Targeted Hiring

00:05 And I mentioned earlier, an organization that I worked for that I see has done a great job of implementing diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.

00:15 And all together inclusive excellence is a PWI, which stands for a Predominantly White Institution.

00:22 And that institution has invested time and money, not only in program development, but also getting specific people trained to do specific types of workshops, and that's in one department.

00:37 But the university as a whole has also adopted these different initiatives.

00:44 And one of the things that I used to think was a problem, targeted hiring, if we want to hire more black people, indigenous people, people from other races and ethnicities, then we do have, if we're saying we're trying to make things equitable, then we do have to have targeted hiring.

01:01 If we're talking about students, we have to have targeted admissions.

01:05 So wherever we're lacking in terms of representation, based on numbers, it's okay to say that this is what I'm doing.

01:14 And this is why I'm doing it.

01:16 The why is the most important piece, because as a black person, I will say in that particular organization, when I was hired, the way it was presented to me, I felt like a token.

01:27 Like okay, so you're telling me you hired me to increase your statistics because there was no why.

01:33 So it's very, very, very important when these conversations happen that not only the person that's hired, or the person that's enrolled in an institution understands that day you are hired, because I want to see more people who look like you in this organization, because our goal is inclusive excellence, our goal was to have representation of all human beings.

01:54 And even if it's gender, we talk a lot about female inequality.

01:59 But in terms of nursing, we have fewer males.

02:02 So, if you're looking to hire more males, say that.

02:06 You know, we need to have more representation from males in this particular nursing school, hospital system, whatever it is.

02:15 But it's okay as long as you're being honest.

02:17 And then the other priority piece is to make sure there's a plan for retention.

02:22 When we talk about inclusion and belonging, we have to have structured support systems in place.

02:29 Not just say it. We support you, well, show me how show me some evidence of what systems you have in place to support everybody in the organization.

02:40 And if there are specific needs based on whatever it is, it could be based on disability or ability.

02:46 It could be based on what I need in terms of my race or ethnicity, my gender, whatever it is.

02:54 I'm sure you get the point.