DEI Recruiting Solution Buyer’s Guide

How to evaluate and select the right diversity recruiting tool

Just a few years ago, there were few recruiting solutions designed specifically to support diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) hiring efforts. Today, there are many technology providers with tools and resources to help companies source talent from underrepresented communities and increase diversity in their workplaces. But where should you begin? How do you select a partner that will add value to your DEI programs, prove ROI, and help you build organizational resilience in times of economic uncertainty? This guide includes checklist questions to help you find an effective DEI recruiting solution so you can:

• Set clear and measurable goals to track and prove success with accurate data

• Proactively create a diverse pipeline of highly qualified candidates

• Mitigate unconscious bias throughout the recruiting and hiring process

Learn more about evaluating DEI recruiting solutions for ROI and impact, speed, operational efficiency, accuracy, and more—including how SeekOut can offer tools and deep expertise in building diverse talent pipelines. Ready to be a DEI champion? Download the guide to get started.

As the economy shifts towards economic contraction, many organizations are searching for ways to become more resilient. Some leaders feel pressure to cut costs and may look to recruiting and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts as a first stop. It has taken years of work to move forward DEI initiatives, and this short-sighted approach could reverse hard-won progress.

What can DEI leaders and recruiters do to protect DEI programs?

Focusing on DEI in the workplace isn’t just the right thing to do—it will also help you build a more resilient organization that can thrive in a changing market. Companies with strong DEI programs experience better innovation, higher revenue, and more profitability. They also see less turnover and higher performance from team members.

Now more than ever, organizations need someone championing a talent acquisition program focused on inclusive hiring practices. But knowing where to start can be hard, especially when your team is probably being pulled in so many directions. The good news is that you don’t have to do it alone. Partnering with a DEI solution provider is an effective way to drive success with your program.

Let’s first review some of the top challenges talent acquisition professionals face. Then, we’ll look at the four requirements you should consider during the evaluation process to help you choose the right solution to support your diversity recruiting efforts.

Hiring challenges today

Although it’s clear why increasing representation is so important today, many organizations are still falling short in this area. So why aren’t more companies meeting expectations?

The simple answer is that building a diverse workforce can be challenging. Recruiters face pressure to hire fast, leaving little time to implement strategic and long-lasting recruiting practices to support inclusive hiring efforts. But relying on inbound applications alone won’t create the change your organization wants.

Before we dive into the four key components of effective DEI solutions, let’s first address three challenges your solution should help solve:

1. Setting clear, measurable goals

Many companies today are measured on goals that are broad, not data-based, and oftentimes unclear. So while these companies might have goals, what are they really worth if you can’t prove success with accurate, quantitative data?

2. Creating a pipeline of diverse, qualified talent

Many talent acquisition professionals struggle to find qualified candidates, period. Some are also hesitant to proactively source people from underrepresented groups, concerned that it may increase time to hire. However, with the right tool, you can integrate diversity hiring into your practices without adding new, time-consuming processes.

3. Mitigating unconscious bias

Unconscious bias is real. If you have plenty of candidates from diverse backgrounds in your pipeline, but they’re dropping out of the interview process, your company might have a bias problem. Your interviewers may not necessarily be aware of what they’re doing—there’s a reason it’s called unconscious bias—and a DEI solution can help address this.

Choosing the best DEI recruiting solution

Until recently, there were very few solutions available that were dedicated to supporting diversity and inclusion recruiting. Those that did exist were early-stage companies in the process of building these much-needed features.

Today’s diversity recruiting tools have evolved significantly, with the best solutions offering a wide range of features supporting everything from sourcing to analytics to employee engagement and activity.

But aside from the technical features now available to talent acquisition teams, what should a diversity recruiting tool provide? Ultimately, you’ll want to make sure you’re getting a solution that can help you understand impact, as well as work quickly, efficiently, and accurately.

ROI and impact

One of the biggest must-haves in a DEI recruiting solution is the ability to understand how your talent acquisition program is performing. With more and more companies setting goals around increasing representation in the workforce, talent acquisition teams must be able to report on the value their successes bring to the organization.

The right DEI solution will give you insights into the total talent market, the talent in your pipeline (even internal talent), and how candidates are moving down the talent funnel—giving you a full picture of who is in your talent network and how your program is working.

How SeekOut supports ROI and impact

Candidate Profiles: Create a truly comprehensive view of each candidate in your total talent market, including what they say about themselves combined with what SeekOut’s AI infers about them based on dozens of public sources.

Diversity Tagging & Filtering: Proactively source a diverse talent pipeline from internal and external sources.

Power Filters & Advanced Search: Conduct basic or advanced searches for hard-to-find talent, or use any of SeekOut’s 60+ Power Filters for complex searches to ensure an exhaustive look at your talent market.

AI Matching: Upload a job description to find all the potential candidates who meet your role requirements.

Bias Reducer Mode: Focus on finding the right candidate in your total talent market by toggling on Bias Reducer Mode, which ensures everyone is evaluated equally for an open position.

Talent Rediscovery: Tap into past candidates (and internal candidates) to fill new positions at your organization.

Talent Analytics: Access extensive data to better understand your talent pool, build your sourcing strategy, and report on program success.

Questions about ROI and impact

• Does this product provide the ability to build diverse candidate pipelines?

• Does this product provide representation analytics about my talent pipeline?

