HP Creates Diversity Hiring Video Series That Will Give You Goosebumps

Latino jobs are construction and food service jobs.

Women should hide their femininity during interviews.

Rejecting qualified black job seekers at 3x the rate of white ones is normal.

These are just a few of the stereotypes that HP’s ongoing “Reinventing Mindsets” campaign is trying to tackle head on. The recruiting ad series is part of HP’s efforts to attract diverse talent by showing them that the company understands the challenges they face when looking for a job. And, in a powerful one-liner from the Chief Diversity Officer Lesley Slaton Brown, the company promises that “HP is hiring and our criteria is talent,” not race, gender, or sexual orientation.

Now, if this sounds like fuzzy corporate talk to you, wait until you see the ads. They carry serious emotional power and land the HP message in an authentic way. Get ready for some goosebumps:

With diversity being the number one hiring trend that most companies are focusing on, HP started this campaign in April 2017 and has been steadily releasing a new video every few months.

For the company, this campaign is not only a bold way to grab the attention of prospective hires but an effort to fight bias internally:

“This campaign comprises ongoing internal training, new measurement tools and other efforts, but focuses on two key areas: tackling unconscious bias and fostering the next generation of talent—regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion or nationality,” says the company’s Diversity and Inclusion website.

In another move to establish how important diversity is for HP, the CMO Antonio Lucio challenged the five advertising and marketing agencies the company works with "to radically improve the percentage of women and people of color" working on the HP accounts. Lucio claims that they have seen very promising results and the company will divulge them in October.

Hats off to HP for the innovative way to approach a tough issue that many companies are uncomfortable talking about.

If you are starting off your own diversity efforts, you can read up how other organizations like Walgreens, Pandora, and Lever are approaching fostering an inclusive hiring culture.

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