How to Recruit Hispanic-Americans Now: TMP Journal Article Offers Practical Guidance

You’ve probably been in many meetings devoted to recruiting more Latinos for Federal agencies. It may even seem like a problem that will only be solved in a distant future. Not so, says a new journal article authored by two TMP executives. In fact, the article gives you seven suggestions you can act on right away.

A daunting challenge

The statistics tell the tale: Hispanic-Americans make up about 13% of the U.S. population. Yet they constitute only 7.8 percent of the Federal government workforce. Worse, Hispanic men and women represent only 3.6 percent of individuals at federal senior pay levels, and the number drops to 2.5 percent when you discount political appointees.

These startling facts appear with their causes and suggested solutions in an article in the March 2010 issue of the Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership: “Why the Federal Government Can’t Recruit and Retain Hispanic-Americans,” by Mark Havard, Senior Vice President, TMP Worldwide, and John Bersentes, Director, Business Development TMP Government. The article is available for no cost as a white paper at www.tmpgovernment.com/whitepapers.aspx.

Six causes, seven suggestions

Why is the representation of America’s fastest growing and youngest ethnic minority so small in the Federal government? Our researchers found six factors, each of which is discussed in detail in the article:

1. Competition from the private sector, which has more experience in recruiting Latinos. The article points out how you can learn from their best practices.
2. “Geographic and demographic barriers” because Federal jobs are often in Washington, DC, which isn’t a major Latino population center. (Note: An exception is Prince William County, Virginia, which had a 19 percent Hispanic population in 2008 and has been rated by the Census Bureau as one of America’s fastest growing counties in terms of Latino population.)
3. Lack of high-level commitment and resources among individual agencies and departments. The article contrasts the energy devoted to Hispanic recruitment with successful Civil Rights-era initiatives that greatly expanded Federal opportunities for African-Americans, who now constitute 18 percent of the U. S. Government workforce.
4. The “bilingual bias” and other factors that cluster Hispanic employees in stereotypical occupations.Perhaps the most provocative finding was the discovery that Hispanic Federal employees tend to cluster in two roles: bilingual public interface positions and low-paying service jobs. Unconscious mental habits among hiring officials may be preventing employees from mainstream civil service career tracks.
5. Scarcity of resources to take comprehensive, top-down action. There are few full-employment cycle programs that consider Hispanic employees at every stage of recruitment, retention and development.
6. Lack of concrete government-wide initiatives for meeting this challenge. Missing opportunities for cross-agency collaboration can thwart genuine interest in recruiting more Latinos and even block increased visibility for the issue.

Havard and Bersentes offer five practical innovations for Hispanic recruiting and retention, some of which may surprise you:

1. Check out what your corporate counterparts are doing. The article gives tips for sleuthing out successful private sector approaches.
2. Make the Web your primary anchor for engagement ... and branding. Learn how a well-designed, branded Internet presence and Web 2.0 tools can express a welcoming culture to Latinos.
3. Go mobile. With a median age of 27.7 versus 38.8 in the rest of the U.S. population, Latinos are clearly part of the “mobile generation.” The article offers some new uses of mobile technology to reach qualified candidates.
4. Adopt a “big picture” diversity strategy, and frame it in the context of the complete employment cycle.In addition to pursuing the Hispanic market segment, the authors show how an overall diversity approach to “productive inclusion” can appeal to candidates.
5. Make sure you count and access. The article gives helpful ideas on how to measure your success in reaching Hispanic job seekers and employees.
6. Enlist outside partners with skin in the game. The article lists non-profit organizations that share your aim of bolstering the Hispanic representation in the Federal workforce.
7. Join forces with other agencies. The article concludes with several ways you can enhance your efforts for success by joining with other agencies or promoting a government-wide initiative.

Finally Havard and Bersentes exhort the reader; “Enough talk. Enough analysis. It’s time for concrete action.”

Agree? Then download the article at www.tmpgovernment.com/whitepapers.aspx. Or write John Bersentes atjohn.bersentes@tmpgovernment.com.

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