One of the most meaningful trends we see in the technical recruiting industry in recent years is the push to diversify the workforce. At Queen Consulting, we are seeing that trend play out as our client companies are enlisting us in their quests to create a more diversified and inclusive environment, in terms of ethnic/racial, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion, disability status and other types of diversity.

According to a Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. government data, Black and Hispanic workers remain underrepresented in STEM  (science, technology, engineering and math) jobs compared with their share of the U.S. workforce. And while women make up half of the STEM workforce, they remain underrepresented in engineering (15%), computer (25%), and physical science (40%) occupations. Traditionally, the candidates that we place have not been overly diverse—the technology field has typically been dominated by young, white males. So, we at Queen, too, are in the midst of a transition as we support our clients’ needs.

“We are seeing a big push toward diversity, equity and inclusion from many of our clients,” says Senior Technical Recruiter James Henry. “They are looking to us for more diverse candidates as they work to become more inclusive. And in the process, we’re learning a lot about ourselves and the biases we may have without even realizing it.”

On the candidate side, Technical Recruiter Meg McLeish says, “Candidates are increasingly seeking placements at companies that are more diverse. In the last year, they’re asking us more about clients’ diversity and inclusion programs. When they see diversity in leadership at a client company, that signals that there is a healthy potential for career growth.”

The Benefits of a More Diverse Workforce

Creating a more inclusive workforce is all about opportunities: ensuring that every candidate has the opportunity to succeed, and ensuring that clients have the opportunity to benefit from the varied skills and perspectives of workers from all backgrounds and perspectives.

The advantages of hiring a diverse workforce are many, including better decision-making, more innovation, and improved reputation.

Meg says, “The key thing is that diverse hiring brings new and fresh perspectives and ideas to a company,” which can break up rigid patterns and dynamics while leading to more creative and effective solutions. “Employees become more tolerant as they work with people who have different backgrounds but are just as qualified. It normalizes the experience of working in a culturally diverse setting, and then they expect that in the next job.”

“And bringing in more diversified employees creates a new normal in hiring patterns, which will become expected in five or ten years,” says James. “Having experience in working with different backgrounds and thought processes helps our candidates better learn how people think and act, which in turn helps them develop into better leaders and managers.”

How We Go About Ensuring Diversity

Here at Queen Consulting, we put a premium on our own diversity efforts, both internally and externally. Our own employees comprise 51% women, and a majority of our management is female. Further, 56% of our consultants identify with a racial/ethnic minority group and 44% of our management-level placements are female.

To further focus our efforts on placing more diverse candidates, Queen created a Diversity, Equality & Inclusion Council in 2020. This group of volunteers meets weekly to guide growth in diversity within our firm and in the candidates we place. The Council engages in conversation and provides training to help our own employees eliminate unconscious bias, to improve our recruiting of diverse candidates and to support our clients in their diversification efforts.

James notes that Queen Consulting’s work on diversity has yielded benefits. “We promote our work on diversity on our website, and have learned that candidates and clients specifically look for that.”

Meeting the Challenges

Still, as with any cultural shift, challenges remain.

Bias affects our perceptions, actions, and behavior. The influence of bias in the hiring process can result in decisions or circumstances that stand in the way of opportunity for diverse workers. From job descriptions to sourcing, candidate evaluation, and selection, bias can span the entire talent acquisition process. Staffing professionals have an opportunity to make a difference in building diversity and inclusion in the workplace by promoting an environment that helps employees and clients appreciate the benefits that diversity provides.

“All humans have conscious or unconscious biases,” James adds, “In a hiring manager, that may play out as a preference for a specific type of candidate, be it a certain age, gender, or racial background. In response, we’re trying to open up those conversations, keeping an open mind and getting creative when it comes to finding great candidates. We’re trying to maintain a diverse portfolio of talent.”

Queen’s recruiters consciously seek to make connections with non-traditional candidates. “It can be hard to identify diverse talent when reviewing thousands of profiles. One of the creative ways we like to find candidates is by searching for professional affiliations with LGBTQ or gender- and race-specific groups on LinkedIn, for example,” says Meg.

Recruiters understand the power of networking as a source of great talent. When Queen places a Candidate in a new position, they ask them for referrals for other qualified candidates in hopes to widen their talent pool and draw more diverse and qualified candidates. Queen understands that building a diverse workforce is a continuous journey of improvement that is essential to their business.

James notes that it can take longer to find qualified diverse candidates. “Because assignments are often time-sensitive, we seek a balance between finding candidates quickly and ensuring that those we submit are of diverse backgrounds. So, we are working on setting expectations with our clients to increase diversity while meeting their immediate needs.”

“We see signs of evolution as we work to increase workforce diversity, and we’ve seen our non-traditional candidates really stand out from the crowd. We always encourage diverse talent to contact Queen Consulting,” says Meg. “Candidates of all races, genders, orientations, ages, religions, disabilities, etc.—we want to have you on our radar!”