved financial performance, you must implement diversity in your campus hiring. Build it into your work culture and ensure that your leaders of tomorrow live and breathe your diversity mantra.

How can an organisation ensure that campus recruitment practices genuinely reflect the diversity espoused? The answers lie not in tokenism but in actionable strategies that help prioritise diversity in campus engagements.

Here is a rundown of the five best practices organisations can embrace to ensure diversity in campus hiring.

1. Ensure your brand becomes synonymous with diversity

   Diversity is not a one-time, do-it-forget-it kind of concept. You must own it, work at it and make it synonymous with your brand. It should reflect automatically in everything that your brand does. Start by evaluating your policies and tweaking them if necessary. Make sure that they adhere to your diversity needs and goals. Whether it is an ad or a social media post, let diversity honestly shine through; it should not come across as an add-on prop. It should be part and parcel of your employer brand.
   

   You must engage with the college audience through specific initiatives and campaigns. These could be online or offline, depending on the goals and needs. To indicate your commitment to diversity in all forms, let your brand’s messaging change across all channels. A key point to remember is that when the message comes from the top, it carries much weight. Therefore, include thought leadership messages on diversity as a regular fare. Flaunt your diversity achievements with pride through employee stories, videos, etc. Leave no stone unturned and highlight your diversity benefits, policies, ERGs and so on to convince career starters that yours is the diverse workplace that they are seeking.

2. Identify and map your diversity goals realistically

   Once you establish your employer brand as being diversity-friendly, the next step is to plan your yearly diversity hiring. To begin with, evaluate your talent needs and map them to your diversity goals; it will help you identify the kind of diversity you are seeking (women, LGBTQ+, PwD, etc.). The organisational needs and roles need to match these goals. The next step is to evaluate whether you can meet these goals through campus hiring and work on how to achieve them. Once you have clarity, you can formulate your hiring plan accordingly. It must include an end-to-end strategy encompassing the hiring team and specific policies and programmes like internships and mentorship. It must also include periodic reviews to tweak the hiring strategy and career development plans for those hired.

   Remember, you are dealing with digital natives. Therefore, your brand must impress them through digital hiring initiatives. Adopt AI-powered online hiring tools to make the process seamless, fast and convenient. Online hiring can also send a message about your commitment to unbiased selection. Your hiring process must convince the candidates that only talent matters and that there is no place for discrimination.
   
   While identifying campuses for hiring, strategise based on the kind of diversity you seek. For example, hiring from women’s colleges can help you increase the number of women in your organisation. For improving regional diversity, pick campuses from Tier 2 or Tier 3 cities. You may also collaborate with NGOs or campus groups for specific underrepresented communities or sponsor targeted campus events.

   Diversity goes hand-in-hand with inclusion. Therefore, ensure that your hiring events are accessible to everyone. One of the best ways to achieve this is by conducting online or remote hiring events. Include new-age assessments such as adaptive or multimodal assessments, which give everyone a fair chance to showcase their potential.

   To see how this translates into reality, dive into how we partnered with Axis Bank to combine all these strategies with stellar results to help them create a perpetual skills-based college recruitment programme.

3. Identify your team

   To implement your plans efficiently, you need a capable and committed team. Your campus hiring team must understand what it means to hire diverse people. They should walk the talk! Create a diverse team that showcases your intentions honestly so that the members become Suo Moto diversity ambassadors. Pick up talent as diverse as possible and meet your goals. Your team members must know that what they are doing is sowing the seeds of diversity and nurturing them into flourishing careers. The team must reflect this approach across all stages of the hiring process. Attention to detail must begin with the language in the JDs and percolate into email communication, interviews, internship discussions and offer letters. Draft every communication with the consideration that it appeals to the diverse set of people you are wooing.

   

   All your campus hiring engagements must help build a strong connect with campuses. The team must work with student associations to conduct suitable campus events. They must hit the ground at the beginning of the year and keep their eyes and ears open to know and capitalise on any campus buzz. They must not miss out on any opportunity to partake in or sponsor any campus event, technical or otherwise. They must be seen, felt and heard on the campus to make your employer brand easily recognisable. That is why the team is crucial. Build the team accordingly.

4. Formulate internship programmes for underrepresented groups

   Having specific internship programmes for the diverse groups you wish to hire is a great way to achieve your goals. Identify, visit or engage with specific educational institutions early on to set the ball rolling. Create internship programmes that suit and appeal to these groups. Highlight the benefits of these programmes. Showcase them as a jumpstart to their careers. Underline the milestones that they can achieve in a few years. Make it attractive to the target group and onboard the best diverse talent. Periodically, present their progress to others so that the next time around, the programme sells itself. Craft your internship-to-permanent-employee hiring programmes wisely to give them the required advantage.

5. Make DEI a key part of your campus engagement

   DEI is not seasonal, optional or something done to establish yourself as an equal-opportunity employer. Convey this message to the campuses through a few initiatives. Start DEI dialogues on campus and highlight why and what it means to you. For example, show that you care about LGBTQ+ rights, pay equity and so on. Talk about why you have unisex bathrooms or give people the freedom to choose their pronouns. Identify employee ambassadors from the diverse communities you wish to hire and let them do the job for you. Reach out through social media campaigns to start discussions around more initiatives. Plan mentorship and sponsorship to show that the success of these programmes matters to you. Run year-long programmes for engaging with the campus; let them not be seasonal happenings, confined to the placement season.

   When you have a good team, a well-crafted plan and carefully considered goals implemented with genuine intent and backed by periodic reviews, diversity in campus hiring will become par for the course. You will not need to strive to make it a reality.

   References:

   • learning.linkedin.com
   • peoplematters.in
   • cornerstoneondemand.com
   • untapped.io
   • linkedin.com
   • hirepro.in/resources
   • keka.com