Diversity Hiring: Strategies, Best Practices & Examples

Diverse teams increase your chances of outperforming your competitors by 35%. You’ll be disadvantaged in today’s competitive market if you don’t implement diversity hiring strategies. But putting a strong diversity hiring plan into action isn’t always easy. 

We’ve created this guide to help you overcome challenges that can come up along the way,  like limited talent pool diversity or unconscious hiring bias. You’ll find proven strategies, actionable best practices, and inspirational real-world examples to build a truly inclusive workforce.

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Quick Look: Diversity Hire Meaning & Why It’s Important

A diversity hire is a candidate you select to create a more inclusive workforce with the unique perspectives, experiences, or backgrounds that most workplaces often underrepresent. Diversity hires aren’t simply about meeting quotas—it calls for you to eliminate bias and value differences to boost creativity, innovation, and business outcomes.

Why It’s Important:

• It introduces varied viewpoints that create collaborative problem-solving and creative breakthroughs for innovative growth.
• Diverse teams help you better understand and cater to broad customer bases, which means you can improve your market reach and revenue.
• Inclusive hiring ensures employees feel valued and respected, which drives their motivation and loyalty. So, it’s perfect if you want to improve employee engagement.
• Teams with diverse perspectives evaluate problems from multiple angles, which strengthens decision-making and helps you take faster, more accurate action.
• When you commit to diversity, you signal inclusivity, which attracts top talent and highly skilled professionals from all backgrounds.

10 Best Strategies When Hiring A Diverse Workforce

Review your current hiring process to spot gaps in inclusivity and apply these proven strategies to attract, assess, and retain diverse talent.

1. Audit & Optimize Your Job Descriptions To Eliminate Bias

You can attract 42% more applications from women by using gender-neutral language in your job descriptions. So, remove biased language, showcase inclusivity, and focus on skills over experience to attract a broader range of qualified candidates. This will ensure that your job descriptions don’t unintentionally deter diverse candidates.

How To Do This: 

• Use bias-checking tools like Textio, Gender Decoder, or Joblint to identify and fix gender-coded or exclusionary language. For example, replace “dynamic rockstar” with “experienced professional.”
• Prioritize skills over rigid qualifications. For example, instead of “5 years of industry experience,” write “Demonstrated expertise in…”.
• Add inclusive statements like “We welcome applications from candidates of all abilities and backgrounds.”
• Include diverse benefits like parental leave, flexible schedules, or wellness initiatives. Add these into the job descriptions dynamically using Ongig or a similar tool.
• Test your job descriptions with employee focus groups from different demographics for clarity and inclusivity. For example, you can use a group of recent hires for fresh perspectives.

Perfect For: 

• Tech
• Finance
• Healthcare

2. Expand Your Talent Sourcing To Diverse Platforms To Reach Underrepresented Groups

You can increase your rate of underrepresented hires by 30% when you recruit through minority-focused platforms. You need to diversify your sourcing channels to attract these candidates. Use minority-focused networks and institutions to tap into overlooked talent and boost employer credibility.

How To Do This: 

• Partner with HBCUs, HSIs, and professional associations like NSBE (National Society of Black Engineers). You can also attend HBCU job fairs or sponsor events like AfroTech.
• List your jobs on platforms like PowerToFly, Jopwell, and Veteran Recruiting. Jopwell connects you with African American, Latinx, and Native American professionals.
• Collaborate with nonprofits like Year Up or Women Who Code to mentor diverse early-career professionals and offer 6-month internships to participants.
• Sponsor diversity-focused conferences like the Grace Hopper Celebration for women in tech and provide speakers or panelists from your team.
• Use social platforms like LinkedIn to join groups like Women in Data Science and share job postings there.

Perfect For: 

• Tech
• STEM
• Creative fields

3. Use Blind Recruitment Practices To Maintain Fairness

You can increase the number of female candidates by 25% with blind hiring processes. This removes identifying information like names, addresses, and education to minimize bias and is perfect for industries where unconscious bias heavily influences hiring decisions. It helps you focus your evaluations on skills and qualifications rather than demographics.

