HIDDEN TALENT

DeLong discusses the philosophy behind and practicalities of hiring workers from marginalized groups.

The author begins his text with some sobering facts about the current American workplace: The Bureau of Labor Statistics, he notes, has forecast a labor shortage in the near future—there will be about 12 million new jobs by 2030, but only nine million new entrants coming into the workforce (“You do the math,” he says). At the same time, only about 41%of the United States’ more than 11 million working-age adults with disabilities are currently in the workforce. In these pages, DeLong offers anecdotes drawn from his long experience advocating on behalf of marginalized workers and lays out practical advice for recruiting, hiring, and retaining members of three major categories of such employees: the formerly incarcerated, people with disabilities, and refugees. Tapping into this talent pool, the author stresses, takes “courage, patience, finesse, and flexibility,” and he fills these chapters with insights about the realities of the project. Writing about hiring immigrants, he cites the Congressional Budget Office’s projection that within 20 years, the immigrant workforce will be the only segment of the population still growing. “To survive and grow in the future,” DeLong writes, “most organizations must become more effective at hiring, training, and employing foreign-born workers.” The author maintains a tone of authoritative empathy throughout, the perfect register for overcoming the initial resistance he’s likely to encounter, and he insistently reminds his readers to consider the human element of the approaches he’s proposing. “It’s not about making it a huge corporate initiative,” he writes. “The thing may start with a mother, brother, cousin, or a friend who sees the challenge that a person they love can’t get a job.” Employers and potential co-workers will find DeLong’s book to be full of fascinating ideas.

A forceful and thought-provoking call to diversify the workforce with marginalized groups.