The Diversity Recruiting Maturity Model

The DRMM team left to right: Jackye Clayton, Joe Gerstandt, myself (Stan Kimer) and Katee Van Horn. Not pictured: Julie Sowash

Last week I attended the one-day “HireConf conference” in New York City with a small team of diversity consultants and practitioners to present a new piece of work in progress called the “Diversity Recruiting Maturity Model,” or DRMM for short.

So four questions:
1) Who was on this team?
2) What is a maturity model?
3) What is in the Diversity Recruiting Maturity Model?
4) How do I get more details and resources?

1. Who was on the team?
• Jackye Clayton of HiringSolved, (the company that was the lead organizer of this conference,) formed and led the team. Earlier this year she sought out a diverse small team of various diversity and inclusion consultants.
Joe Gerstandt, a speaker, author and consultant who has worked with a huge variety of large and small clients on diversity and inclusion efforts.
• Julie Sowash, Senior Consultant with Disability Solutions, focusing on implementation and programs to support the hiring of people with disabilities.
• Katee Van Horn, founder and CEO of “VH Included” with a focus on diversity and inclusion solutions that leverage the creativity of an organization’s people.
• And myself, Stan Kimer of Total Engagement Consulting by Kimer. I handle all areas of diversity consulting and training, but have a deep expertise in LGBTQ+.

Oct 22 was gray drizzling day in New York City, but the Hireconf conference inside was hot and engaging!

2. What is a maturity model? A maturity model is a set of structured levels that depict the organizational behaviors, practices and processes that reliably and sustainably produce required outcomes. (Hammond, Bailey, Boucher, Spohr & Whitekar, 2010.) Since its initial introduction, many professionals have realized that the maturity model structure can be applied to practically any kind of business or organizational issue or process. Hence, we applied the maturity model to Diversity Recruiting.

With the fast-paced shift in American demographics and the labor market, all organizations need to have a strong diversity recruiting process to identify and hire the best talent so they can thrive in the decades ahead.

The team presenting the Diversity Recruiting Maturity Model to an engaged and appreciative audience


3. What is the Diversity Recruiting Maturity Model? Our model includes four steps, each with a set of strategies and tactics that organizations should develop and implement to move ahead:
Initiate – realizing the strategic importance of diversity recruiting and starting to take action.
Implement – developing the initial strategy, and then executing several core steps to recruit and retain diverse talent.
Iterate – moving to strong set of processes that can be repeated and built upon.
Inspire – being a leader in diversity recruiting and sharing best practices within the industry.

4. How do I get more details and resources? The team published a comprehensive 30-page resource that include the details of the four maturity model steps, a self-assessment scorecard, case studies, inclusive leadership information, and resources for recruiting various diverse candidates (women, LGBTQ, people with disabilities, etc.) It is a large file, so email me, Stan Kimer at [email protected] and I will send you a link to download it.

Feel free to contact Jackye for assistance with talent acquisition or any of us for consulting or training around diversity inclusion via our website links included earlier this blog.

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NOTE: Here is a link to a Youtube video summary of the conference from the HireConf “Hirecast” team. The DRMM is talked about from 6:00 t0 8:28 in the Hirecast.