How To Do This: 

• Use blind hiring apps to redact personal information from resumes. Remove names, addresses, and educational institutions during the initial screening.
• Replace traditional resumes with skill-based assessments like behavioral assessments or coding challenges.
• Standardize your application questions and focus on competencies instead of subjective qualities. For example, ask the candidates to describe how they solved a specific problem in a past role.
• Create structured interviews with scorecards and predefined criteria. Automate this process with HireVue or a similar tool to reduce bias.
• Anonymize early-round candidate testing and create written exercises where candidates can give you solutions without revealing their identities.

Perfect For: 

• Technology
• Finance
• Law

4. Leverage Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) To Improve Your Hiring Processes

You can boost your engagement among underrepresented employees by 21% with active ERGs. They connect you with diverse employees and help improve your hiring processes. Plus, they’ll be your ambassadors to reach underrepresented talent pools and give you insights into how to create an inclusive hiring journey.

How To Do This: 

• Establish ERGs for different communities like LGBTQ+, women, and veterans and create a Women in Leadership group to support recruitment outreach.
• Involve ERGs when you craft your inclusive job descriptions and interview processes. Ask them to review your hiring content for potential biases.
• Use them to represent your company at diversity-focused events like AfroTech or Veterans Job Fair.
• Partner ERG members with recruitment teams to co-host webinars or workshops. For example, you can organize a “Pathways to Leadership” webinar that targets diverse candidates.
• Give ERGs incentives to recommend candidates from underrepresented communities. For example, you can give them bonuses or recognition for successful referrals.
• Highlight ERG success stories on your careers page and social media to attract varying talent and feature employees from ERGs in video testimonials.

Perfect For: 

• Medium to large companies

5. Host Diversity-Focused Networking Events To Connect With A Diverse Talent Pool

95% of professionals prioritize face-to-face meetings because they give them more accurate first impressions. You can attract more underrepresented candidates through diversity-specific networking events compared to general career fairs. This helps you directly connect with your candidates and build a positive rapport.

How To Do This: 

• Sponsor or co-host events like Women in Tech Summits or Diversity Career Days. You can partner with local organizations to host these workshops or diverse interview panels.
• Create a broader reach via virtual networking sessions with platforms like Hopin or Remo.
• Organize industry-specific events like a cybersecurity seminar targeting women and minorities.
• Promote events on social media with targeted promotions and job ads for diverse demographics. You can use tools like LinkedIn Ads to reach specific groups.
• Feature diverse leaders from your company as speakers or mentors during the event and collect attendee feedback to refine all your future events.

Perfect For: 

• STEM
• Education
• Healthcare

???? Did You Know?

AI can cut resume screening time by up to 75%.
(Source)

6. Offer Targeted Internship Programs For Minority Groups

You can improve your promotion and retention rates by 15-38% for minorities and women with mentorship and internship programs. When you target underrepresented groups for your internships, you increase their chances of becoming full-time hires. This builds pipelines of varying talent with hands-on experience. 

How To Do This: 

• Partner with diverse organizations like INROADS or SEO Scholars to gain access to diverse student populations.
• Design programs that target specific groups, like women in STEM or veterans who want to transition to civilian careers.
• Assign diverse leaders in your company as mentors for your interns and manage your pairings with mentoring software like MentorcliQ.
• Collaborate with different colleges and universities for internship placements and arrange skill-building workshops and networking sessions for your interns.
• Highlight intern success stories in your recruitment materials and offer remote and flexible internship options to accommodate diverse needs.

Perfect For: 

• Companies looking to nurture early-career professionals

7. Make Diversity Training Compulsory For Your Hiring Managers To Counteract Biases

You can boost your ability to identify diverse candidates by 76% by providing unconscious bias training. Diversity training makes your managers aware of common biases and helps them actively counteract them. Consequently, you create fairer evaluations during hiring and reinforce inclusivity as one of your core values.

