5 ways to diversify your recruiting and hire untapped talent

May 28, 2021 10:00 AM

After a year of economic uncertainty and staggering unemployment rates, the job market is ready for — and anticipating — a big change. But do companies know where to find top talent in a post-pandemic world?

The expected hiring frenzy will coincide with an increased focus on building diverse and inclusive workforces, though reports show that good intentions don’t always result in action: a recent study by HireVue showed that while 100% of employers claim to be committed to improving diversity, just 33% have actually done something about it.

But there are plenty of organizations, businesses and resources ready to help companies make change, and it will require thinking beyond the standard definition of what DEI efforts look like. Here are five to explore.

Chronically Capable

When Hannah Olson was diagnosed with Lyme disease in her early 20s, her treatment plan required her to be on an IV for six hours a day, preventing her from being able to work in a traditional office and ultimately forcing her to leave her dream job. “It really made me wonder if there’s a place for people with illness and disability in the workplace,” Olson says. Now, as the founder and CEO of Chronically Capable, a job platform that connects workers with chronic illness to employees who offer remote opportunities, she’s making sure there is.

Since launching in 2020, nearly 50,000 job seekers have joined the Chronically Capable platform, which partners with employers including Postmates, Wikimedia Foundation and Horizon Therapeutics. Nearly 400 workers have been placed in jobs with a 100% retention rate. “The rate of chronic illness is rising, and employers across the globe have started to realize they must take care of their employees,” Olson says. “This has to be a part of strategy now.”

The Mom Project

In 2016, after learning that 43% of top female talent exits the workforce within a year of having a child, Allison Robinson launched The Mom Project to keep women in (and bring them back to) the workforce. The talent marketplace connects women with flexible career opportunities and has a community of more than 350,000 professionals and 2,000 partner companies.

After a year that saw millions of women leave the labor force, The Mom Project’s mission has never been more clear. “There was a real acknowledgement of how hard it is to be a working mom and handle household responsibilities with professional obligations and caregiving,” Robinson says. “Change happens slowly inside big companies, but the landscape has shifted and those companies are realizing that they want to keep this talent in their organization.”

Read more:

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Jopwell

When Porter Braswell and Ryan Williams launched Jopwell in 2015, the duo set out to connect Black, Latino and Native American talent with career opportunities — and prove that “the pipeline problem” so many companies lean on to excuse their lack of diversity is actually a myth. Today, Jopwell works with companies that are committed to improving diversity within their workforce, including Goldman Sachs, Peloton, Spotify and Moody’s. In the last year, as DEI initiatives across industries are being discussed with a new sense of urgency, Jopwell has evolved from helping companies just recruit talent to also helping them retain it and build more holistic DEI strategies.

Creative Spirit

Creative Spirit is a non-profit organization committed to helping companies hire and retain individuals with intellectual, developmental and learning disabilities (IDDs). In the U.S., more than 10 million adults with IDDs are unemployed, or 85% of willing and able workers, according to Creative Spirit. The organization provides training and consulting to companies like Voya and other partner businesses that are interested in working with this talent pool — which is known to be creative problem solvers and solutions-focused workers.

Read more:

Want to make more diverse and inclusive hires? Time to think beyond race and gender

Second Chance Business Coalition

For the one-third of U.S. workers with criminal records, career advancement is filled with hurdles: more than a quarter of managers won’t work with them, according to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). But that mindset can cause companies to miss out on high-performing talent, which is why SHRM and the Charles Koch Institute formed the Second Chance Business Coalition to encourage and help employers advance this community of workers. Companies including Target, Virgin, Microsoft and P&G have committed to expanding opportunities for people with criminal records, and the Second Chance Business Coalition provides resources and guidance to help them do that effectively.