How can I find candidates beyond my current network?
RW: Always be recruiting. Take networking coffees, lunches or Zooms with future candidates. Give yourself a weekly goal for these that’s more than you think, like 5 coffees a week.
Reach out to diverse candidates from your alma mater. By connecting with fellow alumni, you have a shared experience and eliminate your own biases about quality (since we all think our alma mater is great). It’s also less weird than say, reaching out cold to someone at an HBCU if you don’t have a connection.
When posting new roles, put on your marketing hat and make sure to write job ads rather than boring job descriptions. Avoid clique-y language like “rockstar” and “ninja” that may be off-putting. Get help from the gender decoder if needed.