Crimson & Brown Helps Minorities With Recruiting

Starting this week, hundreds of unusually well-groomed, nervous seniors are meeting "the real world" for the first time.

With more than a few rounds of career forums and interviews during the months ahead, the annual recruiting process began Monday. This year, as has become increasingly evident, it seems "the real world" has a vested interest in hiring ethnic minorities.

Companies say they are not satisfied with last year's efforts to hire from among those groups they consider underrepresented.

For example, only 38 of Merrill Lynch's 546 directors are African-American, Asian-American or Hispanic, Business Week reports.

Recently, though, companies have engaged in unprecedented levels of diversity recruiting. As college campuses continue to vary their racial composition, the pool of qualified minorities has grown vastly.

Companies--both large and small--are specifically targeting minorities, through college scholarships, summer internships and the use of organizations like Crimson and Brown, which help both corporations and applicants through the recruiting process.

Services like Crimson and Brown have stepped in to "assist employers in finding top-caliber minority students," says company President Andrea K. Abegglen.

The organization runs nationwide Minority Career Forums at which companies congregate to provide information, as well as to meet and even interview students.

And the number of minorities being hired is growing--and growing despite the Supreme Court's repeated restrictions on and an increasingly negative public attitude toward affirmative action programs over the past decade.

Diversity Recruiting

Morgan Stanley has recently instituted a $2.5 million scholarship fund to sponsor minority internships for college juniors and seniors. The First Chicago Bank offers similar summer internships.

Many companies, such as Price Waterhouse, have also started to recruit at historically African-American colleges.

"[Diversifying work forces] is a definite trend," says Michael V. Littlejohn, managing director of national recruitment and work force diversity at Price Waterhouse.

And students are taking advantage of the new opportunities in the workplace.

At Harvard, Crimson and Brown is far and away the most widely used tool for minority students who opt to go through recruiting or who seek internships.

"Crimson and Brown helps make it clear to students which companies are interested in diversity recruitment," Abegglen says.

Founded by a group of Harvard and Brown graduates in 1989, the agency sprang from a six-company minority career fair which the Harvard Asian-American Association and minority Student Alliance organized at the Sheraton Commander Hotel in 1987.

Now, forums take place yearly in Boston, Chicago, New York City, San Francisco and Washington D.C., with the latter two cities added just this year.

The companies that participate are mostly finance and consulting firms, but other participants include advertising agencies, pharmaceutical companies and the U.S. Armed Forces. Each corporation pays a fee, which purchases a forum booth, a profile in Crimson and Brown's magazine and an interview schedule.

Before each forum, Crimson and Brown compiles a book containing the resumes of all pre-registered students. Many companies select their first-round interview candidates from this book, and these interviews take place before the regular recruiting process even begins.

Based on the premise that economic qualifications should not exclude anyone from the recruiting process, Crimson and Brown pays to transport all students who have been invited for an interview to their nearest forum. For instance, the agency busses students from Amherst, Dartmouth, Mount Holyoke and Williams to the Boston Forum.

Crimson and Brown even flies students to forums, particularly from the less well-served West Coast areas.

Boston remains the largest forum, with 63 companies in attendance this year. The agency also runs forums for minority and women MBAs.

This school year, 183 Harvard students pre-registered for the Boston Minority Career Forum, held on December 1, and many more actually attended. Based on the Crimson and Brown resume book, 84 Harvard students had interviews at the Forum.

Derek T. Ho '96 says students use the agency so frequently because it effectively lifts the burden of making initial contact with companies.

"Forums are one more chance for students to meet firms, get in front of them," Abegglen says.

The agency also works as an educator, she says, with forum workshops on skills such as resume-writing and "how to get your foot in the door."

The success rate of Crimson and Brown's students is impressive. Seventy percent of those who pre-registered in 1994 received at least one interview, according to Abegglen.

Likewise, First Chicago Bank's college relations coordinator Kathy A. Barr says she expects the hiring rate of students from minority forums to surpass that of regular recruiting students in the next few years. She says the Bank has only been using Crimson and Brown for two years, and the rate is currently more or less equal to the regular one.

Sean H. Cohan '96, who is black and worked at Prudential Insurance last summer, says he appreciates Crimson and Brown because it boosts a group of prospective employees historically excluded from the networking in which much of the majority population is involved.

