Does anybody see that there is a disconnect between hiring and diversity & inclusion?
I see and hear this clever observation from many ex-corporate, professional women in bandofsisters (BOSS) whom once upon a time ramped off their career to have children and seeking a career re-entry or side hustle start up. And an untapped potential talent pool for skills and ideas in every community.
Stories shared that the hiring process is competitive and disempowering and for many, some of the reasons they paused their career in the first place.
We also know that women as a % of senior employees remains under-represented as a result of mid career drop out, and that socially and economically we need them to be contributing.
Is there a better way of attracting this untapped talent pool and their creative ideas?
· How are inclusive practices being used to attract or re-attract this untapped talent?
· How are people inside and outside organisations encouraged to collaborate and innovate?
· How can you really know what this female major household spender is saying about you?
The old hiring approach relies upon a tired, reactive system called resume that conveys little about insights or what people think, sure it lists accomplishments, but nothing about people’s professional and personal network which I think organisations are gaining but rarely tapping into. And anyway, who reads the resume when it is sent and all the other unconscious bias barriers that everyone of us carries.
We can continue to use tried and tested methods to source talent and fish in the same ocean, industrially recycling the same people. Or we can experiment with talent strategies that replace competition with collaboration, compassion and creativity.
It’s dawned on me that the 3 short questions we practice in BOSS PODs when we bring community and corporate women together in a short peer based career mentoring program to realise potential and take action, is pretty much all you need to know at the hiring stage and goes something like this;
· What is your work?
· When are you at your best?
· What conditions do we need to create for you to be at your best?
It’s also dawned on me through teaching human centred design in BOSS, that Corporates could use the hiring process to learn about what they don’t know. But are we willing to drop the competitive hiring process and replace it with a collaborative approach that builds relationships and creates new opportunities, rather than rely on what's been done in the past. That surely would be cool.
Are we willing to use inclusive practices to attract new talent?
How can talent attraction be placed into more diverse hands in organisations? What difference could bringing corporate and community women together make to expanding talent, skills and ideas pipeline ? What might people who don't know you now say about you if you did? What impact could you have by deepening connections in the communities that you serve; to attract more to work for you, refer others to you or buy from you?#goodforbusinessandbrand
BOSS can show you for the price of 2 SEEK adverts how to introduce design thinking hubs @ recruitment and help you find new ways to uncover talent and ideas. Opportunities often right next to you, if you looked a bit differently, connecting your hiring and D&I practices whilst deepening the connections in the communities that you serve. #engagedifferently #hiredifferently #distributedifferently #femaletalent #inclusion
And learning with my female BOSS buddies to always love, nurture and build your personal and professional network as that is where your future opportunity lies, not on a job board.
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