Diversity, equity and inclusion should be at the center of talent strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to experts. Amid times of crisis and high-unemployment, employers seeking to build diverse talent pipelines and fill entry-level positions may benefit from nontraditional methods of recruiting such as impact hiring, according to Alexandra D. Rudnick, a program leader at Generation USA.

"For us, [impact hiring] means matching opportunity learners or 'talent'" who are "often left out of a typical hiring pipeline predominantly because of historical barriers," Rudnick told HR Dive.

Generation USA, an affiliate of Generation, the independent nonprofit organization founded in 2014 by McKinsey & Company, works with HR recruiters at companies to match individuals based on their needs and their skills. Many talented and motivated young adults with a high school diploma or equivalent — some of whom may have even taken a few college courses — don't have access to training and employment, Rudnick said. Generation has affiliates in 14 countries and works with about 3,900 employer partners to "tackle the most persistent barriers to young people searching for stable employment," McKinsey & Company said in a blog post. More than 38,000 people have graduated from Generation programs, according to the organization.

Practicing impact hiring may also mean companies must work to remove some of the barriers to employment. "It's a willingness to look at talent, who maybe don't fit your typical hiring profile for any number of reasons," Rudnick said.

For example, it may be necessary to review internal policies about applicants with criminal records, she said. "Impact hiring would mean looking at that and saying, 'Are these really necessary? Do we really need to exclude people for x, y and z? Or is there more flexibility in there?'" she said. Studies have shown that racial inequity exists within the criminal justice system, such as research by the Stanford Center on Poverty & Inequality. Working with an organization like Generation is a "win win" because the talent introduced to companies have been "sort of vetted, in a sense, by us," Rudnick said.

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