How To Do This: 

• Find courses on unconscious bias and inclusive recruitment and hiring practices on Coursera or LinkedIn Learning and implement mandatory training programs for your hiring managers.
• Schedule workshops with external facilitators who specialize in diversity and hire consultants to give your hiring manager personalized training based on their biases.
• Use real-life scenarios to help managers recognize and mitigate biases and assess their knowledge retention before and after training to measure your training’s success.
• Prepare annual refresher courses to reinforce key principles and monitor hiring outcomes to measure the effectiveness of your training.
• Add training as part of the onboarding process for new managers and collect anonymous feedback to improve your training content.

Perfect For: 

• Finance
• Law
• Healthcare

8. Build Transparent Career Paths To Improve Underrepresented Employees’ Retention

57% of your employees likely want you to do more to increase diversity. Since most candidates prioritize companies with clear growth opportunities, you can use this to attract a more diverse candidate pool. A transparent career development framework will ensure that underrepresented employees see growth opportunities, which will improve retention and engagement.

How To Do This: 

• Create career progression maps for each department with defined milestones and visualize employee growth paths.
• Create leadership development programs that target underrepresented employees and give them access to coaching and mentorship for skill-building.
• Share promotion criteria publicly so there’s no confusion, and evaluate your employees’ readiness for promotions.
• Use surveys to collect feedback and make sure your career pathways are inclusive. 
• Track employee growth to identify gaps and highlight success stories of diverse employees who advance in your organization.

Perfect For: 

• Suits all industries, especially those with structured hierarchies

9. Establish Partnerships With Community Organizations Focused On Underserved Communities

You can outperform your competitors by 48% with more gender-diverse teams. Community organizations can help you increase applications from underrepresented groups. So, partner with local and national organizations that focus on underserved communities to create direct channels to varying talent pools.

How To Do This: 

• Partner with organizations to access different talent pools and collaborate with vocational training centers to recruit individuals with unique skill sets. For example, work with local programs to find candidates trained in logistics or coding boot camps for software roles.
• Co-sponsor events like workshops or job fairs that aim at underserved communities and fund community programs to highlight your commitment to diversity.
• Use your mailing lists or forums to advertise job openings directly to their members.
• Create apprenticeship or training programs in collaboration with these groups. For example, you can build a paid training program for those who want to re-enter the workforce after a career break.

Perfect For: 

• Retail
• Manufacturing
• Non-profits

10. Incentivize Diversity Referrals To Encourage Employees To Tap Into Their Networks

30%-50% of all hires come from employee referrals, but they typically don’t add more skills to the current team or bring a diversity of thought. So, create diversity-focused referral programs to encourage your employees to tap into their networks and bring candidates from underrepresented groups. 

How To Do This: 

• Design a referral program and give your employees bonuses for diverse hires. For example, you can create tiered incentives, like monetary rewards or additional vacation days, for a referral that ends in a successful hire.
• Create guidelines to encourage referrals that prioritize diversity. Define your diversity criteria clearly for more inclusive recommendations.
• Pair referrals with mentorship opportunities to support candidates after you hire them. Choose a mentor from your Employee Resource Groups.
• Publicly recognize employees who make successful diversity referrals. For example, you can feature them in your company newsletters or during town halls.
• Encourage employees to attend external networking events for varying talents and further promote your referral program via internal communication channels like Slack or email.

Perfect For: 

• Tech
• Marketing
• Customer Service

8 Diversity & Recruitment Best Practices

Use these best practices to create an equitable recruitment system that supports long-term inclusion.

I. Standardize Your Interview Process

Standardized interviews can help you reduce bias and create a level playing field for all your candidates. Plus, you’ll predict job performance more accurately, especially for subjective evaluation processes, like creative or sales roles.

