Look Harder & Smarter For Marginalized, Talented Resources

Do not sit back and hope for a miracle

Here in the UK, we are still hearing about talent shortages in the NHS and in the travel, delivery and hospitality industries to name but a few, yet we are still not being smart about tapping into the underrepresented and marginalized communities that have all the skills to plug the gap.
 

Take the technology sector. We are facing a huge skills gap in tech talent from programmers and engineers to sales, marketing, and recruiters, yet women, people with disabilities and the black communities are not being encouraged through their schools, colleges and universities to look at tech opportunities, nor are they being snapped up by future employers and trained. Instead, businesses are saying ‘it’s difficult to find the right candidates, rather than being proactive and creating their own pipelines. Rather than looking at our recruitment marketing and asking ourselves, ‘why are we not attracting these candidates’ and seeking them out, many organizations are sitting back and hoping for a miracle.

By building a talent pipeline of people who may have been marginalized and discouraged previously, training them, and paying them equally, organizations may just plug the gaps with people who are highly emotionally intelligent, driven, and creative and who typically have personal attributes beyond pure technical skill. Let’s also be clear that those from marginalized or underrepresented communities do not only have to be sought in the early stages of their careers but also at any point in their working years.

How else can we find this talent? Your competitors may well be sourcing potential candidates via social media including TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. Checking for bias or negative signals on your social, branding, marketing, and website are key.  Next set targets, gather data, track your goals, and adjust tack if need be.

Show potential candidates that they will be included and valued and there is a clear career path for them. If these candidates are truly trickier to reach, then you need to try harder and smarter.  

Author Bio

Joanne Lockwood (she/her) is the founder and CEO of SEE Change Happen, and a Diversity & Inclusion Specialist who promotes transgender awareness in organizations. Connect Joanne Lockwood