What if I told you that there’s an easy way to make your company better, improve yourself as a leader, get better people, and improve your company’s DEI profile all at the same time? Oh, and it takes five minutes. You’re in, right?

Check out this Instagram reel that I saw the other day, which led to a legit “holy shit” moment:

It’s such a brilliant idea. Everyone who is a hiring manager, everyone who is a leader at your company, should undertake the simple task of preparing four references that they can convey to job applicants. When you meet with someone, after the meeting, you just send along your references (if and only if that person will work closely with or for you, and if and only if any bosses or supervisors you have are okay with it). A lot of people are really hung up on waiting for a thank you note from a job candidate (i don’t really care about this, personally, but that’s another matter for another day). You can just reply by saying, “Hey, great to meet you as well. Here are some references about what it’s like to work with me, that you can feel free to contact.” And then you send along the attachment.

Here’s why I’m so into this idea:

• It’s transparent. You’ve got nothing to hide. In fact, the act of sharing references is so demonstrative of a willingness to give up complete control of a process that it’s really a powerful window into your ability to be collaborative.

• It’s humanizing. Not the interview process is necessarily dehumanizing, but the interview process generally is about one person selling themselves to an organization. What if we level the playing field a bit? What if we let the candidate know that what they think is as (or more) important to us as it is to them.

• It’s an honor for everyone involved. All the people that you list as references will be incredibly flattered to be listed. Chances are they’ll receive very few calls, but they’ll be happy to take them. 

• It’s an opportunity to invest in DEI. You can thoughtfully choose the people that are on your list from a DEI perspective and you can encourage the people on the list to speak to candidates about your individual approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion. My list has four people, from three different workplaces, who represent four different racial and ethnic groups and meet many other inclusion standards. And they are briefed on my philosophies and approaches in this space and encouraged to talk with candidates about it.

• It’s fun. It’s a way to get to know people better, in a more meaningful fashion, and it’s an exciting endeavor that could lead to future opportunities for everyone involved. This is why we go to work, anyway … right?

Try it. It’ll take you two minutes to prepare your list, and another three minutes to email the folks and let them know they may receive calls or emails in the future. You can even send along this blog post if you want, to help explain the idea. 

Let us know how it works!

-TA