I often write about why organizations and employers need to understand and recognize the importance of the Hispanic workforce. And while direct recruitment is important, so are the other efforts that organizations can undertake to demonstrate that they have a sincere interest in developing and supporting this group. Hence, always nice to see when organizations actually ”get it.” The University of St. Louis, for example, is establishing a new research initiative to examine issues facing the region’s growing Latino population. Rather than competing, colleges and universities in the region are collaborating, sharing, and building discussions to help support and understand the growing Hispanic population. In addition, my favorite airline, Southwest Airlines, is teaming up with HACU to award Hispanic students (and immediate family) to travel to/from a college or university. The tickets will be awarded to undergraduate and graduate Hispanic students with socio-economic needs who journey away from home to pursue higher education. Effort. Commitment. Support. These organizations “get it.”
Just wanted to share a couple of guest posts via the Intern Matters blog (Internships.com): “Internships: Not Just for Summer Anymore” & “Successful Multi-Cultural Management.” Please visit and enjoy. Thanks! ; )
The El Paso Times discusses a topic that I’ve been hearing more about in online forums and in the media regarding Hispanics and racial categorization. Given that an increasing number of people in the U.S. can be described as multi-racial – the question of race can be an important social and cultural issue for many Hispanics who complete the census. And while the goal of the census is not self-expression, certainly someone having to choose ONE racial category, when they’re not, might infringe upon their sense of identity.
A couple months ago, this issue was the topic of a conversation I had with someone as part of a study I’m conducting. While this person considers himself to be Hispanic, his physical appearance is very much that of an African American. He described how this dichotomy created some internal confusion as well as awkwardness in the workplace, particularly in regards to being part of affinity groups or minority professional organizations. The 2010 will provide a wealth of data when it comes to the presence of Hispanics in the United States; however, I think it can also provide some lessons in incorporating the philosophy of multiculturalism into our society and workplaces. The results of the census will be an opportunity for organizations to integrate and profit from the understanding that Americans are truly becoming more global and multicultural in nature.
It was a busy weekend (getting a stomach bug also didn’t help) so I was a bit behind getting to some of the links I found interesting over the last day or so. By the way, don’t you just LOVE paella? Enjoy!
Recruiting Hispanic College Students – In Espanol
A big shout out to Bryn Mawr College, a women’s liberal arts college outside of Philly, for launching a Spanish version of its Web site. A few other universities around the country have also made the choice to actively support potential and current Hispanic college students. Colleges and universities are certainly paying attention to what is happening across the country. By the way, check out the University of Kansas‘ Spanish website. That’s right, Toto – you’re still in Kansas – and things are changing – even in Kansas. : )
ACT Report on Hispanics – Much Work Yet to be Done
The first two lines of a Hispanic Outlook article regarding an ACT Inc. report on Hispanic high school students says it all: When we talk about the academic future of Hispanic high school students, we should start by asking two basic questions: How many students want to go to college, and of those, how many are ready to go? A mixed bag of results show that more Hispanic high school students are taking the ACT test – however – the results show many are still not prepared to attend. I’m glad to see that ACT also provided some excellent recommendations to improve the gap between “desire” and “preparedness” by focusing on readiness programs across all high school populations. The last sentence of this article is just as critical as the first two: ”…these initiatives will help guarantee that every Hispanicstudent who wants to go to college has a real chance to succeed there.”
LinkedIn Showing It’s Presence on Campus
It was only a matter of time before college students began to leverage LinkedIn as a tool to socialize and build relationships with potential employers. Talent Buzz shares the numbers.
