On The Importance Of Diversity At Work

A constant part of our ‘To Do’ in management life and at work is to look for talent and bring in fresh technical competence into the team.

- Rajesh Nair

While the methods of recruitment have changed over the ages and there is a flux of technology-enabled tools which ease the process, some of the fundamentals remain the same, or so the experts say. We look for images of ourselves – candidates who have skills in the areas which impress us rather than the boundaries of the job description we are hiring. Of course, basic qualifications, soft skills, and pleasant countenance are necessary but these are often table stakes. When we get closer to hiring someone from a group of choices, we look for affirmation from our unconscious likes and dislikes!

A recent conversation with a Human Resources team member set me thinking. From a set of resumes, I glanced at the pile and sieved out a few. When I re-read the profiles, they seemed better than that the rest. Then the polite girl from HR said – ‘Boss, why are you looking for people like you and with a similar background? Should we not be looking for people with different backgrounds ?’. Of course, I welcomed the idea and promised to relook at the shortlisted ones, but the thought stayed with me. Am I biased towards a certain kind of profile? And then perhaps, would not the regular type of candidates I am familiar with be more likely to suit our requirements? Is it wrong to hire similar people? Should I be consciously looking at diversity? The more I thought about it, I started to see some merit in what my young HR friend was hinting at.