Today’s episode features a timely discussion with Marcus Sawyerr, a veteran in the recruiting industry and Founder and CEO of EQ Community. Learn about recent changes in recruiting and how technology affects diversity, equity, and inclusion during this evolving process.
GUEST AT A GLANCE
Marcus Sawyerr is a recruiting expert and the Founder and CEO of EQ Community, a private community for multicultural professionals interested in tech. Marcus is passionate about empowering diverse talent to thrive in their careers.
A QUICK GLIMPSE INTO OUR PODCAST
🔊 Podcast: Transform Your Workplace, sponsored by Xenium HR
🎙️ Host: Brandon Laws
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THE RECRUITING EVOLUTION
According to guest Marcus Sawyerr, people are at the center of the recruiting industry, and “it always tends to be an evolution versus a revolution.” As people have gone through the recruiting process, their expectations have increased significantly. Marcus believes that this “in large part has to do with the level of expectation in consumer products that we all use today, whether that’s ordering a taxi or whether that’s shopping for an item online.”
From the company standpoint, we’re starting to see that seep into B2B. Our needs on the consumer side — our expectations of user experience with technology — are driving change in the recruiting industry. Even internally, users expect the tools to be working in a certain way — “you expect them to be fast, you expect them to get answers.” The recruiting process has been evolving step by step, taking the lead from consumer products.
PODCAST EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
Drawbacks of the Status Quo
“So I think just terrible briefs and terrible descriptions is what I would change — and being a bit more thoughtful on that process. And also, just as an employer, really deeply reviewing what you are asking people to do and say — is that really necessary to get the job done […]? Is that necessary for somebody to be successful in our organization or is it just something we have because we haven’t changed it?”
Humans Behind the Code
“Even if it is self-learning, there’ll be somebody that originally built that model. And I think that sometimes, as human beings, we get really far from first-level principles, and we basically complicate things as time goes on. And we forget what is the essence of us finding the right talent […] that’s gonna help our organization.”
Looking at Performance
“Diversity has been seen as a box-ticking exercise, or it’s been seen as something that’s nice to have or we should do it because we’re doing the right thing. And that’s absolutely the wrong way to look at DEI. It should be DEI as a superpower. And the reason I say that is if you look at some of the best performing teams in the world, they’re not gonna have folks that are playing in the same position. You take a basketball team, a football team, a netball team, you need people that come from different perspectives and have different skill sets that can enhance your team overall.”
Taking a Closer Look
“So referrals are still, by and large, one of the best ways to get talent in. But are you getting a mix of referrals because you have a diverse organization and diverse leadership team where you can get into different networks and different communities that you wouldn’t have otherwise? So really being self-critical and looking at that […]. And we talked earlier about the experience of candidates, and one of the things is that candidates are treated differently if they’re a referral versus if they come and apply directly, […] and that will impact your employer brand as well, longer term, like how people are going through the flow and the process.”
The Four Cs
“I wanted to try and help people […] who don’t have a network to get access to what I call the four Cs — ensuring you’ve got the right Community to people that can support you, whether that’s mentors or just people to bounce ideas off of, ensuring that you’ve got Connections that can help you break cycles into different areas that you might not have seen, and then access to meaningful Careers, which ultimately leads to Capital.”
Making Connections
“What we found is that some of the magic takes place just by putting people in a room and connecting with each other. So we host a lot of virtual events but also some physical events where people have had conversations with folks that they didn’t think that they otherwise would’ve. And it’s changed their lives because they’ve gotten an opportunity to go into a full-time position, consult, or even meet someone from a different background that they can connect with. And now they’ve got a contact on the other side of the US that they wouldn’t have had otherwise.”
LEARN MORE
Connect with Marcus Sawyerr and check out his work with the EQ community by heading over to eq.app or eq.community.