Creating a Culture of Inclusion event no. 3 recap: The hiring process with Angie Christopher
The Greater Oklahoma City Chamber and Urban League of Greater Oklahoma City collaborated to create the Creating a Culture of Inclusion event series beginning in October 2020. January’s event welcomed keynote speaker Angie Christopher to share her expertise in diversity and inclusion in relation to the hiring process.
Angie is the global HR business leader for the US Home Services Group through ConvaTec. She has been an HR leader for more than 20 years, previously serving in positions at the Oklahoma City Community College and American Fidelity Assurance Corporation.
Before diving into her presentation, Angie introduced the ideas behind implicit bias, which refers to the unconscious beliefs and attitudes that may contribute to individual preferences. Information was provided on how a person may be unaware of their own blind spots and attendees were encouraged to challenge their own assumptions about others and themselves.
Improving their diversity and inclusion hiring practices
Diverse and inclusive hiring processes begin from within. If the organization or company is not embracing conversations and efforts surrounding diversity and inclusion internally, it’s difficult to make progress.
Angie encouraged the participants to “increase personal bias literacy” and “engage in ongoing learning and training.” It can be as simple as interacting with more people who have different experiences than you.
180 Medical leads by example with making diversity and inclusion a priority. They have employee resource groups for different identities, support leadership training and development focused on D&I, have mentorship programs directed to underrepresented groups, and have developed a strategic plan for addressing the issues. As an organization, they’ve taken time to define who they are and how they want to move forward.
Angie offered a list of 5 items to hold people accountable for inclusive hiring. When recruiting someone for a new role, the process should:
- Be merit-based
- Be objective- and job-related
- Have structure
- Be intentionally inclusive
- Have a diverse hiring panel
In addition to the above list, Angie emphasized the importance of ensuring that every candidate has the same experience throughout the process. If you take a candidate out for a meal, make sure all candidates receive the same treatment.
To make an inclusive hire, you have to begin with a diverse slate of candidates. Where can you source and find diverse sources of talent?
- Visit job fairs at Historically Black Colleges and Universities
- Diversity.com
- Black Jobs
- Hispanic Professionals
- Power to Fly
- Workforce 50
- Recruit Disability
- Female Executive Search
- Jobs
What else should a company consider to promote diversity and inclusion?
“You have to be very intentional in your efforts,” shared Angie. Small tweaks can make big differences to address issues related to these efforts. Making sure your website shows that you are a diverse and inclusive environment and encouraging employees to include pronouns in their email signatures are two easy ways to demonstrate that you want to be a place where people feel valued and safe.
When it comes to bringing on new members of a team, Angie suggests, “you want culture adds, not just culture fits.” Instead of trying to find someone who will fit uniformly with the rest of the staff, consider looking for candidates who will add to the organization and bring diverse ideas and perspectives. Companies must be careful in using referrals as their only hiring tool. “Referrals are great…but you have to be very careful that you’re not excluding people.”
In addition to bringing on new hires, companies should ensure they are giving people equal opportunities for advancement within. When an organization is focusing on accountability and leading by example at the executive level, the efforts trickle down.
As the conversation ended, Angie challenged event participants to take a big first step and implement one item for 2021. We can all learn from reflection. Properly assessing all aspects of an organization’s innerworkings and identifying growth opportunities will support organizational excellence. What will you implement to help your company succeed?
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