Although diversity recruiting programs are gaining popularity, most organizations are unsuccessful at formalizing these programs and incorporating them in their overall talent acquisition strategy. More often than not, organizations feel hesitant due to various legal implications and the necessary training required for both hiring managers and recruiters. Given these potential pitfalls, how can organizations make diversity recruiting programs work?

Defining the scope of these programs is usually a good place to start. While it might seem natural to establish a “one-size-fits-all” approach, we find that organizations that customize these programs achieve the greatest return on investment. Just take veteran recruiting programs as one example. According to the 2009 BLS report, 22.2 million men and women in the civilian population ages 18 and over were veterans yet 10.2% of this population is still unemployed. Organizations such as Walmart, Deloitte, and Pepsico have successfully established veteran recruiting programs targeting these individuals transitioning from active duty as well as retirees seeking employment opportunities. These organizations have clearly defined the program, regularly evaluate the program, and create transparency around their efforts.

Why Consider a Veteran Recruiting Program?

• Critical Skill Gaps: According to our 2010 Talent Watch report, one of the top challenges for organizations today is filling critical skill gaps in the organization. Veterans possess many of these skills particularly in industries such as banking and finance, manufacturing and engineering.
• Tax Incentives: In February 2009, The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act offers employers $4800 for hiring qualified veterans.
• Competencies: Competencies are becoming a critical part of any talent acquisition function and can serve as the lynchpin between the pre-hire and post-hire talent activities. Veterans offer many of the competencies that organizations are considering for key positions including leadership, adaptability and problem-solving. Additionally, many managers within the organization are being evaluated based on their attitude to and inclusion of diversity recruiting efforts.

How Can Organizations Make These Programs Work?

• Leverage Niche Job Boards and Social Networking Sites: As the traditional job boards (Monster, CareerBuilder and HotJobs) are losing market share, niche job boards and social networking sites are becoming a great way to target diverse candidates. Many job boards such as vetjobs.com and hireveterans.com target veterans. Social Networking sites are also proving to be one of the most successful ways to strengthen branding and attract quality candidates. Organizations should consider creating Facebook fan pages and include their veteran recruiting programs on these pages. Other organizations create Twitter accounts just for their career efforts where they can highlight their diversity recruiting programs.
• Create Transparency: It should not be surprising that most veterans work in the public sector. The Department of Homeland Security employs 40,000 veterans and is very transparent around their veteran recruiting activities. They have created veteran webpages, veteran outreach programs, and advisory services to create more awareness for these efforts. Organizations, such as Deloitte, display information about their veteran recruiting programs right on their corporate career page.
• Reinforce Onboarding:  Although often ignored, the socialization component of any onboarding program is most critical for veteran hires. Organizations should consider a new hire portal either developed internally or through a solution provider that can be customized for veterans. New hire portals can include discussion groups, videos, and targeted messaging specific to each new hire or to groups of new hires. Additionally, mentor programs and buddy systems prove to be a successful way to engage diverse hires into the company culture and to improve retention.

Diversity recruiting programs can seem like an overwhelming task. Veteran recruiting programs is one example of how organizations can customize these programs to create a more positive candidate experience, strengthen employer branding and fill critical skill gaps within the organization. We will be covering diversity recruiting programs in our upcoming High Impact Talent Acquisition Practices report. Stay tuned…