Top Diversity Hiring Tools — 2023

Inclusion work is critical for business success. Companies that are hyper-focused on growth can sometimes forget about growing culture alongside headcount, which can lead to toxicity and increased employee turnover. According to Sarah Castle, Manager of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) at Toast, inclusion comes down to four key areas:

• Voice: Do employees feel like they have a voice that’s actually heard/respected/valued
• Opportunity: Do they feel like they’ve been given the resources and opportunity to grow (things like constructive feedback, performance reviews, and open communication with manager)
• Fairness: Do they feel like the company is making fair and fact-based decisions
• Belonging: Do they feel like they’re a key part of the organization

Getting the right Diversity and Inclusion strategy in place is a no-brainer. And, technology can help!

You should use diversity hiring tools if you want to improve your diversity recruitment efforts and hire across all communities, including those that are underrepresented, like women, Black, Latino, Native American, and LGBTQIA. Here are a few other key benefits of diversity hiring technology:

• Increase Number of Diverse Applicants: With direct sourcing tools, you can conduct outreach to more diverse candidates and attract more diverse applicants. For example, companies that use Fairygodboss see up to a 50% increase in applications from women.
• Fill Hard-to-Fill Positions: Since the tools mentioned below include job sites where you can post your openings, you can get more applicants for open roles, including hard-to-fill positions like technology and enterprise sales.
• Improve Employer Branding: Show off your company as a diverse and inclusive workforce. Specific employer branding opportunities are outlined in the Features section below.
• Improve Skills-Based Hiring: Look beyond the resume and pedigree of your candidates and focus on actual skills and qualifications. In other words, can a given candidate get the job done regardless of where they studied, who they’ve worked for in the past, or what they look like?‍
• Improve Job Descriptions: You might not realize it, but how your job descriptions are written could be turning away certain applicant communities — for example, if they’re overtly masculine, you might not get a lot of applications from women. Fortunately, diversity hiring tools can help you improve the copy so this doesn’t happen.

The gist: diversity hiring tools only go so far. You can make your hiring process “blind” and source candidates from job sites that specialize in diversity, but that doesn’t completely eliminate bias. Not only that, bias shows up differently in different companies and for different people. With that said, diversity hiring tools come with their share of challenges and considerations, including:

• Think about the entire hiring process: It’s not just about sourcing diverse candidates. You want them to have a positive interview and onboarding process as well.
• Don’t forget unconscious bias training: This includes training for recruiters and hiring managers, any employees who will be conducting interviews, as well as the entire workforce. ‍
• Higher cost-per-hire: Don’t be surprised if you see that your cost/hire for under-represented candidates is higher than what you’re used to. The cost difference is similar to how cost/hire increases when you’re looking for harder-to-find candidates like engineers or managers.
• Full employee lifecycle: It's not just about hiring. Human resources teams and companies in general have to think hard about how they are fostering an inclusive culture where each individual feels welcomed.

At the end of the day, building a diverse and inclusive workforce will lead to happier employees, improved company operations, and increased revenue. You’ll attract better talent and bring in better ideas from those you end up hiring. While it’s not an exact science (i.e. hiring diverse candidates doesn’t automatically increase your bottom line), there is something to be said about the value of a diverse workforce. Just look at this chart from McKinsey & Co.:

To get a sense for your ROI here, look at the number of hires you get from using these tools and the value you assign each hire. Beyond the numbers, there is a moral imperative to build a diverse workforce to reverse the impacts of institutionalized racism, sexism, and agism. Each organization doing their part creates a better tomorrow for these groups, as well as society as a whole through a more friendly and productive business environment.

Pricing for each specific tool varies a lot depending on the size of your company and your specific DEI goals. That said, you can get a sense for how much to budget based on your industry and desired outcomes — and this report from DiversityBestPractices.com has some great intel:

• Diversity-department budgets at Fortune 1000 companies averages $1.5m per year
• Range for diversity-department budgets was $30,000 to $5.1 million
• When diversity was housed in HR, the average annual diversity budget was $239,000
• Diversity and inclusion education, training, and e-learning are generally the largest upfront costs, with outreach and/or recruiting a close second.
  

