Start your new year with a new strategy: Build and implement a diverse talent pool for your company.

Whether you use social media or traditional sourcing pipelines to do it (and ideally, you have both), a diverse talent pool is a must have in 2018 and beyond.

We all know and recognize the benefits of a diverse workforce

  • More creativity;
  • More innovation;
  • Enhanced customer loyalty;
  • More financial growth; and,
  • Greater insight and access to new marketplaces.

Here’s how to get going on this.

Social media can be a big help

You could begin with Facebook and Twitter. They can help you recruit more diverse candidates and also spread your diversity brand message.

In fact, if you want to cultivate a Talent Community of diverse candidates, then Facebook and Twitter can be key players.

Obviously, a Twitter account can be created to attract followers. This could be an effective channel for tweeting out your firm’s programs, processes, awards and accomplishments in Diversity and Inclusion. Daily tweets by your diversity networks and employees could be a powerful magnetic for attracting “people of difference.”

But don’t stop there; use Instagram and Pinterest for capturing key moments, events (such as your firm’s MLK breakfast this month), gatherings (your Employee Resource Group celebrations) and building your larger diversity brand image.

More traditional methods will work, too

Similarly, traditional methods can be leveraged to create and build a Diverse Talent Community for your organization.

Think about partnering with these kinds of groups:

  1. Professional associations, such as Women in Technology clubs;
  2. Students groups, such as NBMBAA — the National Black MBA Association — and 4-H Clubs, as we did to great effect when I was at Monsanto;
  3. Alumni associations;
  4.  Colleges and Universities;
  5. Trade associations;
  6. Community groups such as the Urban League (local chapters); and
  7. National veterans organizations as well as local veteran chapters in your city.

These are just a few examples, but there are many more you could reach out to and pull in to create this “virtual” talent community.

Inspire your staff to help spread the word

Additionally, inspire your recruiters and the Talent Acquisition staff, as I did, to network widely and broadly both on social media and within (and outside of) your industry.

You might want to consider this: keep a running list of people you meet (speakers, workshop facilitators, attendees, etc.) at industry and professional conferences and trade shows — and then ACTIVELY network with them after the event.

Also you might consider partnering with companies and organizations (regardless of industry) in your own area in hosting shared events.

Back when I was at Monsanto, I once organized a “shared event” for our U.S. summer interns and partnered with Boeing and Edward Jones to help host the gathering. This fun event was a huge success and it allowed the students to mix, mingle and network with peers at many other firms in St. Louis as well.

Remember — don’t miss the chance to be a leading edge company in 2018 in this critical talent acquisition area. Doing so will help insure that your organization has a distinct competitive advantage in the marketplace by creating and building a Diverse Talent Pool.

So get going and start one now so you don’t get left behind.


Authors
Johnny Torrance-Nesbitt

John “Johnny” Torrance-Nesbitt is an award-winning Global Employer Branding & Global Talent Acquisition executive with 15 plus years in building/leading global and regional talent acquisition and employer branding functions at several global Fortune 500 companies. He is global working in Global Employer Branding and was an Employer Branding Director at Randstad and has been Director of Employment Branding & University Relations at Monsanto in St. Louis for over five-plus years where he won four consecutive “Rapid Recognition Awards” for superior achievements. Prior to that, he was at Lockheed (corporate hdqts) in Maryland as head office Corporate Staffing Supervisor & Senior Recruiter, and he built the global recruiting forUnext.com, an innovative Chicago start-up. Johnny was also nominated in 2018 by his former organizational behavior professor, Dave Ulrich, for the prestigious “Employer Brand Leader of the Year 2018 (Global Leader Category.)” and by others in 2019. He is also a volunteer appointed a judge for Employer Brand Management Awards and the Web Marketing Association and a writer. Mr. Nesbitt holds a Bachelors in Anthropology from Amherst with Dean’s List honors. While he lived in England, he engaged with the US Embassy there and has a citation from the U.S. Embassy in London for his assistance on “equal access for Americans to UK opportunities.” He obtained his MBA in Finance in 1988 (and a Fellowship Winner) and then worked 3 years in Corporate Finance for First Chicago Capital Markets, Inc. You can follow him on Twitter @JohnnyTorrNesbi, or connect with him on LinkedIn.