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?

In today’s webcast, Ed Newman, President of the Newman Group, unveiled his new vision of affecting employee quality and creating a talent mindset.  It’s a doozie- what a great idea.  I’ll encourage you to check out the whole webcast here when you get a chance.

A new role for talent acquisition? 

Ed suggests that for organizations to take their recruiting abilities to the next level, they shift focus from recruiters as administrators to network collaborators.  How?

• Become a Talent Coach - Leading, nurturing and sustaining networking practices amongst the hiring team.  (And don’t charge them with administrative tasks like entering a req in the system.)
• Assist the Hiring Manager in developing and maintaining a network of enough people to hire from (20 – 35)
• Identify prospects to be introduced to the Manager’s network (avoid the old boy network)
• Provide the tools for managing the Network (e.g. LinkedIn, Salesforce.com, etc.)
• Attend industry events with the Manager and organize social events
• Assist the manager maintain periodic, systematic communication with network members
• Create a Talent minded culture.  This synergy happens when everyone at a company- regardless of position- has the same thought when they meet someone new at a restaurant, at a party or on a plane:  Could this person work for us?

Network Theory

Additionally, he presented the radical idea of using network theory as a way to measure success.  Network theory is essentially a science that measures, through graphs, the strength of said network.  Its application here is through a relatively new concept of social media analysis, and there are some amazing tools out there assisting in this… Ed mentioned www.touchgraph.com- so I quickly made my way over there.  Using my name and HCI, this is a pictorial representation of the power of my network.  Pretty cool, huh?

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.)

According to Chris Resto, Ian Ybarra, and Ramit Sethi, authors of the definitive book on recruiting Millennials, Recruit or Die: How Any Business Can Beat The Big Guys In the War For Young Talent, the three essential facts to know about young talent are Career, Glamour and Gossip.

What does this mean?

Career: Millennials want options. Resto, et al., use Teach for America to illustrate this point. Working at Teach for America satisfies so many of the desires of young people. The work is philanthropic: its aim is nothing less than changing what they define as our nation’s greatest injustice- educational inequality. The corps is close-ended: it requires a 2 year commitment so applicants know they won’t get pigeon-holed. It is very competitive- in 2007 18000 individuals applied and less than 3000 were hired. Finally, Teach for America proudly declares what their employees do AFTER the job has ended in the form of graduate school and corporate partnerships, like the Top 10 law schools and Google, McKinsey and GE, and alum discussion portals.

Glamour: Remember, the generation we’re discussing has been marketed to since long before they were allowed to swim in the pool unsupervised. This is the generation for which the term “tween” was coined. If it isn’t rewarding, they ain’t comin’. But it isn’t just about the money. Sure, that’s great, but glamour encompasses a whole host of benes you can offer to make them feel special- the key is to make them feel MORE special than anyone else. That might include cool or critical work assignments, personal relationship opportunities with a big cheese, or perks like concert tickets and travel.

Gossip: If you know any young people, you know they are mixers and connectors- they love to talk and have about 10 different ways to do so. And they are totally into information. Remember, we’re talking about the generation raised on 24 hour-a-day news and instant internet updates. Everything an employer does, say the authors, GOOD or BAD, is amplified.

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