Here's an Expansive List of Resources for Finding and Retaining Diverse Talent

"We want to have a more diverse workforce, but we don't know where to find diverse candidates." We've all heard some variation of this sentence. And in the past, there might have been some truth to it. Like it or not, hiring is often done through extended personal networks and hiring through personal networks often leads to homogeneity. Industry diversity doesn't happen on its own; employers need to seek talent in new areas using new resources if they want to be truly inclusive. The advertising industry had already started a long march toward diversity and inclusion, but the events of spring 2020 brought problems to light like never before. Now more than ever, the industry is talking about the importance of diversity in the workplace, brand marketing and the supply chain. But some leaders remain unsure of the next steps, such as finding, hiring, promoting and retaining diverse talent. In June and July 2020 alone, new talent directories were born. The industry has stepped forward with a slew of platforms that make it easier to find underrepresented talented professionals in the industry. As a helpful resource for anyone looking to broaden their talent pool, Adweek has compiled a list of curated talent directories and diversity-focused staffing agencies. This guide is intended to be updated regularly. If you run a staffing agency or a directory that features underrepresented talent and would like to be added to this list, please email Adweek's diversity, equity and inclusion reporter at maryemily.ohara@adweek.com. 28 Days of Black Designers In February 2017, UX designer Tim Hykes featured 28 Black designers on social media for Black History Month. The project generated so much interest, the list now lives permanently on the website 28Blacks.com where you can find graphic designers, illustrators and creatives. ANA certified diverse suppliers The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing (AIMM) published a letter from major brands in which leaders admitted to spending only 5% of marketing budgets on multicultural segments and promised to "do better." The next month, ANA published an initial list of 100 agencies and suppliers certified by one or more diversity boards, leaving those brands with no excuse but to hire more multicultural shops. Bid Black Saatchi & Saatchi content producer Sydni Chustz founded Bid Black in 2018 in response to the "don't know where to find them" trope that so often keeps Black film talent from getting hired. By listing directors, producers and editors available for commercial work, Chustz hopes to "normalize Black voices in storytelling." Black Creatives Since 2008, Black Creatives has served as a resource for marketing professionals and business partners. Founder and CEO Reginald Christian's agency now brags a network of over 15,000 creators, storytellers, artists and innovators ready to work across various fields. Black Disabled Creatives The beauty is in simplicity when it comes to searching for talent in marketing, media and design in the Black Disabled Creatives directory. A few basic drop-down tabs allow searching by industry, profession and region, and each professional's profile includes their photo along with social media handles and personal websites. Blacks Who Design Searching for a product designer, art director, researcher or project lead? You'll find all of that on Blacks Who Design. The talent listed in this directory is top-notch, with professionals like former White House creative strategist and digital director Ashleigh Axios and Twitter's head of design and research Dantley Davis. C0ffe3 Swift Agency copywriter Chelsea Curry got tired of hearing recruiters and agency executives claim at industry events that finding people of color to hire was too hard, so she created a simple hack for LinkedIn. by adding the term "c0ffe3" as an employer to their profiles, talent of color can easily appear in searches. ColorComm ColorComm aims to increase diversity in the communications, marketing, advertising, media and digital industries and serves roughly 40,000 women of color. Posting a listing on the job board is an easy way to reach all of them. Creative Women of Color Sometimes the grassroots method is best, and this shared spreadsheet is a perfect example of that. Nearly 600 independent professionals—all creative women of color in fields like advertising and tech—signed on and added contact information so that hiring managers can easily find them. Creative Spirit Founded in Australia but having expanded to the U.S., Creative Spirit aims to create integrated employment opportunities for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities across industries. Some of the nonprofit's sponsors include Publicis and the Advertising Club of New York, and employers can register to work with prospective candidates. Diverse Creatives Walter T. Geer and Ron Lewis launched Diverse Creatives in July as "a simple tool to help recruiters and advocates find and employ more diverse talent." The site operates as a directory where hiring managers can search for art directors and strategists by location. Geer told Adweek that if the project is successful, Diverse Creatives will "go out of business within the next couple of years." Diversity.com A Black-owned family business with headquarters in Atlanta, Diversity.com has offered a space for employers to connect with diverse candidates in any industry since 2000. Free the Work The film industry has relied on Alma Har’el's Free the Bid since 2016 when searching for women directors for campaigns. Last year, the project ventured into all aspects of filmmaking with Free the Work and expanded its talent pool to include women, trans-identifying, nonbinary and underrepresented creators. Getting Hired, Inc. Run by a team that is diverse in nearly every imaginable way, Getting Hired, Inc. helps connect veterans and professionals with disabilities to employers. The site also offers helpful resources, such as an e-book on understanding the job search experience for people with disabilities. Gradient Group Former Ogilvy global director Love Malone announced the Gradient Group last fall to increase diversity in advertising well before the racial justice movement forced a reckoning in employment diversity. Agencies and brands received invitations to join but they must commit to hiring talent from the platform if they want continued access. Hue Fahad Khawaja spent eight years marketing Johnson & Johnson products before launching Hue, a platform that "serves as a bridge between employers and the talented marketers of color who don't get access to them," according to Khawaja. Hue aims to close the "network gap" that often keeps people of color locked out of good jobs. Inclusively According to Denise Hummel, founder of Inclusively, employing people with disabilities is good for the bottom line. It also adds retention value and positions a company to receive support from a market with approximately $490 billion of disposable income. Latinxs Who Design A perfect example of how simple diverse talent directories can be, Latinxs Who Design allows prospective employers to discover everything from animators and brand designers to engineers and UX experts. There's also a Slack link, too, to foster longer conversation. Locomotus A natural extension of the Marcus Graham Project's young industry talent incubator, Lincoln Stephens and Larry Yarrell founded Locomotus in June to continue opportunities for diverse talent. It was specifically made for "culturally fluent, digitally centered creative architects and media agitators," according to the Locomotus site. Prideful and Inclusive Staffing This cross-sector staffing agency works with marketers, creatives, strategists and "advocates for inclusive work environments and complementary training to all of our partners." President Antoinette Merchant told Adweek that she focuses on placing talent from the LGBTQ+ community along with people of color, veterans and other minority groups. Professional Diversity Network, Inc. The Professional Diversity Network is a series of job search and staffing sites that target specific communities. Portals include the Asian Career Network, the Black Career Network, iHispano, Pro Able and Out Professional Network. The diversity umbrella group also operates job fairs and partners with advocacy organizations like the NAACP, Veterans Exchange and TechLatino. The Boom List The easiest way to find diverse talent has got to be sitting back and letting a newsletter full of advertising professionals show up in your inbox. The Boom List does this each month, featuring and celebrating diverse talent nominated by its readers. Trans Can Work Michaela Mendelsohn, CEO of Pollo West Corp., is one of few openly transgender women CEOS and one of Adweek's 2020 Pride Stars. She founded Trans Can Work to create opportunities for a community in which over 75% of people say they've experienced job discrimination. The nonprofit offers nationwide job training, recruiting and diversity and inclusion guidance to help employers ensure they can provide a trans-friendly workplace. Trans Employment Program While its job placement offerings are limited to the San Francisco Bay area, the San Francisco LGBT Center's Trans Employment Program also consults with companies that want to update their trans-inclusive policies. The program offers a model transgender workplace policy guide, trans-inclusive training and job placement in the local area. TransTech Social Enterprises Founded by entrepreneur-turned-actor Angelica Ross, known for roles in Pose and American Horror Story, TransTech is a talent incubator, community and corporate partnership venture for transgender and gender-nonconforming professional development. Members can access a coworking office in Chicago, a job board and training sessions. Corporate partners so far have included MillerCoors, S.C. Johnson and Deutsche Bank. The Walker List Each year in February, founder Derek Walker of the South Carolina agency Brown & Browner features a month's worth of Black advertising professionals, highlighting each person in a daily post. When Adweek spoke to Walker this February, he planned to develop the social media project into a permanent resource. By August, Walker said he no longer felt the necessity—in a good way. "There are so many lists now," said Walker, who helped implode the myth that agencies and brands can't find Black talent to work with.