What To Do:

• Develop a list of competency-based questions tailored to the role, like “Describe a time you solved a conflict at work.”
• Use interview scorecards to assign consistent ratings for every candidate based on predetermined criteria. 
• Conduct training sessions for hiring managers on how to use structured interviews effectively.
• Include at least two interviewers in every session to minimize individual bias.
• Record interviews (with candidate consent) to review and ensure evaluations are fair.

II. Use Real-Time Feedback During The Recruitment Process

Timely feedback will help you improve the candidate’s experience and build trust. This will help you identify issues in your process promptly and give job seekers a quick update on their application process.

What To Do:

• Implement applicant tracking software (ATS) to streamline your communication and send automated updates to candidates.
• Give candidates feedback after each interview stage and focus on specific strengths and improvement areas.
• Use survey tools like Google Forms to collect feedback from candidates about their interview experience.
• Designate a point person who can answer your candidates’ queries and maintain seamless communication.
• Review feedback data to improve your recruitment practices and remove any bottlenecks.

III. Establish A Robust Onboarding Program For Diverse Hires

A strong onboarding program can reduce your turnover rate and improve employee productivity. You can make your diverse hires feel welcomed, supported, and prepared for success with an inclusive onboarding program.

What To Do:

• Create a tailored onboarding plan with cultural sensitivity training and team-building exercises.
• Assign mentors from Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) to guide new hires through their first 90 days.
• Use onboarding software to streamline the paperwork and training process.
• Schedule weekly check-ins during the first 3 months to address your new hires’ concerns and adjust their support systems.
• Give your new hires a company handbook that outlines DEI policies and support resources.

???? Here’s A Fun Fact:

Women make up 39% of the total workforce globally, yet hold only 31.7% of senior positions worldwide.
(Source)

IV. Develop Talent Pipelines For Diverse Leadership

A leadership pipeline will ensure representation from diverse hires at all levels. Proactive development programs like these will bridge relevant gaps and ensure you have senior leaders from diverse backgrounds.

What To Do:

• Identify high-potential employees from underrepresented groups and give them career development plans.
• Partner with leadership coaching platforms to give them access to one-on-one mentorship programs.
• Launch internal initiatives where senior leaders advocate for varying talent.
• Create shadowing opportunities to expose diverse employees to leadership roles.
• Monitor progression rates through your HR analytics platform and adjust your strategies if needed.

V. Offer Accessibility-First Hiring Practices

Accessibility-friendly practices attract a broader range of candidates and demonstrate your commitment to inclusivity. An accessible hiring process removes barriers for 15% of the global population that lives with some form of disability.

What To Do:

• Make sure your careers website and application platform meet WCAG 2.1 accessibility standards.
• Include accommodations like screen reader-compatible materials and sign language interpreters during your interviews.
• Clearly state your willingness to provide these accommodations in your job descriptions.
• Train hiring managers on how to create inclusive environments for candidates with diverse abilities.

VI. Build Trust Through Transparent Communication

Transparent communication builds trust and encourages applications from underrepresented groups. Plus, you’ll attract more candidates to apply for your open job position with your DEI efforts.

What To Do:

• Publish annual diversity reports that highlight metrics like workforce demographics and DEI initiatives.
• Add real employee testimonials from diverse backgrounds on your careers page.
• Share updates on your diversity hiring goals via platforms like LinkedIn to increase visibility.
• Use quarterly newsletters to inform employees about your ongoing DEI projects and successes.
• Create a “Diversity Dashboard” on your intranet for employees to track organizational progress.

VII. Engage Employees In DEI (Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion) Initiatives

You’ll integrate your DEI initiatives into your workplace when your employees engage in them. This will also help you improve your overall employee engagement and reduce turnover.

What To Do:

• Launch DEI committees with representatives from different departments and demographics.
• Use collaboration tools like Slack to create DEI channels where you and your employees can share resources and updates.
• Host quarterly town halls where employees can share ideas and feedback on DEI efforts.
• Organize regular training sessions on topics like allyship and cultural competency.
• Recognize and reward employees who actively contribute to diversity initiatives.

