What happens when everyone is just alike? How is there ever any change or process improvement if the problems or issues go unnoticed?
Research and common sense, both tell us that diversity in all aspects such as race, gender, age or national origin all have positive effects on a group’s performance and innovation. There is another diversity spectrum that also leads to increased performance and innovation. That is diversity of background and experience. If an entire group has the exact same experience, background, and style – there is no room for change or thinking outside of the proverbial box because no one will see that the change is needed. This can lead to stagnant performance and diminished results.
As Recruiters, it’s important to review a candidate’s experience and how well they will fit into the team makeup. How do we accomplish this, you may ask – well here are a few tips to get you on your way.
- Know your Hiring Manager – what is the leadership style he or she practices? What are his or her core values? Where does their greatest strength lie?
- Know your team makeup – what are their strong suits and their weak points, how do we fill that gap?
- What is the overall goal or mission of the group – would this candidate bring something of value to the team?
- Is this candidate’s experience commensurate with the expectations of the position, but also diverse enough to help increase performance?
The Kellogg Insight states, “New research finds that socially different group members do more than simply introduce new viewpoints or approaches. In the study, diverse groups outperformed more homogeneous groups not because of an influx of new ideas, but because diversity triggered more careful information processing that is absent in homogeneous groups.”
By providing Hiring Managers with diverse talent – Recruiters can add value by not only helping to increase the performance of their company, or their customer – but also become more of the consultative partner many of us hope to be.
This post was written by Jennie Vancel. Jennie is a Recruiter with Yoh RPO division and comes with a very diverse background including Human Resources, Sales, Training and ultimately Recruiting. With over 15 years of experience across varying industries, she has been instrumental in piloting and implementing global strategies for process improvement, candidate experience, and retention. Specialties include building customer relationships, strategic planning and superior service delivery. Jennie currently resides in Louisiana and outside of work is an avid animal rescuer with four furry family members of her own.
