Diversity recruiting is no longer an option, but a necessity. If your company wants to be more innovative, welcoming, and financially successful, it’s critical that diversity and inclusion are prioritized throughout the organization—starting with hiring.
Study after study have shown that increasing diversity in the workplace leads to real business and financial success. For example, “companies in the top quartile for racial and ethnic diversity are 35 percent more likely to have financial returns above their respective national industry medians.” Companies with above-average diversity scores see 19% higher revenues due to innovation than their less diverse counterparts, as well. Diverse teams also see reduced fraud, improved company reputation, and a reduction in groupthink, leading to better decision making.
In addition, diversity and inclusion are becoming more and more important to today’s student job seekers. In a recent RippleMatch survey of college juniors and seniors, students were asked what factors impacted their decision to accept a job or internship offer at a company. An overwhelming 75% of underrepresented women surveyed responded that the hiring and promotion of diverse talent illustrates a company’s true commitment to equality. These students are actively seeking out companies that prioritize D&I, and are more concerned with action than empty statements. It’s clear that not only does hiring diverse talent improve financial returns, but it’s becoming increasingly important to reaching hiring goals.
Why Hiring Diverse Entry-Level Talent is Especially Important
In order to increase diversity across the organization, it’s important to start at the entry level. In 2020, it was estimated that 4.4 million Gen Z candidates would replace 3.6 million retiring Baby Boomers in the job market. Gen Z is the most diverse generation yet, with only 52% identifying as non-Hispanic white, compared to 82% of Baby Boomers. By focusing on recruiting diverse early-career candidates, and then developing those hires, you’ll increase diversity at your organization for the long-term. As our RippleMatch survey results show, today’s underrepresented candidates are looking for companies that hire diverse talent—if entry-level candidates don’t see other early career talent at your organization that look like them, they’re likely to go elsewhere, perpetuating diversity hiring challenges for years to come.
How RippleMatch Can Help Companies Increase Diversity Hiring at the Entry-Level
RippleMatch was developed specifically to improve early career diversity hiring. Traditionally, campus recruitment teams have focused hiring efforts on a small set of core schools, including Ivy League colleges and other institutions that matriculate many students from privileged backgrounds. This practice made it difficult to hire diverse students, as the candidate pool was limited.
RippleMatch, on the other hand, takes a school-agnostic approach. The platform includes student profiles from more than 1,300 schools across the country, including over 150 HBCUs and Hispanic-Serving Institutions. Students are automatically matched with roles that fit their interests and backgrounds, including opportunities that traditionally would have primarily been available for a limited number of students who met recruiters at school career fairs. From RippleMatch data we can see that, on average, companies that recruited from their core schools saw a pipeline where only 16% of candidates were underrepresented minorities (URM) and 22% were first-generation college students. In contrast, the average pipeline of a company that did not have a set of core schools included 32% URM candidates and 29% first generation college students.
As many as 85% of candidates introduced to employers through the RippleMatch platform identify as members of one or more underrepresented groups, including women in STEM and racial or ethnic minorities. This naturally translates to increased representation in hiring for companies that use the platfrom. According to a 2020 RippleMatch Customer Survey, college recruiting teams saw 50% more underrepresented minority (URM) applicants compared to before they implemented RippleMatch.
How RippleMatch Can Help Companies Increase Diversity Through Early ID Programs
Building diverse teams doesn’t just start with the hiring process. In fact, the work can begin months and sometimes years before candidates are hired. Early identification programs are a great way for companies to stand out to diverse candidates. They’re also a great way to help underrepresented candidates develop skills like resume building and interviewing. While many students learn these skills from family or through classes or professional organizations, first-generation college students and other URM candidates may not have the same personal or professional networks to help them develop these skills, putting them at a disadvantage in their job search.
Campus recruitment teams that recognize this can develop early ID programs that both help URM candidates develop and help their companies stand out in the recruiting process. RippleMatch can help. With RippleMatch CRM, companies can easily track candidates from the time they’re first identified, all the way through an offer and beyond. RippleMatch CRM allows companies to segment students into communities, identify students for targeted events and opportunities, and keep them engaged through email and other marketing efforts. Instead of juggling several spreadsheets and complicated mail merges, companies can keep track of top candidates and effortlessly engage them from one easy-to-use platform.
Reach Top, Diverse Talent Through Targeted Events
RippleMatch can also help companies reach diverse candidates through targeted events. Instead of relying solely on career services or campus organizations to find event attendees, companies can easily source students from the RippleMatch platform, which includes over one million student profiles from over 1,300 schools. Through RippleMatch, companies can easily host engaging events, invite targeted students, and effortlessly follow up with attendees afterwards to invite them to future events or even to apply for applicable internships or jobs.
With the addition of RippleMatch CRM, companies can track students from event to event, identifying the best fits for roles well in advance. By combining events with the engagement and nurturing capabilities of the CRM, companies have more opportunities than ever to really personalize the candidate experience and stand out to top, diverse talent.
Why The RippleMatch Platform is a Holistic Diversity Recruitment Solution
With RippleMatch, companies can access over one million student profiles from over 1,300 schools with a single partnership. These profiles include the best data available on college job seekers, with over 300 self-reported data points per profile, including graduation date, major, resume, work authorization, career interests, values, location preferences, and more. This allows university recruiters to effortlessly build pipelines of qualified, diverse candidates. They also have access to detailed recruiting analytics that allow recruiters to fully understand their funnel and learn what’s working, and what’s not.
The powerful capabilities of RippleMatch’s automated sourcing combine with the ability to easily host engaging recruitment events, track candidate relationships, and nurture from lead to hire and beyond. This allows companies to reach and engage with more diverse candidates than ever before. Not only does RippleMatch give companies access to more diverse candidate pipelines—but it makes it easier for recruiters to engage with them and ultimately stand out in the recruitment process, leading to a class of entry-level hires that’s representative of the population.
