Language diversity (and employees with mastery in more than one) has become a business imperative for many organizations. In the creation of a culture of inclusion between employees, customers, and job seekers, it is necessary to learn how to abandon antiquated hiring biases about candidates that look or sound “like me.”

It may also be a challenge at your organization to properly assess language skills when a job demands that a candidate be bi- or tri-lingual. How are corporations educating talent acquisition professionals and line managers to overcome their emotions about things like job candidates with accents? Do assessments exist to evaluate language skills?

Today we heard from Julian Sanchez, formerly the Sourcing CoE Manager at Deloitte, and Barbara Springer, Business Development Manager of the TechBA program at the University of Texas at Austin.  TechBA is pretty cool- from their site:  The TechBA Program supports top-tier Mexican companies in bringing their innovative technology, products and services to the United States, Canada and other global markets.

So what advice did Julian and Barbara offer to human capital professionals on hiring for language diversity?  First, build appropriate avenues in your talent brand.  Julian says any attempt to communicate with candidates in their native language goes a long way… but it will serve your organization best if you avoid jargon, colloquialisms, and prepare materials in the proper dialect. 

When sourcing candidates with multi-lingual skills, Julian then advises to partner with any affinity groups at your organization, or if you don’t have any, to reach out to business network groups in your area with a multi-cultural focus.

How do you recruit diverse language candidates?  How do you assess candidate language skills?

Having trouble filling your talent pipeline with diverse candidates experienced in leadership or crisis management?

How many veterans have you hired?

You’re not alone - the US Department of Labor reports the joblessness rate among young veterans, aged 20-24, was double the national average for all adult workers in 2006.  The unemployment rate skyrockets for wounded veterans.

This is truly a national crisis.  Regardless of one’s political opinions, these soldiers - and by extension their families- are being largely ignored by employers.

So what can your organization do to hire great talent coming out of the military?  According to today’s webcast presenter, Otis Collier, former Naval recruiter, AIRS trainers and now recruiting consultant, talent acquisition professionals should start by forming relationships at some of the many channels dedicated to placing vets in jobs, like:

—Internal Resources and Contacts (who at your company has a military background?)

—Career Fairs and Base Hiring Events

—Service Academy Career Conferences

—Job board posting and resume mining sites (there are a host of niche sites dedicated to returning military)

—Military Spouse Corporate Career Network

—Army Spouse Employment Network

—Disabled Veteran Services (like AMVETS, ASDV and foundations like The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.)

—Department of Labor (has a number of services to vets and employers- check out Hire Vets First.)

Presented by Meredith Morris, Senior Research Analyst at Monster Intelligence, and Liz Friedman, Group Marketing Manager at Microsoft.

For the first part of the webcast, Meredith presented data from MonsterTrak’s 2008 Annual Entry-Level Job Outlook Survey.  Key takeaways:

• That although the number of companies planning on hiring recent college grads is decreasing, organizations that are planning to hire new grads are going to hire more than last year.  Meredith said there are several factors that influence this- she mentioned lower salaries for entry-level employees, increased technology skills in younger workers, and quality of talent as some possible few.
• There is a disconnect between employers and college job seekers on what the purpose of the interview is.  Job Seekers think the interview is designed to allow employers to assess their experience, while companies say they are looking to evaluate the candidate’s behaviors.

I am thinking…

Is your organization strategically planning on hiring new grads this year?  Is the total number up or down from last year?

How should we systemically address this soft versus hard skills evaluation issue to set expectations appropriately?

The second part of the webcast was a case study from Microsoft on creating a candidate value proposition, and Liz shared some great information with us.  I was most impressed by the “pillars” of their CVP- People, Opportunity and Impact.  What a cross-generational appealing message.  She also shared some examples of how MSFT is getting the “word” out about why candidates would want to work there using some really cool niche sites:

• Improving the Candidate Experience
• Valuing Diversity at Microsoft
• Thinking outside of the box- campus-style