As part of our Representation in Tech series, we have explored how hiring managers can diversify their talent pool when recruiting.
There has been plenty of insightful discussions and pieces of content which detail the actions that companies and agencies in digital should take in order to create more diverse industries and lower the barriers to entry. Including, but not limited to:
- Being Black in Digital Marketing by Luke Davis
- Diversity & Dissecting April Fools with Saffron Shergill
- Diversity and Inclusion in Digital Marketing with Rejoice Ojiaku and Wilhemina Gilbertson
- Carla Thomas on race and diversity in digital marketing
- Building Communities and Promoting Diversity in SEO with Areej AbuAli
We strongly believe that the onus should be on hiring managers and those in a recruitment position to actively recruit more diverse talent. And how is where this blog comes in.
In this article, we spoke to Rejoice Ojiaku and Wilhemina Gilbertson, the founders of BDigital, about their digital marketing platform aimed at promoting job vacancies to black and POC digital marketers. They have shared advice on how hiring managers can get in touch with them to promote their company’s roles and ultimately attract a more diverse talent pool.
If you run, or know someone that runs a similar platform and would like to be featured in this article, please get in touch.
What is diverse talent?
Diverse talent describes representation of all genders, ethnicities, age groups, religions, sexualities, and disabilities within a workforce as a way of representing the diversity of society.
How do you build a diverse talent pool?
BDigital has shared their expertise on how hiring managers can build a more inclusive talent pool using platforms such as their own to promote job vacancies to diverse candidates.
Tell us about your platform and what inspired you to create it
B-DigitalUK was created for multiple reasons, mainly it is a safe space for black individuals who are entering the advertising & marketing industry & those already in it.
We created B-DigitalUK because we noticed a very small percentage of black people in the industry are visible. Panel discussions, blogs, events, profile interviews etc are all dominated by white people and we refuse to believe that there aren’t black people equally as good who deserve to be on such platforms. This is why we created the platform to place the spotlight on these people whose careers inspire junior professionals who aspire to be like them in their own careers.
We also wanted to shed the light on some of the amazing roles which don’t often come up in conversations about marketing. We both recall that when we began choosing the career we wanted to do, we heard a lot about general digital marketing roles, but rarely specialist roles such as PPC, SEO, programmatic etc. We want to change that and give people an insight into the great roles that exist.
Can you tell us about the impact that your platform has had on your communities?
Absolutely! We have had people find jobs through our platform and have hosted a Clubhouse panel on how to do well in interviews and salary negotiations. We even received an email saying that our tips helped them to successfully negotiate a higher salary offer, which is great.
What challenges have you faced during the process of creating your platform?
I think some of the main challenges we face is ensuring anything we do or put out will benefit someone, it is important to us to be a platform that people can learn from. The final questions all our ideas have to answer before we decide to get the ball rolling is “What is the benefit? How could this help someone?”
Also being able to execute some of the projects we want to do on no/small budgets is a challenge we encounter quite a lot.
How can companies get in touch with you about job vacancies and what information will they need to provide?
Companies can get in touch with us by emailing us at info@bdigital.com or drop us a DM on Twitter at @BDigital_UK or Instagram at @B_DigitalUK.
They will need to provide us with:
- Company
- Job role
- Location
- Description
- Salary
- How to apply
What change do you want to see in the tech and digital industries over the next five years? How do you see these changes being made?
We would love to see more inclusivity and diversity in the tech and digital industries and not just the token act done once in a while or during Black History Month. We want to see genuine change that continues to grow and doesn’t become stagnant once the spotlight is off.
We see these changes coming around by people in senior level positions listening and including those affected by the lack of diversity and inclusivity. Actionable plans that don’t relate or help in any way are useless.
We definitely want to see more diverse panels & speaker line-ups, this is something we are gradually seeing more of and hope it continues.
Most importantly, reach out to people and organisations who are already doing the work they need and support them to make permanent change in the industry.
How do I hire more diverse talent?
Diversifying a talent pool isn’t a quota filling exercise. Before making explicit calls to diverse talent, working environments need to improve and biases need to be acknowledged and worked through so future employees can feel comfortable to work. One of the many ways that this can be achieved is through actively not using ableist terms and swapping for alternatives. Through this preliminary work, diverse recruitment can then be more effective and less biased.
Platforms like B-DigitalUK offer a range of resources to bridge the gap between applicant and application and they’re vital in addressing the diverse talent gap. But they can’t do it alone. It’s up to everyone in all organisations to work together to make workforces safe to work in and allow progression for marginalised employees in whichever direction they want.
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