D&I may not have a finish line, but that doesn’t mean we want to have the same conversation 50 years from now.

Torin Ellis, host of SiriusXM CareerMix, author of RIP the Resume, and leading diversity and inclusion (D&I) strategist joins SmartRecuiters for the fourth year in a row at Hiring Success 19 – Americas for an expert panel on the economic value of diversity.

Torin started a recruiting firm in 1998 and what he saw in the industry wasn’t always pretty. Up close with transactional Talent Acquisition, he was privy to the dearth of diversity across industries. He found himself asking “why” a lot – Why was there only one black person on the whole North American sales team?… Why were there so few in management?… Why were company leaders talking about a ‘war for talent’, yet failing to consider non-traditional candidates? The list went on. And although in his capacity as a headhunter, he did his best to boost under-represented talent, he wanted to do more.

So, in 2010 he decided it was time to face the issue head on and founded the Torin Ellis Brand, a boutique HR agency  to advise companies on D&I strategies and risk mitigation.

During this time of economic recovery in the years after the 2008 financial downturn, D&I was not on the forefront of the workplace milieu, and when it was the news was dismal – homogeneous workforce and biased hiring processes, but Torin didn’t want to focus on the bad press.

“My thought then, and I follow this principle today, is that I need to get more people involved,” says Torin. “If we keep having punitive conversations about D&I, that aren’t solutions-oriented, then I know white men are going to run in the opposite direction. I know that white women may not participate. I know that black men are going to continue to be frustrated when they get passed over for a job or a promotion. And I know black women will continue to have to work until August to make the same amount of money that their white male counterparts made in by December of the previous year.”

His main goal is to not have the same conversation 50 years from now, and what he preaches are solutions-based D&I programs, that achieve more than a press release. Learn the three tenants of successful strategies, and the next challenge work culture faces.

Give us the outline for a D&I strategy that is more than window dressing?

• Empowerment
• Strategic Exploration
• Tactical Execution

Empowerment: We need people to speak up. D&I programs fail when there is silence. So part of the strategy needs to be grassroots where people leverage their own power to tell their higher-ups ‘D&I programs are something we need’. The other part is management creating avenues for those voices to be heard and the concerns addressed.   

Strategic Exploration: Be willing to sit amongst people that are different from you and explore a variety of strategies. Know that there will be gambles and mistakes. Be genuine with apologies, and don’t be afraid to recalibrate. Most of all, trust that the community will be receptive to genuine efforts.

Tactical Execution: Not everyone can be in the meeting making the decision, so include people at different levels. Talk to the people on the ground, understand their needs, and empower them in the execution of  the program goals. These people can be the evangelists, amplifiers, and action-takers that translate your D&I efforts from paper to practice.

Last year you started your session ‘The Power of Diversity’ by quoting Bernard Coleman the III, global head for D&I at uber saying: “The house burned in front of them but they wanted the data to prove it. That is the audacity and ridiculousness of making the business case: convincing one of the obvious. If the smoke doesn’t alarm you, the fire certainly should.”

Why did you share this and what does it mean?.

That quote arrested my spirit. It made me think, there is absolutely no reason, people like myself, should have to spend an inordinate amount of time trying to create a business case for diversity.

For the last 20 years, people have been saying there’s a war for talent. Well, if there’s a war for talent, then why are organizations not embracing – or even seeing – different talent pools? Why are organizations not looking for ambitious and creative ways to nurture non-traditional candidates?

Too many companies are paralyzed in their comfort zone of ‘we are preparing a white paper on why diversity is important’… It’s a thin veil covering a lack of progress.

Watch last year’s session below!

Looking to the future, it’s hard enough to implement D&I programs in a traditional workspace, how will organizations find success in the gig economy?

We have a more disparate workforce than we’ve ever had before. Companies struggled with D&I programs when everyone came to the same place to work. So, how are we going to do it when people are all over the place?… How are we going to make sure that remote workers still feel a sense of culture and inclusion?

The truth is we don’t have definitive answers to ‘what’ will be successful in this, the fourth industrial age. We are beginning to employ the tools from like big data, analytics, AI, and nanotechnology, which is a great start.

What people need to understand is that D&I doesn’t have a finish line, but that doesn’t mean we can’t get somewhere.

Recruiters and TA professionals gathered for the second day of SRD18 to share insights, network, and beef up their recruiting toolboxes—here’s what we walked away with.

“What is your power word?” asked Anna Ott and Robindro Ullah as they welcomed audiences to the main stage of the Ellington Hotel in Berlin for the final day of Social Recruiting Days 2018. “Transparency”, “Surfacing”, and “Algorithm” flitted across the screen as the two conference emcees discussed how these terms are quickly becoming part of the modern recruiting lexicon.

