When the first isn't the last or only

One of the continuing challenges in building a multicultural workplace, is actually getting multiple cultures into the workplace.  It seems the conversation around diversity is shifting once again to reflect the global nature of business and the number of companies who now have presence in many countries around the world.  My company is not any different.  The last time I counted we had 23 countries represented in our various U.S. work locations.  Transferring talent around the globe is something we do quite frequently and is actually a strong recruiting position for us.  I have noticed that we have no trouble embracing our European colleagues and even our Latin colleagues, but alas, the same can not be said of our domestic "home grown" cultures.  You know what I mean.  When we hear a German accent or a British accent, we immediately think "Wow.  How cool!"  We assume the speaker has something we don't.  And, even if we can't understand a word they are saying, we somehow feel that they are in some way superior to us because after all, English is not their native tongue.  How special are they for butchering the English language? Applause, applause.

Here is what I have also noticed.  When the accent is from say, Alabama and not Berlin, the assumption conferred on the speaker is not one of superiority, but inferiority.  When the speaker doesn't have a funky European sense of style, but rather a funky head of hair, we are suddendly not so enthralled with their "difference."  Why is this?  My view is that as Americans, we still have not resolved our bias that tells us that people of color are innately inferior.  And when we hear certain accents, including American regional dialects, we turn off.  And thus, the challenge I have in attracting and retaining a multicultural workforce (that is not European). 

We recenty did a round of recruiting for our college graduate program.  Included in our recruiting tour were several Historically Black Colleges and Universities.  We met some wonderfully gifted, intelligent, and bright students who fit our hiring criteria.  The first step in the screening process what the resume and college GPA.  The second step in the screening process is the phone interview.  Here is where the bias creeps in.  Of the resumes we deemed qualified, only 3% of those students were still considered worthy after the phone interview.  Really?  How do you go from being brilliant on paper to utterly unattractive after a phone conversation?  In another instance, I was attempting to place summer interns through the INROADS program, which focuses on placing minority students in interships withing corporate america.  The resistance I met from some of the hiring managers was mind blowing.  We are takling about freshmen and sophomores in college.  And yet, the screening criteria that these students were held to was for experienced professionals.  I kept getting excuses like, " well, they don't really have the experience I need."  Really?  What kind of experience do you need to be a summer intern?  What exactly was missing?  " Well, they have never written any code..."  Have your other summer interns written code or analyzed P&L statements, or created marketing campaigns?  How many 18 year-old college students have? 

It' almost as if, if you are a person of color, you have to be exceptional just to walk in the door.  This is an impossible standard, and is the reason we have so many "firsts" who end up being the "only" and the "last."  

I would challenge anyone who is responsible for recruiting and hiring to pause a beat before disqualifying a candidate.  Ask yourself;  if this person was white from the University of Michigan, would I be so reluctant to bring them into the organization?  Would I be so concerned with the lack of depth of their experience to fill and entry-level or internship position?  We can't build a pipeline of multicultural talent if our funnel is so narrow that it doesn't let anyone in.  As long as we are allowing our bias to cloud our perceptions of people, we will continue to have only the fortunate few who somehow manage to transend our prejudices and racial bias to grace the hallowed halls of our institutions. 

I have always agreed that diversity is more than race and gender.  I love discussing generational differences, and working effectively across cultures, but we can't just forget about race and gender.  We can't file it away as something we have resolved, when there is evidence everywhere in our society that indicates that clearly we have not.

Inclusion 365 mission #7
I will not accept that black and brown people have to be exceptional to get an opportunity.  I will make an effort not to require more those of the minority than I do from members of the dominant majority.

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