How to Diversify Your PMP Staff Pipeline
Attracting new talent is essential to keeping teams nimble and creative, and recent
graduates and workers from younger generations are great groups to pull from for this.
However, new generations are not only looking for competitive salaries, work-life balance,
and job security but these new entrants to the workforce also
want the teams they join to be diverse
.
There are a variety of benefits of diverse teams. Cognitive diversity leads to a
20% increase in innovation
,
while racially diverse groups report a
35% increase
in performance compared to less diverse competitors.
However, in an era where hiring is becoming a challenge, it can be hard to diversify your
pipeline. Fortunately, you can take steps to recruit individuals from diverse backgrounds.
If you need some assistance diversifying your PMP staff pipeline, take a look at these tips:
Set Goals For It
If diversity is something you want to see more of in your
project management
teams, making it a goal will help you create a strategy to achieve it.
Much like your company does for revenue, retention, and productivity, diversity should
have its goals and objectives. Setting goals makes it easier for you to track your progress
toward attaining your diversity and recruitment benchmarks and be able to celebrate wins
or create steps for improvement.
For example, you may want to focus on recruiting more women or individuals from a
particular underrepresented minority group (URM), and you may want to align these
goals with the industry-standard or hiring numbers from a competitor. This information
allows you to set parameters that you can quickly look back on to see if you're reaching them.
Let Your Teams Know
Once you've decided on goals and benchmarks for diversity initiatives, it's now time to let
your teams know what they are and discuss how these goals align with company principles and
overall company objectives.
It's helpful to fill in your team members and those who will be a part of the recruitment
process, so they know the goals, the resulting initiatives to diversify the pipeline, and
any new recruitment processes and structures that will help to facilitate this.
Also, if this is a part of larger diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) goals at your
company, be sure to connect your efforts to this.
Source Candidates from Places with People From These Groups
You don't have to wait for diverse candidates to come your way. You can proactively try
to source these individuals by strategically finding groups and associations that put you
in proximity to them. For example, if you want to hire more African American candidates,
historically Black colleges and universities may be places where you want to target your
recruitment efforts.
On the other hand, you may also want to look into alumni groups for URMs, as many colleges
and universities may have groups for diverse graduates.
Additionally, be sure to look at professional groups that serve minority populations.
There might be professional associations in your sector that could target women, LGBTQ,
or ethnic minorities that some of your colleagues may already be a part of. Check into
what they are and make a point to attend some of their meetings as you may be able to
find diverse candidates there.
Beef Up Your Referral Program
One of the best ways to find employees that fit what you're looking for is to ask your
team members for referrals. U.S. companies
hire 29%
of their workforce through referrals.
You can ask all of your team members and employees to prioritize seeking out diverse
leads and referrals.
Also, if you have affinity groups or employee resource groups, you can call upon these
organizations within your company to refer and help you find diverse talent.
Discuss DEI Programs in Job Ads
Does your employer have a DEI program? If they do, be sure to discuss this in job ads
so that diverse employees know if your company embraces principles that promote equity.
For example, if you have employee resource groups that address the unique needs of
certain demographic groups, you may want to mention this in the job ad.
Additionally, if you have leadership development or mentoring programs aimed at advancing
the career of underrepresented minorities in your company, discuss this in the job ad.
If your candidates understand that your company promotes these values and makes an effort
to support diverse groups, this may increase their likelihood of applying.
Conduct Blind Resume Viewings and Interviews
Unfortunately, unconscious bias is common. Deloitte found that almost 40% of workers
experience bias at least once a month. However, you want to minimize its impact on your
review process of candidates.
A great way to do this is by doing blind resume viewings and interviews. A blind resume
is when you blackout any details on the document that would point to any employees'
demographic information, including names, schools, and cities mentioned.
This will allow you and your team to assess the person's qualifications and experience
and reduce potential bias. It's also possible to conduct a blind interview. This is when
you allow candidates to answer questions without you seeing them face-to-face, typically
using a text-based platform. You do have to see people in person eventually, but you can
at least ensure that the early part of the candidate review process is as unbiased as possible.
Re-evaluate Your Screening Process and Interview Questions
Your screening process and interview questions may need to be altered to facilitate a more
effective process in hiring diverse candidates. One of the best ways to assess this is by
working with a consultant that can point out things you can do to strengthen your screening process.
For example, there could be questions that you ask that benefit certain demographic groups
over others. Working with a diversity consultant or even having diverse team members look
at the screening process and interview questions and provide feedback can help you assess
whether you need to change your questions or alter the process for a more equitable outcome.
Use Automation Wherever Possible
Another way to take bias out of the interview process is to use automation and technology.
You can use AI technology to screen resumes for specific experiences and qualifications
and use ATS to shortlist candidates with these specific parameters.
This technique can disregard any information that would point to the demographic group
that the individuals are from, so you are ensuring that you're only assessing them based
on their experiences. This step also streamlines and adds efficiency to the process, so
you can carefully but quickly consider various candidates.
You Can Effectively Diversity Your PMP Staff Pipeline
Diverse candidates can bring their unique set of skills, experiences, and education to
your work and propel your project management efforts forward. However, to truly benefit
from the talents and ideas these individuals can offer, you have to make diverse
hiring a priority.
The first step is to come up with goals that you want to meet, and then you can work
back from that to create a strategy that benefits diverse hiring efforts. With the right
strategy, you can diversify your hiring efforts over time.
Sources:
6 Diversity and Inclusion Statistics You Need to Know [+ Takeaways],
https://www.quantumworkplace.com/future-of-work/diversity-and-inclusion-statistics
Bias in the workplace today,
https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/about-deloitte/articles/unconscious-bias-workplace-statistics.html
Diversity and inclusion: 4 powerful stats HR leaders should know,
https://www.sage.com/en-au/blog/4-stats-for-diversity-inclusion/
For younger job seekers, diversity and inclusion in the workplace aren’t a preference. They’re a requirement,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/02/18/millennial-genz-workplace-diversity-equity-inclusion/
How to increase workplace diversity with employee referrals,
https://www.predictiveindex.com/blog/how-to-use-employee-referrals-to-increase-workplace-diversity/