More than a simple etymological exercise, exploring the ideologies behind these words is important when considering the future of candidate experience, workflow, and technology in the TA industry. After all, with issues like candidate experience and artificial intelligence moving to the forefront of conversations surrounding new trends in recruiting, it’s no wonder why “Transparency” and “Algorithm” made the buzzword short list.

Discussions about what’s next in recruiting were the major focus of the day’s schedule, which featured interactive sessions that armed recruiters with new tools to do their jobs better, explored topics of diversity and inclusion, and took a deep dive into the challenges of being human in a digital industry. For those who were unable to attend the conference, here are five of our biggest takeaways from Social Recruiting Days 2018.

1. A candidate’s resume or CV does not indicate their performance in the three major criteria of top performers.

Traditionally, resumes and CVs have been a recruiter’s bread and butter, but according to Bas van de Haterd, truly evaluating a candidate goes well beyond what’s on paper. In his session, “Beyond the CV”, Bas shared his insights after experimenting with a number of industry-grade digital assessment tools to see how data reveals a candidate’s job compatibility.

According to Bas, ambition, talent, and character, are three key areas that distinguish great candidates from good ones, and many of them can be quantified with assessment tools. “It’s about testing the candidate’s genetic and psychometric abilities,” said Bas, through game-based tests like those from BrainsFirst, which accurately measure a candidates’ cognitive abilities, their eye for detail, problem-solving abilities, or communications styles—skills that would not be found on a typical CV.

2. Having an LGBT+ friendly culture is in the top 3 criteria of choosing where to work.

In fact, in the US and DACH regions, having an inclusive workplace culture was ranked number one priority for LGBT+ employees, more than salary level and geographical location. This reporting came from Stuart Cameron, founder of Uhlala, who survey over 4000 LGBT+ professionals worldwide for his presentation about one of the largest underserved talent communities in the world.

According to Cameron, the number of self-identifying LGBT+ people worldwide is roughly 340 million people, but only 50 percent of the population feels comfortable enough to be open at work. Moreover, 80 percent would go back in the closet if they changed employers. In the UK, 33 percent of LGBT+ employees feel that being out would be a career risk.

Cameron highlights companies that are working to build more inclusive work cultures for their LGBT+ employees, applauding PayPal, McKinsey, Adidas, Allianz, Apple, Facebook, and Google for their efforts, but recognizes that we still have a long way to go to make this community feel safe, celebrated, and included at work.

3. The more digital we become, the more human we must be

“Feel first, think second”, says Dave Hazelhurst, partner and director of client services at Ph. Creative, a global marketing an advertising agency. “Think about the actions and behaviors you want to drive”, he continues, addressing the recruiters in the audience. To Hazelhurst, understanding your customers and clients—or in this case, candidates—is how you not only build a killer employer brand, but how you attract the best talent.

Hazelhurst looked at the pain vs. pleasure dynamic, claiming that we are far more motivated by pain than we are pleasure, so recruiters should be thinking about how to ease a candidate’s fears, doubts, and worries first. From there, we can consider how to make the candidate experience more enjoyable—”effortless” according to Hazelhurst.

4. If you want to continually hire the wrong people, stick to traditional recruiting practices

Dr. Uwe Kanning, professor of Business Psychology at Osnabrück University, brought equal parts knowledge and laughter to the main stage with his tongue-in-cheek session about the ways that companies are making the wrong recruiting and hiring decisions. Dr. Kanning claims that, despite hundreds of HR-related publications are distributed each year, most hiring teams still “go with their gut” rather than look at what the data says.

Dr. Kanning argues that most interviews follow a similar pattern that rarely includes job-specific evaluation criteria. As a result of our human bias, we base our decisions on criteria that has nothing to do with the actual job requirements—factors like attractiveness, weight, or ethnicity. Traditional “assessment systems” are built on intuitive decision making, and the longer we rely on the old way of recruiting, the more companies will be stuck with the wrong candidates.

5. We may soon get rid of CVs, resumes, and cover letters—and both candidates and recruiters will be better off for it.

MoBerries, Talents Connect, and Talentcube took over the main stage to discuss how their services are redefining the status quo of talent acquisition. From changing how recruiters source candidates for IT and STEM positions, to swapping the traditional CV and cover letters for video interviews, the future of recruiting looks to be going all digital, mobile-optimized, and no longer reliant on candidate-provided documentation.

Video interviewing remains a top tech choice for companies this year, with two-thirds of the World’s Most Attractive Employers (WMAEs) already using the technology according to Universum’s 2018 Employer Branding Now report.