VIII. Monitor & Adjust Recruitment Metrics

You can refine your strategies when you track the right recruitment metrics. Once you have all the data, you can use it to improve your representation and gradually introduce new practices accordingly.

What To Do:

• Use HR tools like Tableau or PeopleSoft to track metrics, like the percentage of diverse hires at each stage.
• Set measurable DEI goals, like “A 10% increase in applications from underrepresented groups within six months.”
• Review your data quarterly and adjust strategies based on trends or bottlenecks.
• Share the progress of your initiatives with stakeholders to maintain transparency and support.
• Audit your recruitment process annually to align it with your diversity goals.

3 Real-Life Examples Of Diversity Hires

Use these real-life success stories to inspire and refine your own hiring strategies.

i. Accenture’s Commitment To Inclusive Leadership

Accenture is a global consulting giant that set a bold goal to achieve a gender-balanced workforce by 2025. They implemented initiatives like:

• Mandatory unconscious bias training
• Partnerships with diversity-focused organizations
• Transparent reporting on their workforce demographics

As of now, over 50% of their new hires are females and nearly 42% of leadership roles are held by women.

Key Takeaways:

• Set measurable diversity goals and hold leadership accountable for your progress.
• Build partnerships with organizations like Women in Tech to access diverse talent pools.
• Maintain transparency through regular diversity reports to highlight your progress and build trust.

ii. Microsoft’s Accessibility-Driven Recruitment

Microsoft’s hiring initiatives focus on accessibility through their Autism Hiring Program to recruit neurodiverse talent. They redesigned their interview and hiring process to include hands-on projects and team collaboration exercises, ensuring candidates showcase their true potential. This program has significantly increased their neurodiverse workforce and boosted their innovation.

Key Takeaways:

• Customize your hiring processes to accommodate different candidate needs, like collaborative exercises for neurodiverse applicants.
• Partner with advocacy groups to source specialized talent pools and support their onboarding.
• Highlight inclusion in your employer branding to attract talent with diverse abilities.

iii. Starbucks’ Veteran & Military Hiring Program

Starbucks has committed to hiring 25,000 veterans and military spouses by 2025. They work with military base transition offices and organizations like Hiring Our Heroes to identify and onboard candidates. They offer mentorship programs tailored for veterans and recognition of their transferable skills, like leadership and discipline.

Key Takeaways:

• Collaborate with niche organizations like Hiring Our Heroes to source talent from specific underrepresented groups.
• Create programs that align candidate skill sets with business needs, like leadership roles for veterans.
• Offer mentorship and career development opportunities to ease their transition into new industries.

How To Hire For Diversity: 7 Steps

Use this clear, step-by-step hiring process to eliminate biases, promote inclusivity, and align your practices with the overall organizational goals.

Step 1: Assess Your Current Hiring Practices

Analyze your existing recruitment processes to identify gaps and biases that hinder diversity. Use audits to evaluate job descriptions, sourcing channels, and interview procedures. Track key metrics, like the percentage of underrepresented candidates at each hiring stage, to pinpoint areas for improvement.

Step 2: Define Clear Diversity Goals

Establish measurable goals to improve your hiring outcomes, like “Increase applications from underrepresented groups by 20% within 6 months.” Tie these goals to your business objectives, like expanding market reach or fostering innovation.

Step 3: Diversify Your Sourcing Channels

Expand your talent pool by targeting diverse networks, platforms, and organizations. Engage with job boards and communities that cater to underrepresented groups. Build partnerships with HBCUs, HSIs, and diversity-focused professional associations. You can also attend events like AfroTech and sponsor diversity-focused job fairs.

???? Here’s Something You’ll Like: 

Companies leading in gender equity report a 19% revenue boost compared to others.
(Source)

Step 4: Standardize Interviews & Assessments

Use structured interviews and objective assessments to minimize bias and evaluate your candidates fairly. Create a standardized scoring system to compare applicants based on predefined criteria. Plus, use competency-based questions and interview scorecards to assess candidates consistently.

