The Program for Employers
TMR – The Minority Resource was created for commercial real estate, banking, and construction firms that want to increase the number of minorities in management, which is now below 1%. Enlightened management understands how minorities in management ranks make a more formidable competitor.
Traditionally, personal networks are a reliable source of new hires because they allow executives to evaluate trustworthiness and competence before offering employment and serve as a dependable guide for awarding responsibility and promotions.
However, such networks—family, friends, and colleagues—impose serious limitations on recruiting minority talent, since they rarely include people of color. Executives therefore do business with each other, as one observed:
“I am white. Most of my friends are white. It is kind of who you know when you hire somebody. It is hard to break that circle of friends. It is a leap.”
TMR alerts employers to an overlooked talent source and counsels management on how to recruit, assimilate, and retain top minority talent.
Typical diversity programs use “feel-good” and consciousness-raising programs, which generally make participants uncomfortable and provide little solid ground for building relationships. Instead, TMR draws on mutual economic benefit: The minority employee is highly motivated to increase the value of the firm, and the firm provides opportunities for professional growth.
Employers and prospective employees meet in comfortable business settings where the topic is building a profitable company. Mistaken notions on all sides are reduced, comfort levels are raised, and new and enduring business relationships can be created.
Employers can explore this process with college interns in TMR’s 2011 Program for Students of Color, a weekly evening survey class taught by industry professionals.
For a complimentary consultation or more information, contact:
Mike Bush, President
TMR – The Minority Resource
TMR@TheMinorityResource.com