These changes, they argue, represent what candidates want from their job-search experience, make it easier and more convenient for them to apply, and limits the probability of candidate misinformation or misrepresentation. It’s clear that recruiting is moving towards a more candidate-centric model, and these slick startups see a chance to make the process faster, better, and more technology enabled for both candidates and recruiters.

Sometimes it’s hard to discern which benefits are trendy and which will actually improve employee quality of life. We talk with PayScale to learn the difference.

This year Seattle Business Magazine named PayScale the top place to work in Seattle. No easy feat in the Emerald city with competition from tech giants like Microsoft and Amazon, and the siren call of San Francisco and Silicon Valley constantly ringing up the coast. Tech talent is scarce and flighty, but also most crucial to a company’s success, according to a recent report from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. So how do you not only attract, but keep, this sought-after talent?

The answer for PayScale is work-life balance. “We see our employees as whole people,” says Caitlin Williams, the company’s senior talent acquisition partner. “All our benefits are designed to benefit people as people, not people as workers.”

“Yes!” agrees Chris Stiemert, director of talent acquisition. “Most of what we do is listen to our employees and learn what they need and want.”

For PayScale, employee empowerment is the north star, and they are relentlessly experimenting to see what works. Almost more interesting than the benefits they keep are the ones they leave out – and why!

How do you make sure your programs are meaningful, and not just trendy?

Chris

I’ve worked at companies that had free soda, food, you name it, but you start to realize that the underlying purpose of these perks is to keep people in the office, working. We try to focus on what will actually move the needle in terms of retention and quality of life.

Caitlin

I totally agree. I think a lot of companies focus on things that are really fun to hear about at the outset but, in the end, aren’t about genuine care for employees, or long-term productivity and wellbeing. “We Hire Whole People” isn’t just a tagline for us, and we try to carve out benefits that speak to “a person” rather than an “employee”.

Caitlin, what makes PayScale the top place to work in Seattle?

I’ve worked in several different areas of the tech industry – biotech, ecommerce, software as a service, etc. What stands out to me after three years at PayScale is how it invests in its employees in two essential ways: career/professional development, and overall health/well-being.

• Professional/Career Development: We offer an array of development courses, and we also employ leadership and career coaches that help our employees uplevel both hard and soft skills.
• Health and Wellness: This last year we opened a gym on the basement level of our building for PayScale employees. We host free weekly yoga classes and stock the office with fresh fruits and sparkling waters. The other piece of this health and wellness initiative is “Independence week”, where this year we experimented with shutting down the office for the entire week of July 4th to give folks a great mid-year reset that most workers only get during the winter holidays.  

Chris, why does PayScale take employee happiness so seriously?

We start from a place of believing that happy employees ultimately means better business. All these things—happy hours, decorating the office for Halloween, providing snacks, and offering workout facilities follow naturally from this idea and create an environment where employees feel safe and happy so we can have transparent conversations around all aspects of work.

There’s always going to be a new opportunity in this tech market. We’re competing with Amazon, Facebook, Google, Pinterest, Dropbox, and Snapchat, and many others. So, of course, we need something unique, but it’s more than that – we really feel that treating employees well is the right way to run a business. Our ability to source and retain talent just proves that point further.

Meet the company out to prove there aren’t “bad employers” or “bad candidates”, there’s just “bad fit.”   

Using a proprietary psychometric algorithm, Good&Co helps companies increase employee engagement, reduce turnover and make better hiring decisions, all the while empowering millions of employees to make smarter, more informed career decisions. Good&Co was founded in 2012, is headquartered in San Francisco, CA, and is part of the SmartRecruiters Marketplace family. We sat down with the senior product manager, Jay Jernigan to dig a bit deeper about what makes this quirky new startup tick.

What is the inspiration behind the company?

Good&Co was built around the idea that there are no bad employees or bad companies – just bad fit. Our free apps have helped companies, managers, and employees from every industry discover their strengths and learn how to build stronger, more productive workplace relationships.

What makes team Identity so important?

Hiring mistakes due to poor culture fit have huge financial and social implications. It’s demoralizing for employees, and incredibly expensive for employers. We designed our tools to help companies seamlessly add the right talent to high-performing teams without sacrificing productivity or sabotaging chemistry. That’s why we’re on a mission to create happier, more productive workplaces – a solution that not only helps people, but eventually impacts companies’ bottom lines. Our approach aims to fundamentally fix the human capital crisis by empowering both job seekers and companies with the information they need to make smarter, more informed job-matching decisions.

On a cocktail napkin – how does Good&Co work?

Our tools leverage psychometrics research, big data, and AI to enable companies and managers to make better-informed hiring and infrastructure decisions by identifying organizational strengths, based on company culture, to boost employee engagement and reduce turnover. Good&Co’s Proprietary Psychometric Algorithm (PPA) leverages over 30 years of research in career psychometrics and psychological analysis to provide quantified, science-backed culture insights for more than 10,000 companies worldwide. In short, we’ve discovered what elevates a candidate and a team from good to great.