I’ve had this on-going love/hate relationship with Internet Explorer. Like many others, I use IE because it’s just the de-facto internet browser used by PC users. Lately, I’ve just had it with using IE. I always seem to have to deal with loads of pop-ups, security issues, patches, and the occasional virus – always when I least need to have these troubles. Of course, this doesn’t include unexpected fatal errors that close down ALL my tabs and windows from time to time – grrr. So I’ve committed myself to changing and begin using Mozilla Firefox. There are tons of people everywhere on the internet that rave about Firefox and how it’s better than IE. Namely, it’s an open-source browser. This means it’s supported by a community of developers and programmers that are always trying to make Firefox better. Since there’s a community that cares about the product, getting technical support is as easy as Googling for the answer. Another great benefit is all the neat and productive plug-ins or add-ons a user can use. You can literally customize your browser to meet YOUR needs and not be forced to use a canned browser. Of course, there are still those that will forever pick IE over Firefox.
So what does this have to do with my blog? Well, I got to thinking about how much college recruiting is very much a comparison between these two browsers. On the one hand, you have traditional college recruiting (the old guard) that still believes college recruiting should be done a certain way. Same old strategies – same old approaches. On the other hand, you have those that advocate a different approach – one that incorporates more technology, social media, and other non-traditional approaches. We should be more like Firefox shouldn’t we? Listening to the whole community, customizing the strategies, and sharing the information. This approach is what really makes the difference in creating change and making things better.
With the all the activity of the last couple weeks, I forgot to mention I’m now a blog contributor with Global University Recruiting. You can check out my initial contribution regarding Best Practices in Hispanic college recruitment here.
Also known as GURConnect, the website is a weblog dedicated to profiling the world of university recruiting. In addition to covering companies and organizations on campus, the website will also include case studies from vendors on how they have helped clients succeed. I’m honored to have joined GURConnect’s impressive group of contributors. They’re all certainly at the forefront of university recruiting. My contributions will focus on college recruiting in the context of building awareness of Hispanic college talent. I’m grateful to have been chosen to be part of the discussion and look forward to our future collaborations!
As always, there’s not enough time in the day for all the things one wants to accomplish – but in many ways it’s a nice problem to have lately! Below are some thoughts regarding some articles that caught my attention over the last week. Enjoy!
Hispanics and Volunteering: A fascinating look at how much and how often Hispanics volunteer. The article appreciates the changing demographics in the U.S. and considers how non-profits or organizations that depend highly on volunteers will survive given the lack of participation from many minority groups. From a Hispanic perspective, one could go in many different directions given that Hispanics are incredibly collective but at the same time more attuned to helping family first. In addition, it provides an opportunity for someone in the non-profit sector to provide some consulting advice to these organizations on how to increase their Hispanic volunteers. Hmmm – that’s a thought.
Bigger and Bigger: Galindo Publishing provides some nice stats regarding the Hispanic market and how it really is in the best interest of organizations to think beyond just marketing and advertising their products to the Hispanic market. In many ways, Hispanics will begin to take notice of how an organization’s workforce reflects the Hispanic community. If organizations are not convinced of this trend, check out the recent article in The Economist.
Economic Snapshot: The Center for American Progress provides some grim but somewhat hopeful news regarding the economic situation in the U.S. Hispanics are still hovering around the 12% mark for unemployment. Meanwhile the El Paso Times does an excellent job providing an overview of the Hispanic talent market.
Hispanic Magazine Advertising Decreasing: The economic situation is taking a toll on those advertisers marketing to Hispanics via Hispanic magazines and other outlets. Seems like Hispanic advertising budgets are the first to be slashed. According to this article, “Despite being already underrepresented in Corporate America’s budgets, Hispanic advertising, and even more Hispanic magazine advertising, declined more than general market advertising.” Long-term, this could be a costly mistake and potentially backfire since Hispanics are incredibly brand loyal- as consumers and employees.
Debunking: A great piece via American Public Media on debunking Latino worker stereotypes. The numbers in the study say it all – much better than I could!
Hispanic Mentors: My favorite piece so far this week. A Hispanic student who serves as a mentor for another high school student in Utah. The power of mentoring cannot be overstated. Love it.