Step 5: Implement Blind Recruitment

Remove identifying information, like names, addresses, and educational backgrounds, from resumes to reduce unconscious bias. Focus evaluations solely on skills and experience and replace resumes with skill-based tests or assessments.

Step 6: Train Hiring Teams On Diversity

Give your hiring teams mandatory training on unconscious bias and inclusive hiring practices. Educate your hiring managers to recognize and counteract biases that may influence their decisions. 

Step 7: Create Inclusive Onboarding Programs

Create tailored onboarding programs to help new hires feel welcomed and supported. Include mentorship opportunities and cultural competency training to integrate employees into your diverse workforce seamlessly.

3 Major Diversity Hiring Challenges + Solutions

Review these 3 major obstacles you may face and learn how to overcome them effectively with actionable solutions.

Challenge 1: Limited Access To Diverse Talent Pools

You may struggle to find candidates from underrepresented groups because they rely on traditional hiring channels that don’t prioritize diversity. This creates homogeneous talent pools and missed opportunities for innovation.

Solution: Expand your reach and connect with diverse candidates through diversity-focused organizations, job boards, and educational institutions. You can also partner with your local nonprofits to widen your sourcing network.

Challenge 2: Unconscious Bias In Hiring Decisions

Your hiring teams may fall prey to unconscious biases, which can influence their decisions and exclude qualified candidates from underrepresented backgrounds.

Solution:  Create mandatory unconscious bias training for hiring teams. Implement bias-reduction techniques like:

• Blind recruitment
• Structured interviews
• Standardized evaluation scorecards

Challenge 3: Difficulty Retaining Diverse Talent

Even after you hire diverse candidates, you may fail to retain them because of a lack of inclusion, career progression opportunities, or cultural support.

Solution: Build an inclusive workplace diversity culture with Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) and mentorship programs. Develop transparent career paths with regular opportunities for feedback and growth.

Conclusion

From optimizing job descriptions to building inclusive onboarding programs, implementing even a single diversity hiring strategy can make a big difference. You don’t have to overhaul everything at once – take that first step toward building a more inclusive workplace. Small changes can have a ripple effect and transform your company culture for long-term success.

If you want to make your hiring process seamless and impactful, Genius is here to help. Unlike traditional headhunting, we give you:

• 80% cost savings on global talent with the same time zone and work culture alignment.
• A rigorous 12-step vetting process to deliver only A+ candidates for your team.
• A 6-month guarantee for every hire to bring you top-notch performance and zero risks.

Start hiring with Genius today and build a diverse, high-performing team that drives innovation and success.

FAQs

What are some common misconceptions about diversity hiring?

Diversity hiring is not about meeting quotas or compromising on talent quality. It removes biases in your recruitment process to create fair opportunities for candidates from all backgrounds. Misunderstandings often stem from the belief that diversity hiring prioritizes inclusion over merit. But, in reality, it fosters innovation and strengthens organizational performance.

Why are diverse candidates important for businesses?

Diverse candidates drive innovation, improve decision-making, and enhance problem-solving with varied perspectives. It also boosts employee engagement, strengthens customer relationships, and increases financial performance as it caters to diverse market needs.

What is the diversity hiring rule?

The diversity hiring rule refers to creating equitable recruitment processes that eliminate bias and ensure fair opportunities for candidates of all backgrounds. It involves proactive measures like:

• Diversifying talent sourcing
• Implementing inclusive job descriptions
• Conducting bias-free assessments
• Fostering an inclusive workplace culture

How can I measure the success of my hiring efforts for diversity?

Track key metrics like:

• The percentage of diverse applicants
• Interview-to-hire ratios for underrepresented groups
• Retention rates

Use applicant tracking systems (ATS) and HR analytics platforms to monitor progress and adjust your strategies accordingly.