Senior Executive Media Outlines 4 Pillars to Build Your HBCU Recruitment Strategy
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Posted By: S. Moore on February 10, 2023 As Reported on Senior Executive: Recruiting from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) is essential for organizations committed to uplifting and supporting Black communities and diversifying their talent pool. HBCU recruiting fosters cooperation and promotes creativity. A McKinsey & Company study found that more diversified organizations are 36% more profitable than less diverse ones. As a chief diversity officer, you know what an HBCU is and you know you should be recruiting from them, but how do you tap into their networks? Here are the key elements to building a robust HBCU recruitment strategy. 1. Establish a Commitment to HBCU Students HBCUs have been creating communities for minority students for more than 100 years, and recruiting HBCU students requires committing to building relationships with the schools and students. Fidelity Investments recently announced Invest in My Education (ME), a $250 million initiative to provide support for up to 50,000 students by increasing opportunities for economic mobility and building a path toward generational wealth. Deb Grimes, the chief diversity officer at Ochsner Health, says direct partnerships with several HBCUs in Louisiana have helped it meet diversity goals. In 2020, the healthcare system set a goal for all assistant director positions and above to be 25% Black, Indigenous, and people of color. To meet this goal, Ochsner tapped alumni to host its inaugural HBCU Summit in 2022. The summit was a three-hour event held at Ochsner and open to HBCU students and recent graduates. Employees led informational sessions, conducted mock interviews, and had a panel discussion with HBCU alumni. 2. Recruit HBCU Students Online Companies should be building brand awareness online with a robust social media strategy to recruit HBCU students. Rocki Rockingham, the chief human resources officer at GE Appliances, suggests creating and joining LinkedIn groups and forums to share internship openings and job opportunities. Amber Arnold, the vice president of DEI at MikeWorldWide, a global public relations firm, leans on Instagram and TikTok to promote recruiting opportunities. Many corporations have also partnered with HBCU Connect, one of the most widely used digital platforms with the largest network of students and alumni. HBCU Connect and GE Appliances partnered to host a 90-minute virtual recruitment event, which included a company overview, panel discussion, and Q&A. It was attended by several hundred students who were invited to apply online and informed of GE Appliances' interview days on campus. Rockingham says. 3. Recruit HBCU Students on Campus When career fairs ramp up at HBCUs, recruit HBCU students on campus and ask coworkers, especially HBCU alumni, to get involved to strengthen your organization's commitment to diversifying its recruiting strategy. North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (A&T), the largest HBCU in the country, is one of Fidelity's priority institutions for technology. Moreover, Fidelity leverages 90 A&T graduates to engage these highly sought-after recruits. Fidelity also embraces "Business champions", or leaders from employee resource groups (ERGs) in addition to alumni to run recruitment tours for GE Appliances to build a sense of camaraderie between the company and school. "Business champions come in many shapes and sizes and are subject matter experts who volunteered to bring back talent that shares common interests or are in the functional areas we're looking for" Rockingham says. 4. Build Diverse Hiring Panels, Apprenticeship Programs for HBCU Candidates Organizations should build relationships with students and educators at HBCUs to identify prospective interns and employees who are interested in working with them. GE Appliances' hiring process begins with a diverse hiring panel, with different kinds of engineers from different cultural backgrounds and job levels. A study from McKinsey & Company determined organizations with more diverse hiring panels are 35% more likely to have a more diverse candidate slate and are twice as likely to improve the diversity of their hiring outcomes. To move candidates toward full-time positions, Fidelity offers various apprenticeships and the Emerging Leaders Program, an 18-month rotational program for students from all backgrounds with a liberal arts degree. Measuring the Success of Your HBCU Recruitment Strategy HBCU recruitment is essential when building the diversity and inclusion (DEI) strategy, but many DEI leaders do not have an effective method to measure its success. Fidelity uses its diversity and inclusion report to measure success and inform future initiatives. Instead of tracking HBCU recruitment, Tony Jeffreys, a diversity and inclusion leader and vice president at Fidelity Investments advises focusing on how many HBCU recruits you're moving along the interview process, retaining students your hire, and fostering community through mentorship and affinity groups. Measuring the success of your goals is as idiosyncratic as setting them. Most importantly, keep in mind what’s best for the students you’re recruiting and for your organization. Full Article / SOURCE Senior Executive Newsletter: https://seniorexecutive.com/4-pillars-of-a... 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