“Diversity is not a topic on the strategic agenda of Hello Customer. However high on the agenda is our international growth where we see the world as our playground: building an international team fits these goals and also further builds our entrepreneurial company culture.” (CEO at Hello Customer)

 

Research and practice show a clear paradigm on diversity in the labour market. A lot of strong international and multicultural talent is struggling to enter the labour market while at the same time many companies are struggling to recruit highly qualified talent. Diverse talent pools are not yet fully on their radar. Vlerick Business School and Hudson conducted their annual HR Barometer on HRM trends and challenges in Belgian organisations and for the fifth year in a row recruitment and selection are considered a high priority. However, diversity continues to score low both in terms of internal competency and priority.

To bridge this gap Talentree – coaching companies and talent to build strong international and diverse teams – and Vlerick Business School – a top-ranked international business school – developed the NiMAP project (Newcomer Induction Management Acceleration Programme). This project is inspired by the Swedish RAMP project of Stockholm School of Economics and is funded by the European Social Fund and the Flemish government. During the course of the NiMAP project (2018-2019) we followed 35 newcomers in their job search and first months on the new job. Simultaneously we observed and interviewed employers during their recruitment and onboarding processes. Based on these real-life experiences complemented by research and expert interviews we designed toolkits for both highly-educated newcomers and for companies/organisations to help them overcome the diversity hurdles they face and focus on the mutual benefits instead. In addition, we drew on our learning to formulate a number of policy recommendations with regards to the labour market integration of highly-educated newcomers.

 

Toolkit for companies

We developed this toolkit to help companies to:

  • get multicultural diversity on the agenda
  • build a diverse organisation by getting the foundations right
  • recruit for diversity
  • manage diversity in the workplace

The company toolkit consists of

  • four guides full of ready-to-use content
  • four learning modules with slide sets to share the content
  • one exercise book with practical tips & tricks and concrete exercises

Target audience for the guides and learning modules are all internal and external stakeholders like senior management, HR & recruitment teams, supervisors and team members of diverse teams, diversity and inclusion teams, unions, labour market organisations, … for both corporates and SMEs.

Depending on the number of exercises used, the depth of the interactions and the designed action plan(s), each of the 4 learning modules might take between inspiration sessions of 90 minutes to a full-day workshop. So the full package can be run in 1 to 2 days. Depending on the needs of the organisation/company and the specific stakeholder, one or more modules can be chosen and fine tuned.

Multicultural diversity on the agenda

Download the free guides for companies
Download the free learning modules for companies: slides and exercises 
telenet

“The workshop offered a great mix of theory and practice through interaction and exercises! I learned a lot today about things that I wasn’t aware of, but which are very important in reality. I will build upon these insights in my daily work!” (Recruiter at Telenet)

“We didn’t scratch the surface, this training facilitated in-depth conversations that allowed us to hold up a mirror to our perceptions and behaviours. The fact that we had business owners and HR colleagues together in the session, was a real added value” (recruiting manager, Telenet)

 

stad gent diversiteit

 

“The tools are useful and very relevant nowadays. Both potential employees and employers are taken into account. We will definitely recommend them to our candidates, other organisations and local governments” (HR professional at Stad Gent and OCMW Gent)

 

Toolkit for talent 

We developed this toolkit to help multicultural and international talent to:

  • optimize the job search process
  • find a job matching their competencies and ambitions
  • have a great kick-off in the company

 

The talent toolkit includes 5 tools with focus on:

  • setting your new job goals
  • preparing your CV and cover letter
  • the importance of networking 
  • from first call to getting hired
  • kick-off in the company 

Download the free guides for talent

 

Policy recommendation 

 

Download the policy recommendations for the labour market integration of highly-educated newcomers (in Dutch).

 

Vacancy Vlerick Business School

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