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I've covered a lot about what candidates can be doing to enhance their prospects. But not all of the onus for breaking into senior leadership is on the candidates -- so let’s talk about what schools can do (ahem, should be doing).

Does your school want to diversify its faculty and staff, but ends up coming to the conclusion that “we just can’t find good candidates; they’re not out there” or “nobody good wants to come to our location”?  You may think that. You may even be right about not being in the most desirable location. But Christel McGuigan of Lakeside School and Warren Reid of Nemnet Minority Recruitment are here to tell you that, honestly? They’re kinda sorry to break it to you (sorry, not sorry?), but you’re just not trying hard enough.  You know how they know?  Because Christel did it. In 2013-14, 18.7% of Lakeside’s hiring searches had a finalist of color. In 2014-15 (hiring season), that number was 77%. One year. It doesn’t happen by wishing.

I can’t replicate Christel and Warren’s entire presentation, but they had a lot of good stuff, and they've allowed NAIS to post their slides. Some key takeaways for schools: 

• Training. Anyone involved in the hiring process needs it – not just for legal concerns, but to understand changes to the traditional process (if applicable) and to be able to evaluate things like cultural competencies (for any candidate).  Your diversity director should not be the only person in the room/in the process who can assess a given job requirement.

• Examine your processes and assumptions. This includes anything from what you think is important to candidates (and influences how you recruit them) to implicit biases and expectations. For example, you may think that location or salary and benefits are the most important factors in a candidate’s decision, when in fact they may be more concerned with staff makeup and a school’s commitment to diversity.  As Christel pointed out, your interview process is completely under your (school's) control, and changing it doesn't cost anything.

• Have conversations about internal expectations and possible biases. This came up in other workshops as well. You may be asking for "3 years' teaching experience" but in practice, you're actually unwilling to consider anything other than 3 years' independent school teaching experience. The latter is fine if that’s what you really want, but be upfront about it, get it on the table, and be aware that if it is truly a non-negotiable, it limits your talent pool.  

• Examine your efforts. If your school is saying, "we can’t find quality candidates," where are you looking? Of 345 independent schools surveyed by Nemnet, 42% said they did not plan to attend any diversity recruitment fairs that year. 59% said that they did not intend to work with any minority recruitment firms. However, 70% of schools responded that they planned to work with two or more majority recruitment firms in the same time period. If this sounds like your school, and you haven’t been getting the results you want, perhaps it’s time to re-evaluate. 

• Put your money where your mouth is. The vast majority of schools surveyed by Nemnet planned to allocate $2000 or less to diversity recruitment for the year. Financially, where does that put it among your priorities? Is it consistent with your stated goals?

• Work hard and year-round. A Nemnet study of 345 schools found that in order to make an offer to a minority candidate, a school needs to plan on initial contact with 15 candidates, versus 10 initial contacts to majority candidates. In order to make enough contacts, Christel actively recruits even when there isn't an active vacancy, cold-calling people from databases and following up with people she's met to make sure Lakeside is top of mind with them.¹​

Change doesn't come easily, but some of the steps above are pretty easy. Christel emphasized the support she had across the school, from the head on down - they had the will, believed in the goal, and all worked together. If you have that, the rest may be easier than you think.