The Convergence of Recruiting and Cultural Awareness

The sound of 500 resumes hitting my desk, and coincidentally, the start of my career in talent acquisition was abrupt. Up to that point I had been a Project Manager at several start-ups. But on that day, our HR person walked out the door and I had to find new ways to connect and learn what I didn’t know.

Building a Career Around Networking

Like many in the industry, I fell into Human Resources accidentally when there was no one else to do it. Not one to shy from a challenge, I reached out to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and they walked me through what I needed to know at the time. Things like “What kind of beer do you drink?” is not a viable interview question [true story].

As is the case for many start-ups, acquisitions were prevalent and at times, so were the layoffs. I once had the unpleasant experience of laying off 200 people at a single time in a conference room. That experience sent me looking for my next career step as an agency recruiter. As a recruiter, you’re always looking for ways to personally connect with others. And for me, that was often through my Latino network.

Networking is the key to success in an agency. As a Latina myself, I was able to grow a network within the Latino population that helped me place best-fit talent. Years of working as a recruiter revealed an opportunity to educate organizations about the Latino culture while at the same time, consulting with individuals about their career paths. I founded my own staffing and recruiting agency, LatinoExecs, Inc. to do just that. The experience proved invaluable as a way to authentically find talent while changing the business landscape.

Three Strategies for Building Strong Networks

1.      Be proactive—reach out to individuals that fall within the areas you support or are looking to grow.

2.      Stay in touch—don’t reach out only when you need something; share articles and acknowledge changes in their careers.

3.      Become a thought leader—write white papers and conduct surveys on topics that are relevant to the space you are in.

This convergence of recruiting and cultural awareness led me further into roles as a diversity practice leader, first with DHR International and then at Battalia Winston. Those years of consulting with clients, from early-stage companies to Fortune 10 global enterprises, further expanded my networks and that’s how I found CVS Health, or how CVS Health found me.

While at DHR International, I had done work for WellPoint and had met the then Chief Diversity Officer. We remained in touch when he moved to CVS Health. When the role became available, he suggested my name and the vice president of recruiting reached out via LinkedIn (he was also a connection in my network) and the dialogue started.

As head of executive search and international talent acquisition, I have been focused on a number of things including competitive intelligence and proactive pipelining; facilitating the standardization of diverse and inclusive recruiting processes; developing common metrics to measure success; improving recruiting competency; and sharing best practices globally. Ultimately, my goal is to utilize our collective networks to find great people to work at CVS Health. That is how we create unmatched human connections to transform the healthcare experience.

Infusing Cultural Awareness into Business

Throughout my career, I’ve had a passion for diversity, especially when it comes to women, African Americans and Latinos. This passion is grounded in my experiences and those of my network. When it comes to diversity and inclusion, I believe that leaders are the key to building education and awareness internally. Creating that dialogue in organizations starts with who we are recruiting into our leadership roles and what cultural awareness they bring with them. That’s where my role and my network come in. I thrive at the intersection of cultural awareness and recruiting—finding individuals who will contribute both personally and professionally to the organization and connecting them with opportunities to build successful teams.

Finding leaders who understand the value of diversity and who regularly practice inclusion creates an atmosphere that drives success in our business. Diversity and inclusion go hand-in-hand. As Dr. Tony Byers says, “Diversity doesn’t work unless you have inclusion, and… in order for diversity and inclusion to add value we must move from 'awareness' of differences to 'utilization' of differences.”

“Finding leaders who understand the value of diversity and who regularly practice inclusion creates an atmosphere that drives success in our business.”

The inclusion of individuals with a diversity of thought, experience, and cultural awareness contributes to our ability at CVS Health to achieve our goal to be the nation's premier health innovation company and a global leader. We want individuals at the decision making level who look and feel like our consumers because it’s important that we understand the people we care for when designing products and services.

For example, do our leaders understand that Mexican Americans suffer disproportionately from diabetes according to the Office of Minority Health or the African American communities have been particularly hard hit by the adverse effects of smoking and tobacco use? Do they know what to do with that information? The more knowledge and perspectives we have within the organization, the more innovative we can be. As an executive recruiter, I know it’s paramount to the work we are doing at CVS Health that we build networks and teams inclusive of the individuals who will be able to answer those questions for us.

I often think back to those early days as a recruiter, the experiences I have had since, and the importance and relevance of my networks to my success in fostering diversity and inclusion.

I challenge you—whether you’ve just had a stack of resumes land on your desk or you’ve been doing this for years—to think about your networks and how they serve you in the work that you do. Do they comprise a diverse group of individuals?

Engage with people on a regular basis who challenge your way of thinking, have different experiences than you, and teach you something new. Expand your reach and use your networks to inform your perspective. My networks have been instrumental in shaping my career and providing me with the resources to do my job and I hope yours are as well.

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Susan Medina is the head of executive search and international talent acquisition at CVS Health, a health innovation company, with oversight across the US, AMER, EMEA, APAC. She has over 20 years of experience as a diversity practitioner and executive recruiter. To learn more about CVS Health’s approach to diversity in hiring, visit the CVS Health careers website.