Many companies realize that there’s untapped talent in the LatinX community, and it’s time to focus recruiting resources on Latino employees.
While unemployment rates affected negatively by the COVID-19 pandemic are beginning to shift, it’s time to take a closer look at hiring practices and ways to attract top talent in the workplace. The Hispanic Unemployment rate was at 11% in the first quarter of 2021, down slightly from the fourth quarter in 2020. Disproportionately, Hispanic women faced more unemployment than any other demographic in the country.
Here are a few ways recruiters can attract and hire more LatinX applicants.
Spanish Landing Pages
Young LatinX job seekers are often digitally savvy and comfortable communicating in both English and Spanish. However, they are also committed to preserving Spanish at home. A company that goes the extra mile targeting Hispanic talent by creating Spanish landing pages will go a long way to reaching the Latino employees.
Fully immersive Spanish language experiences for job seekers will bring in more potential talent. This can start simply by translating your existing careers page into Spanish. You can go the extra mile by including Spanish job descriptions with postings on online job boards.
Target Social Media
You also want to reach out to LatinX job seekers where they are, which means social media. Creating a more robust Spanish-language social media presence will help engage your audience and encourage dialogue. Hispanics are 57% more likely to rely on social media as a single source for information. Providing information about jobs and hiring on social platforms, especially in Spanish, can reach more potential candidates.
You can also become involved in Hispanic groups on Facebook or LinkedIn to engage with potential LatinX talent online.
Community Visibility
One of the keys to targeting the Hispanic community is local representation. Locally, LatinX candidates want to work with organizations that are active in the community. Community visibility can include volunteering in primarily Hispanic communities, including Hispanic representation in leadership roles, and providing within schools with high populations of LatinX students.
Upskilling
It costs less to train a current employee than to hire an experienced worker with advanced skills. Training entry-level employees in more complex skills breeds company loyalty, invests in the workplace, and increases retention.
Upskilling is becoming a key factor for LatinX employees. Young employees ready to work have the drive, ability, and skills to move into more advanced roles with the proper training.
LatinX GenZ Candidates
Companies have been looking at the differences between generations for decades now. Boomers are retiring, Generation X is still strong but small, and the oldest millennials have turned 40, so the next focus is on Generation Z.
Hispanic Americans currently represent 1 in 4 GenZ consumers. Consumers don’t always translate directly to job seekers, but often the populations overlap. Targeting areas where young, Hispanic job seekers already are will be the key to making great hiring decisions.
Salary and Benefits
For any community, competitive salary and benefits are critical. Since the impact of COVID-19, many companies are talking about improving hiring and retention. The pandemic opened up conversations about living wages and safe, healthy work environments.
Some companies are offering sign-on bonuses for blue-collar and service industry jobs. But that isn’t the only thing that will attract top talent. Creating workplaces where your employees are excited about coming to work will be critical for retention, especially for your diverse employees.
Leadership Positions
It’s also crucial that you consider upward mobility as a job path for entry-level LatinX employees. Employee development is a big draw for candidates, but so is representation in leadership positions. They want to work for people who look like they do. By training the young Hispanic workforce of today to take on leadership roles in the future, you’re creating a more equitable and representative workforce.
The current U.S. Population is over 18% Hispanic, but they only represent 4% of executive-level positions across the entire country. By providing leadership training, you encourage more people to move on to higher-level positions.
Do you want more insight on how Talent Intelligence can help you recruit and retain top LatinX candidates? Click the button in the top right corner to request a demo of our new LatinX diversity filter in action.
