Is your organization considering a workforce development program for nontraditional job candidates, yet unsure where to start?
Or maybe you lead diversity and inclusion efforts and are having difficulty helping hiring managers and business leaders understand that a strong focus on pedigree hiring can be detrimental to your company’s goals.
Pedigree hiring means to heavily favor those with impressive academic and work credentials and gap-free resumes. But it’s a problem if it blocks opportunities for nontraditional candidates with high potential. Pedigree hiring may cause companies to overlook great talent for unfilled job roles, while also sabotaging their efforts to improve diversity and inclusion.
So what are nontraditional candidates? While that can vary widely, it typically means people who stand a good chance of getting screened out of the hiring process for corporate jobs that pay a living wage and offer a path for career growth.
As examples, here are some types of nontraditional hires receiving support through both corporate and non-profit workforce development programs: People without college degrees (with a focus on those stuck in poverty), military veterans, the formerly incarcerated, immigrants and refugees, people with autism spectrum disorders, and people trying to reenter the workforce after taking years off to raise children.
Gaining support and acceptance for nontraditional hires was the topic of discussion during the “Building Great Internal Partnerships” breakout session during last month’s Workday Opportunity Onramps, our inaugural workforce development conference.