The gag is simple: One magic wand, one magic wish. What would you do to change the Talent Acquisition landscape to make it better? We were at HR Tech 2022 asking industry leaders about their opinions on this crazy industry and how to improve it.
Joveo’s Director of Global Strategy Nadia Al-Refae talks with William Tincup about diversity inclusion. Unfortunately, many times the discussion about diversity is just to check a box, but this isn’t lip service, we need to work hard towards having a more inclusive workplace.
This #HRTechConf 2022 series was hosted and brought to you by our friends and partners at Joveo!
Nadia Al-Refae
Announcer (00:01):
You’re listening to the Recruiting Daily Podcast. We’re recording from HR Tech in Vegas. Thanks to our friends and partners at Joveo, we are talking to some of the best minds in HR and business, and digging into the most pressing issues in the workplace, so you don’t have to. Here’s your host, William Tincup.
William Tincup (00:20):
Ladies, gentlemen, this is William Tincup and we are broadcasting live from Joveo’s booth at HR Tech. Nadia is in front of me right now and we’re going to be asking her a question. Before we do that, Nadia, would you introduce yourself?
Nadia Al-Refae (00:34):
Yes. Thanks, William.
William Tincup (00:36):
Sure.
Nadia Al-Refae (00:36):
Hello everyone. I’m Nadia and I’m the director of Global Business Strategy at Joveo. Essentially what I do is I look after a client portfolio and I figure out gaps in opportunities and steer the business towards fulfilling those.
William Tincup (00:50):
Check. I love that. Where whereabouts do you live?
Nadia Al-Refae (00:53):
I live in London.
William Tincup (00:54):
Oh, very nice. So I’m going to hand you a magic wand.
Nadia Al-Refae (00:58):
Thank you. Thank you.
William Tincup (00:59):
Good. So now that you have this magic wand, if you could change anything about talent sourcing or the sourcing of talent, what would you change?
Nadia Al-Refae (01:09):
Okay, this is a tough one, but I have a want. I think diversity inclusion’s a massive thing. Everyone likes to talk about it and make noise about it, but a lot of the time that noise is just a checkbox exercise. So I think there needs to be a bit more emphasis on actually driving that noise and not just making it something … like a lip that’s exercise. So I think there just needs to be a bit more follow through in a lot of companies to actually include a more diverse talent.
William Tincup (01:45):
I love that. I love that. Especially here in the States, because of Me Too, Love is Love, Black Lives Matter, George Ford, it became an imperative that everyone from the board level all the way through, and it seems like it’s kind of diminished it’s energy. And it shouldn’t, it should have always been important.
Nadia Al-Refae (02:07):
Always important. I appreciate a lot of things have definitely driven awareness. But awareness is one thing, actually-
William Tincup (02:17):
Actually.
Nadia Al-Refae (02:18):
Yeah, exactly. Follow it through with some action. Actually give me the stats to say that your company has hired X amount of different backgrounds, different genders. Right now we are hiring more remotely. You have a larger candidate poll, you don’t have an excuse anymore.
William Tincup (02:36):
No, you never did. However, what I’m hopeful about is millennials and Gen Z, in particular, have no patience for the old way of doing things. Which I love.
Nadia Al-Refae (02:50):
Absolutely.
William Tincup (02:51):
As a Gen Xer, I love that because they’re basically saying, “Yeah, there is no excuse. There was no excuse. However, there is no excuse now.”
Nadia Al-Refae (02:59):
Absolutely.
William Tincup (03:00):
I love that. Thank you so much, Nadia. This has been wonderful.
Nadia Al-Refae (03:05):
Thank you very much for having me.
William Tincup (03:06):
Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (03:08):
You’ve been listening to the Recruiting Daily Podcast, live at HR Tech. Graciously sponsored by Joveo. For all other HR recruiting and sourcing news, check out recruitingdaily.com.
The RecruitingDaily Podcast
Authors
William Tincup
William is the President & Editor-at-Large of RecruitingDaily. At the intersection of HR and technology, he’s a writer, speaker, advisor, consultant, investor, storyteller & teacher. He's been writing about HR and Recruiting related issues for longer than he cares to disclose. William serves on the Board of Advisors / Board of Directors for 20+ HR technology startups. William is a graduate of the University of Alabama at Birmingham with a BA in Art History. He also earned an MA in American Indian Studies from the University of Arizona and an MBA from Case Western Reserve University.
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