Of course, these numbers are for large companies (which makes us think they may not be high enough!). For smaller organizations, you can get a lot of value from a smaller investment to update job descriptions, invest in blind hiring, unconscious bias training, building our employee resource groups, etc.

Diversity and inclusion tools allow you to bring more exposure to your job openings — and your DEI efforts — so you can attract, engage, and convert more candidates. Depending on the tool you use, you can expect the following features:

• Job Listings/Job Boards: Niche job boards that are designed for a given demographic will allow you to build your employer brand with traditionally represented people. More Black, LatinX, female, etc candidates in your hiring funnel means a more diverse workforce assuming the right hiring process.
• Dedicated Company Page: This is essentially your company “feature” — an employer branding page where you paint a holistic picture of what you do and why someone would want to work there. Give an overview, highlight culture and DEI stats, list company benefits, share employee stories/reviews/testimonials, etc.
• Recruiting Events & Career Fairs: Participate in a variety of events to get your company/job openings more visibility.
• Company Rankings & Reviews: Current and former employees can leave reviews and actually rate their experience.
• Custom Sponsored Content: Develop custom content specifically designed to attract diverse talent. This is usually an extension of your company profile page where you do a deeper dive on a certain subject, like your diversity initiatives, for example.
• Augmented Writing: Optimize job description text to remove any phrases or words that might deter a certain minority group/community from applying.
• Blind Hiring: Look at resumes and applications that only show skills and experience — i.e. information like gender will be hidden so you can conduct a hiring process that’s more inclusive (and has less unconscious bias).
• Video Interviews: Conduct video interviews with diverse interviewers so your applicants can get a first-hand look at your company’s diversity.‍

Before investing in one or all of these tools, make sure to schedule a demo so you can get a feel for the platform and actually see how things work. Ask as many questions as necessary to help you really understand what the tool can do for you and how you can use it most efficiently. Here are some questions and tips to consider:

Features for Diverse Sourcing:

• Can you demonstrate how the tool helps source candidates from diverse backgrounds?
• What sourcing channels and databases does the tool access to ensure a diverse candidate pool?
• Does the tool support multilingual job postings and career sites?

Unbiased Candidate Shortlisting:

• How does the tool ensure unbiased candidate shortlisting to reduce potential bias in the hiring process?
• Are AI-powered algorithms used to assess candidates? How do they avoid reinforcing biases?

Inclusive Job Advertisements:

• Can you show how the tool helps create inclusive job advertisements that attract diverse candidates?
• Does the tool provide suggestions or guidelines for using inclusive language in job descriptions?

Blind Hiring Features:

• Does the tool support anonymized resume reviews to remove identifiable information that may lead to bias?
• Can the tool hide candidate names, photos, or other identifying details during the shortlisting process?

Diversity Reporting and Analytics:

• How does the tool track and report on diversity-related metrics, such as the percentage of diverse candidates in the pipeline?
•  Are there analytics features that help identify potential diversity gaps in the hiring process?

Candidate Experience:

• Can you demonstrate the candidate experience when applying for a job through the tool?
• Does the tool provide accessibility features to accommodate candidates with disabilities?

Tips for a Productive Demo:

• Get a Customized Demo: Before the demo, let the vendor know your specific diversity hiring needs, so they can tailor the demo accordingly. This way, you can see exactly how the tool fits your requirements, saving time for both you and the vendor.
• Ask for User Feedback: Request feedback from current users of the tool to understand their experiences and challenges. Many of the tools we've picked for this guide have case studies available, but you can go a step further by asking the vendor to connect you with their customers for firsthand insights.
• Check User-Friendliness: Pay close attention to the user interface and ease of navigation. Ask the vendor to walk you through the features your team will use frequently to see how they work. Don't assume all tools work the same way, even if you've used similar ones before.
• Inquire About Support and Training: Learn about customer support and training options for a smooth implementation process. Make sure you clarify which support services are included with your subscription and which might require an additional fee.
• Request a Trial: If possible, ask for access to a trial or sandbox environment to explore the tool further on your own. Some vendors may not advertise a free trial, but they might be open to providing one if you request it.