• Does this product offer me the ability to understand representation within my existing employee base?

• Does this product provide bias reduction during the application review process?

Speed

Hiring managers usually want their open roles filled fast, and for good reason. Vacant roles are costly to an organization, and the longer it takes to hire someone, the more piled-up work falls on someone else. But when the priority is to fill a position as quickly as possible, proactively sourcing underrepresented groups can easily be overlooked. While unintentional, it’s often a symptom of working too quickly without the appropriate tools in place.

The right DEI solution will deliver results in your desired timeframe—as long as it’s realistic. When it comes to building a diverse workforce, moving the needle is a long-term focus, not something that can happen overnight.

How SeekOut supports speed

Diversity Filters: Find talent from underrepresented groups with a single click using SeekOut’s Diversity Filters, which includes a wide range of demographics.

Power Filters & Advanced Search: No matter your experience level, conduct basic or advanced searches for hard-to-find talent, or use any of SeekOut’s 60+ Power Filters to quickly source the most qualified candidates.

AI Matching: Upload a job description to find qualified candidates, and accept or reject those candidates to get even more relevant results via SeekOut’s AI functionality.

Clone Candidates: Quickly clone candidates or current employees who have the skills or background you want, and get similar candidates with the click of a button.

Talent Rediscovery: Tap into past candidates (and internal candidates) to fill new positions at your organization fast.

Applicant Review: Match candidates with job requirements using compliant, intelligent automation— and save hours reviewing inbound resumes.

Questions about speed

• Does this product offer advanced Boolean and power filter capabilities to get the most accurate results quickly?

• Does this product allow me to quickly clone ideal candidates?

• Does this product provide diversity specific filters to immediately source candidates from underrepresented groups?

• Does this product allow me to review current applicants in my ATS?

• Does this product allow me to contact qualified candidates directly?

Operational efficiency

Because comprehensive DEI solutions are fairly new on the market, companies have historically used disparate systems to get a complete picture of their talent pools. Switching to a single tool will help reduce the the amount of manual work, simplify integrations, and centralize information.

The right DEI solution will talk to other tools critical for your broader recruiting program, such as your applicant tracking system. With sophisticated integrations, you and your team won’t have to work in three (or more) systems to understand what’s happening in your talent funnel.

How SeekOut supports operational efficiency

Candidate Profiles: Use a combination of candidates’ direct job applications and dozens of public sources (all done through SeekOut’s AI) to create a 360-degree view of each candidate.

Talent Rediscovery: Integrate with your applicant tracking system and other internal systems to tap into past candidates (and internal candidates) for new positions at your organization.

Internal Talent: Source from internal and external talent pools within one platform. Save recruiters time from switching between tools and manually moving candidate data.

SeekOut helps you build diverse candidate slates of female, Hispanic/ Latinx, Black/African American, Asian, Native Hawaiian, LGBTQ+, and veteran candidates with a single click.

Questions about operational efficiency

• Does this product offer the most relevant results based on my search criteria?

• Does this product offer candidate contact information so teams aren’t searching for it elsewhere?

• Does this product offer a way for me to easily share lists of candidates with hiring managers or other colleagues for review?

• Does this product integrate with my ATS and/or CRM to reduce manual data transfer and track candidates that move into the pipeline?

Accuracy

At the end of the day, a DEI solution could give you unparalleled insights into your program’s impact, fast results, and efficiencies that were previously just a dream. But if you get all of this without the correct information, everything else is meaningless.

The right DEI solution will give you up-to-date, relevant information that you can validate directly in the tool. It’s also important to look for a diversity recruiting tool that will customize the information you need, in the way you need it. An out-of-the-box solution may end up being too generic for your program’s specific requirements.

How SeekOut supports accuracy

Candidate Profiles: Get the most up-to-date information on each of your candidates by leveraging SeekOut’s AI, which creates comprehensive profiles based on what they say about themselves and what’s available in dozens of public sources.

Power Filters & Advanced Search: Conduct basic or advanced searches for hard-to-find talent, or use any of SeekOut’s 60+ Power Filters for complex searches to ensure an exhaustive and accurate look at your talent pool.

AI Matching: Upload or update job descriptions to get an up-to-date list of all the potential candidates who meet your role requirements.

Diversity Filters: Find talent from underrepresented groups with a single click using SeekOut’s Diversity Filters, which update in real time and include a wide range of demographics.

Applicant Review: Match candidates with job requirements using compliant, intelligent automation— and ensure you’re reviewing only the most accurate and relevant resumes.

Questions about accuracy

• Does this product offer the most relevant results based on my search criteria?

• Does this product offer unique diversity search filters?

• What data sources does this product use to find candidates?

• Does this product offer accurate and up-to-date contact information for candidates

Building strong DEI programs

Diversity, equity, and inclusion are finally being recognized as critical parts of building a healthy workplace and improving overall business success. And while all areas of an organization play a vital role in supporting this effort, much of it begins with reevaluating recruitment practices and bringing the right people into the company.

DEI programs do more than just support a healthy business from the innovation and profitability perspective. They also support important social issues that inherently show up in the workplace. Underrepresented groups face many barriers in the workforce, including higher unemployment rates, lower salaries, microaggressions, and bias in the hiring process. It’s important that talent acquisition professionals understand their role in advocating for a healthier, more equitable workplace.