Our site is up in Beta

The TalentOyster site is up in Beta. What does that mean? Well it means that almost all of the functionality of the site is present but that (a) we are continuing to modify how pieces of our site look and (b) there are still some quirks in functionality we are finding and working through.

So what kinds of things are we working on exactly? Well, the look and feel stuff is the main area, and improvements are ongoing. But also working on improving the user experience when it comes to things like searching for jobs. For example right now you *can* search for jobs by location but it doesn't work in a user-friendly enough way. So we're working on that. And on our community news portal. And our user-interaction components.

At any rate all pretty busy but you should come check us out. If you find an issue or problem please let us know via our feedback page.

Our Languages

It struck me today that I hadn't posted the list of what languages our site will be in once it's launched. With beta launch coming soon now seems as good a time as any. For our beta launch, depending on the translation work, not all languages may be available right away but they will be added during the launch as needed.'

So without further ado the working languages for job seekers on the TalentOyster site are

• English
• French
• Standard Arabic
• Simplified Chinese
• Traditional Chinese
• Hindi
• Urdu
• Punjabi
• Vietnamese
• Filipino/Tagalog
• Spanish

During our beta-phase we invite readers of these languages to give us feedback regarding the version of site "in-language". We're always open to feedback and improving our site for every group.

Additionally for readers with visibility issues each language version of the site is also available in a large-text version and plain-text version.

Depending upon demand we will be looking to add further languages on a case-by-case basis, from a development standpoint it's really fairly simple but it is of course an involved process to get the translations right.

Canada’s Hidden Talent Pool

Every fisherman has a favourite spot where they always land the big one. But it’s hard to keep something like that secret for long. Soon everyone with a rod and a reel is crowding around to try their luck. Now there hundreds of anglers all trying to hook the same few fish. So what can you do? You can get shiner lures, tastier worms and hooks that look like food, but once that starts working every other angler is going to follow suit and you’ve lost your advantage. Now, what if there was another fishing hole, stocked to the brim with fish just as big, just as juicy and just as trophy-worthy as the last pool, only no one was using it? You’d be crazy not to grab your bait and tackle and go cast out your line. So why is it when it comes to finding the best employees people always look in the same pool as everyone else.

Talent Oyster is about getting employers to that Hidden Talent Pool. Our site specializes in finding the right candidates in the places where employers don’t often look - among Canada’s diverse population of immigrants, minorities, aboriginals and women. These are people with the skills and smarts to make any company shine.

So, would you rather fight with the crowds for a chance to land one of the few big fish in an well used pond, or have the fish fight to be caught by you?

Breaking down the walls

One major challenge many companies face when dealing with diversity hiring is how to deal with all the groups involved. It can be an overwhelming task to think about how to connect to each diversity group, the ethnic groups alone make for a long list. And even once you do connect to these groups you have to keep getting your message to them and even when you do get hires you're still struggling to know how to accommodate them.

It's all so hard.

But it doesn't have to be this way!

Diversity as a topic is just as much, if not more so, about your state of mind as the amount of effort, time and money you put in. Building a truly diverse organization starts with understanding that the time of putting up walls around little groups, putting people in neat little silos or boxes is gone. Because it simply doesn't work. The reality is that no matter how good your intentions are or no matter how hard you try treating people differently means inequality.

The 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_v._Board_of_Education made this very succinct point about the fundamental flaw with the then existing segregation policies "separate [educational] facilities are inherently unequal". And it's no different today. If you want diverse candidates to respect your company you must show them the respect of treating them equally.

"Okay nice theory", you say, "But how do I actually *do* this?"

Breaking down the walls that separate groups is really as simple as identifying the messages that speak to us all. People everywhere have common interests, goals and values. Finding meaningful and interesting employment. Being treated equally to everyone else. Being seen as part of a solution rather than a potential source of trouble.

These concepts are ones everyone can relate with. A diverse organization speaks to people about these shared goals and values because it knows that people of all groups respond to those messages.

