How IBM solved their talent shortage by revamping their recruiting process

Employers are struggling to recruit and retain this new labor force — and fixing it will require an overhaul from the top down. 

As employers and HR leaders rebuild their company culture to be more diverse and inclusive, they may be ignoring how their recruiting policies are working against those values, said Obed Louissaint, senior vice president of transformation and culture at IBM, at the From Day One Conference on Tuesday in New York. 

“As you’re defining what your culture is, you could easily erode the narrative by who you put in jobs,” Louissant said. “It doesn’t matter what you put on walls, it doesn’t matter what rhetoric you say — people in the organization will say ‘Oh that’s who they promoted? That’s who they put in a leadership role?’ That’s what tells people about the real culture at an organization.” 

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But employers may be getting ahead of themselves, Louissant said. Before employers start thinking about leadership and C-suite diversity goals, they should look at who they’re attracting to begin with. At IBM, a labor shortage forced them to look at the barriers they had in place, namely degree requirements that were leaving out a large demographic of available talent. 

“We had about 700,000 IT jobs that we did not have talent for, but [we found that] there was an abundance of individuals who were available in the labor force,” Louissant said  “So we asked ‘What are the barriers we’re putting up as an organization that is preventing qualified talent from being successful?’”

The tech mogul quickly realized that having 90% of their jobs require a bachelor’s degree — when only 62% of the U.S. working population has one — meant they were missing out on a huge demographic of potential applicants. In the Black and Latinx community, 72% and 79% don’t have bachelor’s degrees, respectively. 

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“There are real life experiences that are more valuable than degrees,” Louissant said. “And [they drive] phenomenal results — we’ve seen higher retention rates and a much more inclusive workforce that drives us to be more innovative because we have people who not only just look different, but act different.” 

Once that talent is hired, it’s imperative they’re provided with training and upskilling. But small to mid-sized companies may not have the time or resources that a larger company like IBM has, an issue that can be addressed at the beginning of the recruiting process by ensuring job descriptions are accurate. None of those things require a big, sophisticated staff — rather, HR teams can reevaluate their methods and come up with a vision and a plan. 

“We have to really look at the job descriptions [because] we've been screening out individuals way too easily and not putting in any more thought on what are the skills that are really necessary to be successful in a job,” he said. “Then, how do we  train our managers and outward talent acquisition teams to be more thoughtful in selection?”