Financial Services & Recruiting academyrecruiting on 01 Aug 2008 12:00 pm
Are you really working with a diversity recruiter?
Seems like every organization, including all of us executive recruiters, says they are big on diversity. But what’s the reality?
According to a nice new short article on DiversityInc called “5 Tips for Working With Executive Recruiters”, it depends. The article has a number of good tips, but here’s the part I want you to key on, especially the last sentence (my emphasis):
Make sure diversity is high on the priority list.
When the recruiter is interviewing you, make sure you’re asking questions as well. Chief among them should be ensuring the recruiter knows you want to work for a company that values diversity.
“The candidate should ask what the diversity philosophy is at that organization. What do they have in place to support diverse talent, and do they have an inclusive culture?” says Janet Manzullo, senior vice president, director recruiting solutions at Wachovia. “Everyone says they have one, but when you can, get a recruiter to articulate what that means. That recruiter on the outside should know the company well enough to articulate that and if he doesn’t, that should send a signal to any candidate if the recruiter wasn’t familiar with the diversity strategies and philosophies of a given company.”
Exactly. You need to ask the right questions and decide for yourself how truly committed to diversity the recruiter is. Certainly the recruiter’s knowledge level of the diversity program and philosophy at the companies for whom they recruit is a key piece of that puzzle. And, as with many things, it’s not just the answers you get to your questions, but how the person you’re talking with answers them.
You know, this discussion brings up something I’ve been meaning to talk about for some time. I see an awful lot written about questions that candidates should expect in an interview, or questions that candidates should ask in an interview to look good, but not nearly as much about the questions that candidates should be asking recruiters. More to come on that subject in future posts.
