Socially Responsible Talent Management: Recruitment

Talent Management is a wonderful tool that allows us to harness our biggest resource, human capital. In one way or another, we have been using talent management practices for hundreds of years and over time we have developed strategies to improve every facet of it.

However, more needs to be done to ensure that these practices are socially responsible and contribute not only to a company’s wellbeing but also to the wellbeing of its employees and society at large.

In this series, we will take a look at the talent management practices of recruitment, employee assessments and selection, training, and finally performance management. We will also explore how we can use socially responsible practices to improve them.

In talent management recruiting is the practice of creating a strategy that targets the desired population with selected messaging, therefore enticing qualified people to apply to work for a specific company.

Implementing recruitment strategies can help a company find individuals who have the skills and cultural fit they seek. This reduces the risk of turnover while increasing the likelihood of hiring employees committed to the company and its mission.

Regrettably, when companies are not mindful of their issues with diversity and work culture, their recruitment strategies can be socially irresponsible.

Some irresponsible practices related to recruitment include focusing on homogeneous and narrow applicant pools and using employee referral programs when there is already a lack of diversity in their workforce. This can be an issue as it can lead to fewer minorities and women becoming aware of the job.

Another socially irresponsible issue that can arise during recruitment can be found in messaging. The words that we use in job advertisements can exclude women and other minorities from applying. A 2011 study found that masculine wording in job advertisements has been found to generate less interest from women as they anticipate fewer feelings of belonging in that field. This further perpetuates gender inequality in male-dominated fields as fewer women are likely to apply or be hired for the job. Additionally, it creates a negative image for the company which paints them to be exclusionary and lacking diversity which in turn hurts the size of their applicant pool.

Several solutions can be implemented to increase socially responsible practices in recruiting and to lessen the effects of the problems mentioned above.

Some of these include adding diversity goals to the recruitment strategy, shifting the work culture, and creating philanthropic strategies centered around the diverse values and perspectives of employees, customers, and communities.

One way to include diversity goals in the recruitment process is by creating messaging, policies, and practices that attract talented and diverse job seekers. Some of these include directly targeting underrepresented groups and providing recruiters with diversity training to help them reduce any personal bias that may be happening during the recruitment process.

Another strategy is shifting the work culture to be more welcoming of all individuals by creating philanthropic strategies around the diverse values and perspectives of employees, customers, and communities.

Through these strategies, companies can change their image and increase and diversify their applicant pool.