Article discussion - Harvard Business Review

Today we are discussing “How Businesses Can Recruit and Develop More Young People of Color”, an article by Harvard Business Review, that reflects of some of the career challenges students and especially students of color, face in the United States.

The article refers to research from a book that makes a distinction between three career paths of young professionals: Sprinters, Wanderers, Stragglers. The findings within these groups underline for instance the essence of internships, sticking to a major, and student debt. Moreover, the article sheds light onto the unemployment rate of students of color: “In fact, as recent as 2017, one study showed that only about five in 10 Black and Hispanic students who started in a four-year public institution completed their degrees within a six-year period, compared to about seven in 10 white and Asian students.” As a recruitment firm, we strongly believe in meeting the employment needs for all students, in the United States, here in Curaçao, and frankly everywhere in the world. Therefore, we want to share the insights the article gives on what employers can do to turn more young professionals into “Sprinters”.

Start Professional Development Early
“First, more must be done to reach students earlier in their academic careers to help them tap into job exploration, skills building, and professional development.” It is in our opinion, necessary to supply vacancies for students to develop themselves professionally through an internship. Not only are you getting a new ‘colleague’ at a lower price, who can supply the company with new and out of the box ideas (some of which might not be as useful), but your also giving them the opportunity to grow which they might consider to do in (and with) your company. When searching for that intern, looking beyond your geographical scope is another important step to ensure diversity, our current intern David is, for instance, from the Netherlands. As an organization, you could also work with Universities which supply courses applicable to your operations, they will supply the most students willing to learn from you and able to already perform adequate work. Another step towards the optimization of this is where a company called CodePath.org works together with major tech companies like Facebook and Google, to supply courses, given on any campus, that are underrepresented by students. 85% of CodePath.org alumni found a tech job within a year after completion.

Improving Hiring Practices
Last week we have given insight towards how you can improve your recruitment process with the use of six solutions, which is important for more than one reason. The article however, emphasized on the misconception of companies on the notion that only students from Ivy League institutions are eligible for entry-level positions, creating a biased hiring system and an unequal workforce while in fact research shows that having a diverse team leads to greater innovation. “Organizations like Deloitte, HSBC, and the BBC have begun using this method of blind recruitment, removing name, age, education, and other indicators that might unintentionally introduce bias into the hiring process.” Which is a great step towards the future, in which we hopefully value people for their skills instead of how they look.

To read the full article click here. To stay up to date with the latest news, vacancies, and insights, like our LinkedIn and Facebook pages.

Source: harvardbusinessreview.com