Job Description or Diversity?

Over the last 40 years, I have worked as the Director or Vice President of Human Resources for organizations which average over 1,000 employees. During that time I have personally interviewed thousands of candidates for open positions. Before each interview, my first step was to review the organizational job description for that position. If written properly, a job description will delineate the essential duties, functions and responsibilities for the position. They also provide important information pertaining to the required education, experience, knowledge, skills and abilities which are needed to successfully fulfill the stated duties and responsibilities of the job. My primary objective was to always hire the best and most qualified individual to fill the position.

Lately, I have been reading and hearing a lot about how some organizations are incorporating "diversity" into the hiring equation. Some CEO’s have been given diversity goals by their Boards and have based the annual CEO bonus on the attainment of those goals. My concern is that sometimes "goals" become "quotas".

While I have no problem with diversity initiatives, my concern is that the search for diverse applicants will take preference over the search for the best and most qualified candidate.

I was wondering if anyone who is in an HR or management hiring role agrees with my concern. So, I have decided to conduct a very informal survey. If you are a Human Resources professional or a Manager/CEO/Director/Supervisor who has interviewing or hiring responsibilities please rank the 5 items listed below in terms of importance in the hiring process whereby (1) equals the highest priority and (5) equals the lowest priority. Please send your response to paulhiltonhr@aol.com.

Education, which meets or exceeds the requirements of the job description.
Experience, which meets or exceeds the requirements of the job description.
Job Knowledge, which meets or exceeds the requirements of the job description.
Skills, which meet or exceed the requirements of the job description.
Ethnicity, race, culture, social background, sexual or gender identification which meets established goals.

A company’s best defense against the potential expense and aggravation related to federal or state law violations is to proactively review and revise as needed all Human Resources policies, handbooks, hiring procedures, compensation, benefits, training programs, communications tools and other functions. The professionals of PHHR are ready to assist your organization with this type of training as well as to maintain compliance with the latest state and federal mandates.

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Paul Hilton is a certified Human Resources Consultant, located in Columbia, SC.
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