By following these tips and asking the right questions, you'll gain a comprehensive understanding of how the diversity hiring tool can meet your organization's needs and contribute to a more inclusive hiring process.

Many of these tools are easy to get started with and probably familiar (especially job boards which we've all used before). But a key piece of the implementation puzzle here is on your overall DEI strategy — i.e. not just diversity hiring, but how you’re building a fair and inclusive workplace that attracts AND retains top talent.

• Partner with Internal Stakeholders: Work directly with VPs, SVPs and other team leads to learn more about their strategy (including both their business strategy and their people strategy). You want to be a team’s key partner for all HR-related needs, especially as it relates to driving business. Understanding who they want to hire as well as what they need to make existing employees happy is key.
• Conduct an Internal Audit: Find out exactly where you need to focus your diversity and inclusion efforts — i.e. is it on hiring, unconscious bias training, employee benefits, etc. There are a number of ways to do this. You can conduct anonymous employee surveys, look at your company ratings on Glassdoor or Comparably (the latter of which actually shows a rating for how inclusive your company/culture is), or engage an outside firm to handle the research and analysis.
• Update Employer Branding: There are ways to subtly and overtly show your diversity and inclusion efforts in your employer branding — from showcasing diversity in leadership positions (for example, with headshots on your About page), highlighting diversity investments and data on your job site and individual job postings, or adding language like “... and allies” to your messaging, for example.‍
• Appoint or Hire A DEI Manager: As you probably know by now, creating a DEI-friendly workplace is not as simple as uploading job postings on diversity hiring websites. There’s the entire hiring funnel to think about, and an inclusive culture to build - it can be a long and hard journey. As your team grows, consider appointing or hiring someone whose sole focus is on building out, executing on, and continuously improving your Diversity, Equity and Inclusion strategy.

What is diversity and inclusion?

Diversity is a person’s unique qualities, while inclusion is the creation of a welcoming environment. Together, they are initiatives to make people from all different backgrounds and experiences feel comfortable in the workplace.

What are diversity and inclusion hiring tools?

Diversity and inclusion hiring tools are solutions designed to remove hiring bias, connect diverse talent with hiring managers, and create a more inclusive hiring process.

What are the benefits of using diversity and inclusion hiring tools?

The benefits of using diversity and inclusion hiring tools include increased number of diverse applicants, filled hard-to-fill positions, improved employer branding, improved skills-based hiring, and improved job descriptions.

What are some other important considerations to think about when using a diversity and inclusion hiring tool?

When considering using diversity and inclusion hiring tools, there are a few things to consider. Think about the entire hiring process. Don’t forget unconscious bias training. Cost-per-hire will likely increase. And finally, think about how diversity and inclusion affects the whole employee lifecycle, not only hiring.

As Sarah Castle at Toast put it, "Think of your company culture as a garden. It’s going to grow whether or not you have a gardener and weeds will grow. Those weeds are your toxicity.” So, don’t hire diverse candidates just for the sake of having a diverse workplace and think you're done. Instead, be intentional about also creating an inclusive culture where people feel welcomed, do good work, and help grow the diversity of your workforce.

There is a lot of nuance to inclusion and what makes a person leave because of organizational toxicity. For example, things like fairness and sense of belonging are perceived differently by women vs. men vs. LGBTQIA vs. different races and ethnicities. There are just a lot of layers to it. To try to better understand these layers within your organization and accurately identify areas of toxicity that need fixing, keep open lines of communication with your employees (even if just through anonymized surveys), turn to outside consulting firms that specialize in inclusion (like The Collective, A DEI Lab), or other organizations dedicated to inclusion and accountability (like Project Include).

And, of course, schedule a few demos with companies here that seem like a good fit for your organization.