It's really a simple shift in thinking but it's the difference between success and failure when it comes to diversity. And since after all we are talking about access to 1 in 6 candidates across the country it's just common sense to see how you can tear down the diversity walls in your organization.

Why diversity recruiting isn't a charity

One question we hear from time-to-time is "If diversity is such an important issue why are you guys not a not-for-profit?" and the quick response to that is that diversity recruiting isn't a charity.

Okay. So what does that mean?

Well let's first acknowledge that there are many not-for-profits and governmental organizations that do fine front-line work with those who need it the most. Ranging from language training to mentorship programs to helping with culture shock these organizations do good work with new immigrants to Canada.

For one thing diversity recruiting isn't just about new immigrants! For multi-cultural candidates diverse candidates can be found in the second and third generation of immigrant families. These are people who speak English natively, are used to the culture of Canada and in every way fully qualified and experienced candidates, who also rely on media in their own language for information and news. And all of this is just looking at visible-minority candidates who of course are only part of the diversity spectrum.

More than this is that organizationally we are committed to bringing change to the way that cultural groups are viewed and worked with across Canada.

We believe that a diverse society and by extension diverse workplace is a win for everyone. We believe that diversity gives both individual companies and our society as a whole strength. We believe that we can affect real change in both the workplace and general society when it comes to embracing diversity. And with all of this we also believe that in order to effectively affect change we need to be action leaders.

We believe that by providing real, cost-effective solutions to real, current problems that companies are facing we effect real change. Our candidates aren't people looking for special treatment, but people that companies have simply missed.

All in all the work that not-for-profits do is good, and we are actively partnering with a select number of them to help spread the word about the services they offer to those who need them. But diversity recruiting isn't about charity, it's about finding good candidates.

Site Updates

We made some updates to the pre-beta version of our site. There was a bit of a delay in getting these updates posted because there were some minor configuration issues to straighten out.

But all is now well and so up went the site with our new look and feel, hopefully much much closer to the final version. http://www.talentoyster.com/

Over the next few days we'll be merging the work done on the back-end components of the site into the new look and feel so there should be more frequent updates.

Strength through Diversity

What is the actual value, the bottom-line ROI, of diversity to companies? And 10,000 foot-view diversity here, not just focused on diversity recruiting and hiring. We all know that diversity recruiting opens your talent pipeline to otherwise untapped pools but what ROI does being a diverse organization have?

You can start by assigning dollar figures to the very short-term values that diversity delivers. For example, meeting legal requirements. Companies that do business with the government in Canada have to comply with the Employment Equity Act and failure to do that can result in monetary penalties ranging from fines to outright loss of the business.

So what else is there? Another value that some companies see in diversity hiring policies is the "marketing" one. Let's face it if your organization "looks" like the audience it is selling its goods and/or services to you've made the sales process that much easier. And "looks" is a flexible term as well, it's simply a question of if company is the same culture as the target but does your company reflect the community in which it operates? But putting the interesting marketing questions aside there is another value in diversity for companies here.

So there are some legal reasons, and some marketing/sales reasons. But is that all the value diversity delivers?

No. Diversity means strength.

1. The true test of strength for groups is *not* how they flourish when times are good but can they survive when times are bad.
2. The most common attribute of the hardiest groups is their diversity.

Diversity positions groups, in this case business organizations, with a wider variety of options, ideas and experiences to draw on for survival when times are tough.

This is the "hidden" value of diversity, because it is by nature difficult to measure but that doesn't make any less of a value. In fact companies who are *really* diversity employment leaders know about value of strength that diversity gives them. It's one of the reasons they do it. Because these companies also know that in the age of the global village while you have opportunities for success in multiple markets at any given time you also have opportunities for struggles in multiple markets at the very same time.

Experience and flexibility. These are the values that diversity employment practices bring to employers and while legal reasons, marketing and the talent crisis are all valid reasons to hire diversity it's important not to lose sight of the "big picture" value diversity brings.