Ok that’s at least both sides of a cocktail napkin. What do you see as the future of Talent Acquisition and Onboarding?

The quantification and understanding of human capital is currently one of the least efficient in our economy. As software and social connectedness transform the old world, the inevitable outcome will be global, efficient markets for human capital. That’s because creating value, now more than ever, depends on people’s talents and a deeper understanding of each other.

At Good&Co, we’re taking big steps in that direction: using influences of big data, quantified self, psychology, and social networks, we are creating inherently valuable data assets through authentic engagement. We’re creating a people-driven system to define, diagnose and evolve environments with purpose.

How can workplace integration of new hires make or break recruitment?

We know the process of hiring can be time-consuming, and hiring the wrong candidate can be costly and hinder success in today’s fast-paced work environment. Good&Co’s Teamwork Pro gives a better understanding of a candidate’s fit within your teams, with your hiring managers, and provides valuable engagement tools to ensure that your employees are happy in the workplace.

Why is Good&Co a necessary tool for a SmartRecruiters customer?

Candidate reports provide insights around eight distinct factors of personality, showing how a candidate might interact with others, their leadership style, and their approach to work. These insights compliment a standard resume, and help you choose the best candidates to shortlist, interview, and hire in today’s candidate-driven market.

How does Good&Co compliment the SmartRecruiters TAS?

Our reports offer key candidate insights to sift, sort, and match candidates quickly for your roles, saving you time compared to other assessment providers.  

What have been some benefits of partnering with SR?

The flexibility of the SmartRecruiters TAS provides recruiters and hiring managers the ability to introduce our Candidate Reports automatically at any stage of the recruitment process. Our reports offer sample interview questions tailored to the candidate’s individual insights, so you may want to request a candidate quiz prior to a phone screen, the first interview, or when a candidate is placed in your shortlist.  The flexibility of SmartRecruiters means you can tailor the timing to best suit your needs.

How long would it take for the average existing SR user to implement?

The process to add our reports to a candidate’s profile is quite simple – just select our complimentary assessment from the assessment menu. The quiz takes less than 20 minutes to complete, and most candidates are done within 48 hours. Your results are delivered immediately after the quiz is completed.

What would you say to a recent SmartRecruiters customer unsure about further integration into the SR Marketplace?

SmartRecruiters has a strong partner support team in place that can help answer any questions you might have, the API documentation is clear, well documented, and flexible to suit your needs.  

Managing or working as part of a strong team can mean the difference between doing fulfilling work for an excellent company, and forcing yourself to get through the day in a struggling one.

Makes sense really: it’s all about the people. When you’re managing a team or building one from scratch, it’s really important to think about how you can hire to make your company the best it can be. Robin Haak SmartRecruiters VP of Global Operations has been in the hiring seat several times and while he admits he has still got a lot to learn, here’s what’s he’s picked up about building a great team.

Hire people who are better than you are

Your team should be smarter, faster, more qualified than you are. As Michael Dell, founder of well… Dell, said: “Try never to be the smartest person in the room. And if you are, I suggest you invite smarter people … or find a different room.”

Find a team with complementary personalities

People who are will to help each other and who get on will help the company thrive. If everyone is doggedly guarding their own territory, it’s hard to build something great.

Make sure your team is founded on integrity

People who feel they are working for that kind of team will enjoy coming to work every day.

“Don’t fuck up the culture”

Find an authentic company or team culture and stick to it, feel it and do it. (I would say live it, but everyone should go home once in a while).

People must have a lot of responsibility

You have to be able to trust your staff and have confidence that they can shoulder the heavier loads every so often.

Hire people who are willing to work

People who feel hard done by for having to come in at 10 and skip out of the building at 5 will not a great company make. People should work because they want to do a great job.

Hire people who want to find solutions

Someone who complains about problems with the company but has no suggestions for remedies is not the person you need on your team.

Let people work how they need to work

If your salesman only wants €10k per annum but needs a BMW 3.5 in white, fair enough. If your developers want to work from home remotely, or your BizDev person wants to attend every conference, that’s cool. Just make sure that they all can work together and respect the work that other people do.

Do things together

Sometimes you need the time just to hang out and be people. There are ups and downs in any company, but you’re a team, and will help each other through it. When you’re working hard, you’ll work full throttle, and when there are lulls you can use it as preparation time.

Stay small

A good, strong, elite group of people is better than hundreds of teams and departments that don’t have a clue what to do.

Republished from Jobspotting and updated Nov 14, 2017.