You never know when a learning opportunity will present itself. Today it happened in the grocery store. While on the road in Chicago today, I needed to stock up on some travel supplies so I went to a local grocery store. As I entered, I noticed the store had what looked to be a terrific deli section so I walked over to see if anything looked appetizing. As I browsed the menu and selections, I noted a businesswoman doing the same thing, and I asked if she had any recommendations. She suggested the chicken salad, but since I’m a vegetarian, I asked if she had another choice. I noted she had a Latin accent so I asked about her background. It turns out she is a 1st generation Hispanic and works as a bank officer for a bank down the road. As we waited for our respective orders, we discussed her career and work environment. Since my current study was on my mind, I asked what she felt was an important factor to her success thus far. Without hesitation she said it was her ability to develop relationships. She said while other skills were also essential, relationship and building rapport came naturally because of her culture.
We spoke a couple of more minutes before she scrambled out the door and back to her office. As I made myself down another isle, I asked a stocking clerk for help finding a brand of eye drops. Again, I was greeted by a Latin accent and discovered the woman was from Puerto Rico. I couldn’t resist striking up another conversation (I rarely get to talk in Spanish) and asked why she enjoyed her job. Like the banking officer before her, she said it was all about the relationships and that she enjoyed being able to help shoppers find what they wanted. The feeling of helping someone, even if it was just to find the right bar of soap, gave her a lot of satisfaction.
As I left the store, I was struck by how two very different Hispanic workers shared a single and common Hispanic cultural characteristic – building relationships. It’s a powerful tool. We as Hispanics love to build relationships and make friends. We like the thought of community and enjoy listening, sharing, and helping others. We enjoy working in teams and foster camaraderie. We carry these communal traits as an innate qualities and employ them in both our social and professional environments – even while stocking shelves on isle 15.
An article in the New York Times today reports that from 2003 to 2008, 61 percent of black applicants and 46 percent of Mexican-American applicants were denied acceptance at all of the law schools to which they applied, compared with 34 percent of white applicants. While there are a number of issues, challenges, and cultural factors associated with these statistics, it again reminds us of how these trends have long-term implications in a variety of settings.
Particularly within the legal profession, a lack of racial and/or ethnic diversity in this important area of our society can potentially chip away the confidence people have in justice and equality in our courts. While there is a variety of research in this regard, certainly more needs to be done in a broader context to address the ethnic and racial composition of our legal industry (including federal and state courts). The legal industry is no different than what is occurring in most other work environments.
Someone once told me you can live a lifetime in a week. This notion is even more apparent today as we undergo a period of change – weekly it seems. With the first decade of the 21st century now complete, industry and workplace environments are changing so quickly that it sometimes feels like one can hardly keep up. A perfect example is the first week of 2010. Since beginning HTM, I’ve already witnessed change in the Hispanic talent market – particularly when it comes to how organizations are recognizing the importance of tapping the Hispanic workforce and leadership talent pool.
While HTM and my associated company serve a narrowly targeted workforce segment, initiatives and efforts by companies to focus on the Hispanic workforce demonstrate that it’s of vital importance to the economic vitality of the United States on a global scale. Not only within the realm of developing Hispanic leaders in organizations today, but also in planning for their future well before they enter the workforce.
Despite some of the economic troubles that are impacting employment today, overall Hispanics are still making a positive impact on the economy and, in many ways, softening the blow to what is a tough economic period. While this contribution is apparent to the marketing and advertising gurus, some organizations are just now starting to realize why it’s also important to bring more Hispanic talent and leaders into their organizations.
Like any type of change, transformation requires a clear sense of where you are going. Incorporating more Hispanic talent and leaders requires organizations to remain open-minded and aware about their external environment. In a way, organizations must incorporate the concept from the field of anthropology, asking questions: where are the future leaders going to come from? How do I modify my recruiting approach to find them? How do I gain their interest in order to gain their trust? Yes, change is sweeping the world already in 2010. We are on the edge of a new tomorrow, especially when it comes to the new Hispanic workforce.
