Companies target potential candidates as early in their careers as possible, hoping to attract the cream of the crop. But when it comes to the fight for attracting top talent in the game, companies are being forced to strategize and innovate their college recruiting strategy. What has worked so far is no longer cutting it with the new students of tomorrow.

Companies can no longer work with outdated processes and paradigms to attract the workforce of tomorrow. And this is where diversity steps in. To attract new talent, companies will have to embrace inclusivity into their workforce. This is why more and more companies today are consciously investing in building diversity hiring programs to infuse inclusion at the ground level.

Here is a complete guide on how to improve diversity hiring programs in College Recruiting.

• What is a Diversity Recruitment Strategy?
• Why Having a Diversity Recruitment Strategy Important?
• Diversity In College Recruitment
• Incorporate Diversity in Your Brand
• Revamp Your Talent Sourcing Strategy
• Engage Talents Early On
• Participate in a Virtual Career Fair

What is a Diversity Recruitment Strategy?

A diversity recruitment strategy outlines accountabilities, goals, success measures, and action items for engaging, attracting, hiring, and assessing diverse talent to drive business success. A solid recruitment strategy ensures that your workforce reflects your customer base’s community structure.

Why Having a Diversity Recruitment Strategy Important?

A study by Deloitte found that 83% of millennials are more engaged in their work when their company nurtures inclusivity. Similarly, a McKinsey study suggested that ethnically diverse businesses are 35% more likely to outperform industry medians.

Diversity recruiting comes with many substantial perks including innovation, performance, and productivity. Some of the known benefits include:

• Broad range of experience and skill on your team
• Increased cultural and language awareness
• Varied and larger candidate pools

Diversity In College Recruitment

Entry-level hiring is the best way to incorporate diversity from the ground up. This is where campus recruiting comes into play. With the surge in demand for more diverse entry-level talents, companies are now reconsidering what, exactly, “qualified” suggests when sourcing and engaging the newer generation of talents. Companies are taking more pragmatic and proactive approaches toward entry-level hiring which makes campus recruitment a promising platform to engage and attract motivated and skilled talents from diverse communities.

When it comes to college recruitment, both universities and companies have to jump a few hurdles. Today, workplace diversity has upgraded from just a concept to a foremost demand. Research confirms that employers still have work to do when it comes to meeting the expectations of today’s candidates. It is essential to be different in your approach to find talent in order to generate a durable and diverse talent pipeline.

Below are four tactics that you can use to promote diversity and inclusivity when executing your on-campus recruiting strategy.

1) Incorporate Diversity in Your Brand

From the website, job descriptions to your recruiting materials ensure all your brand documents reflect your diverse company culture comprehensively. Make sure these materials are transparent and authentically reflect your company offerings and diversity, from groups and teams to benefits and training. The best way to promote inclusiveness in your company is to show video testimonials from a blend of employees. You can also add a statement from your CEO to authentically support the message.

2) Revamp Your Talent Sourcing Strategy

Compared to other establishments, college campuses are hotbeds of inclusiveness and diversity. More than 50% of all college students are women. And the rates of Asian, Latino, black students continue to surge.  This makes colleges THE place to find diverse talent. Furthermore, diversity doesn’t only relate to race, gender, and ethnicity but also to different cultures, perspectives, and life experiences. Increase your diversity recruiting efficiency by visiting the right places. You can partner with campuses or student groups with diverse communities, such as LGBTQIA organizations or women’s groups. When you run a referral program, make sure you do not limit them but embrace the diversity that you receive.

3) Engage Talents Early On

Internships are one of the best ways to simultaneously train and meet young talent. It gives your company exposure on campuses and helps build relationships with universities and student groups. It is a very likely possibility for a good intern to become a great employee. Not only that, but they also become brand ambassadors or evangelists for your company on campuses during and after their internships.

Fellowship programs and formal internships for the underrepresented students can attract high-caliber young talents at the start of their careers. The more diverse interns you hire, the more you power a hiring flywheel impression through social media, referral programs, and word of mouth to bring in more diverse talents.

4) Participate in a Virtual Career Fair

To communicate your company’s message of diversity and inclusivity with the majority of a student representative or body, you need to gauge alternative communication platforms, i.e., virtual career fairs.

Some virtual career fairs specifically target people with disabilities, veterans, women, or some other hard-to-reach community or groups. These fairs give your company an opportunity to promote the company’s diversity hiring initiatives. You can attend a virtual career fair through a platform like Gettinghired, Veteran Recruiting, or CareerEco; each of the portals gives you access to a wide range of young students. Or if possible, host your own virtual career fairs.

Having different perspectives and experiences on your recruitment team will help younger talents connect with your idea of inclusivity. You can assign your best recruiters from diverse backgrounds and industries in these virtual fairs. Furthermore, in the end, you can hold virtual Q&A sessions to help potential candidates find out more about certain aspects of the job or your company. To further increase the chances of successful recruitment, you can assign a specialized engagement team to take timely follow-ups.