During the many years I have spent working with candidates and assisting companies with hiring needs it has always amazed me on how very intelligent people create complications to such uncomplicated problems. 

As the Vice President of The Largest Hispanic Owned Staffing Agency in New York and a Chilean American, I have been constantly looked upon by both clients and candidates as a diversity supplier of jobs and candidates. Although there are many complicated social issues regarding race, attracting diverse candidates to your company is not as complicated as you may think.  The real question is: Are you looking to satisfy quota or do you really care about diversity?

Caring ? a; to feel interest or concern (verb). 

If the true nature and culture of your company is to care about diversity, than the resolve to attract talented diverse candidates will far exceed any "quota" your company has established. 

I was once visiting a client who is the Vice President of a very large Fortune 500 company in New York City.  One part of his many responsibilities was employee diversity within his company.  Upon first working with him, he constantly questioned my ethnicity and frequently asked me "where is Chile?" and "Am I sure that Chile is a Latin American country?" He had thought Chile was in Europe somewhere.  What I found amazing was not that my client was geographically challenged, but, his lack of caring for the very responsibility he was charged with.  How can you set appropriate strategies and build the important cultural mindset for your recruiters to create a diverse work force without learning and caring enough about the very groups you are trying to attract.  

Caring enough about diversity and how important it is for a successful company will translate into better sourcing strategies, creative solutions and build talented diverse candidate allegiances.  Simply creating quota's and hiring diverse employees to head up your diversity efforts is not enough if you do not believe and really care about diversity.   

Minority groups make up for about 30% of our countries population.  That third is rapidly moving towards becoming 50% and Caucasians will soon move from majority to plurality.   Is your company preparing for this massive cultural shift?  I would venture to tell you that if caring is not involved in your strategy, than you will fail in attracting truly talented diverse candidates.   As recruiting tools (i.e. internet, networking, new websites, etc.) become more accessible to everyone, true talent is more difficult to attract and retain.  Competition is stiff. 

It is a company?s ability to communicate their true caring for a diverse workforce that will build an allegiance from talented candidates who are looking to join a company with a reputation for caring for diversity.

I am a new proud Blogger to ERE.  I do hope to exchange ideas and share my experiences with you.  It is my goal to help you find effective ways to attract diverse candidates using creative methods.  Nevertheless, I can assure you that there is no methodology that can replace Caring.