Thomas F. Lin '94, director of undergraduate relations at Crimson and Brown, concurs, saying that in a field where much recruiting is by word of mouth, minorities often get lost in the regular channels.

"I don't think that minorities feel that they don't deserve it," Lin says.

But Crimson and Brown does not concern itself much with the "why" behind its programs, according to Abegglen. "We are a means to an end once the decision to hire minorities has been made [by companies]."

"Some may be filling quotes, some may be hiring because of affirmative action, but I think most are because it makes business sense," she says.

A Moral Imperative

Indeed, company representatives say a combination of business sense and a moral imperative are compelling these current diversifying drives.

"It's happening," says Littlejohn, "and the reason it's happening is because the customers of this business are demanding it."

Recruiters agree that an employee base which represents a diversity of thought offers huge benefits. "Six people who think differently are better than 60 who think the same," Littlejohn says.

And the consensus holds that the best way to guarantee creative approaches is to hire people with a spectrum of backgrounds--particularly in terms of race and gender.

Increasing minority hiring can also help business. First Chicago Bank's Barr says she believes customers tend to choose banks where they find the comfort of employees who "look like" them. She cites a sense of security when people see others of their ethnicity who have been successful.

A company's location influences its diversity as well, according to a staffing manager at a New Jersey consulting firm who spoke on condition of anonymity. This means that New York companies, for example, will hire significantly more minorities than Midwestern ones by virtue of the population which is producing their applicant pool.

One factor which doesn't seem to be a major influence is affirmative action regulation.

Companies seem to believe that the government's role is at best that of a guide. Although companies complete federally-mandated Equal Opportunity Employment reports each year, only the large ones are submitted to regular audits, according to one manager.

"The government does not have the bite behind it," Barr says.

But while small companies may not feel governmental pressure, for many large companies, the government's standards serve only as a minimum which they aim to surpass.

"Price Waterhouse wants to be ahead of the curve," Littlejohn says. He also notes the subtler influence by example of government bodies which are themselves extremely diverse.

An adamantly repeated refusal to compromise quality marks the diversifying efforts of all the companies.

"We are out there to recruit the best students." Barr says.

This orientation toward excellence combines with a smaller pool of qualified minorities to make the recruitment process very competitive, she says.

Barr says many companies compete for the same attractive candidates. This process often includes wining and dining them, as well as funding flights and hotels for students with interviews. "You do the best job you can to market yourself," she says.

Cohan says there is also a social welfare argument to be made in favor of diversity recruiting. He says many indicators, including GPA, record a lower performance by African-Americans--even among those whose parents fall within the same income range.

"Structural factors lead me to believe the wrongdoings of the past still...condemn African-Americans today," he says, explaining that this calls for some sort of equalization if society is to be made more fair.

Far more than new recruitment practices come into play in creating a diverse work force, the staffing manager of the New Jersey company says.

She emphasizes retention of minorities over efforts to hire them initially, citing a disproportionately high turnover rate among minorities who have worked for the same employer for 12 to 18 months.

Minorities and women quit companies more than twice as often as white males, a 1995 University of Michigan study shows.

The staffing manager attributes the high turnover rate to a lack of internal support systems for minority employees and a sense of an impenetrable "old boy" network within companies.

To help maintain minority employee satisfaction, the First Chicago Bank's Leadership Program employee satisfaction, the First Chicago Bank's Leadership Program provides mentorship and sensitivity training, according to Barr. She says the bank's turnover rate for minorities is the same as for whites.

Companies have begun to include diversity among their top criteria for measuring success. Price Waterhouse has a new diversity index, Littlejohn says. Likewise, Merrill Lynch awards bonuses to vice presidents on the basis of eight criteria, one of which is recruitment and retention of minorities, according to Business Week.

Minority satisfaction seems high at Price Waterhouse, Littlejohn says.

"The attitude among minorities is that there are never enough," he says. "People are very anxious to assist and very passionate about improving the numbers."

Majority Resentment

The insistence on business sense and quality has become central to companies' defense of their diversity policies against critics.

Although Barr says most people find the efforts acceptable and Littlejohn says he has "rarely if ever heard the comment that [a minority] is underqualified," polls reveal a country increasingly frustrated with racebased programs.

Seventy-five percent of Americans oppose racial preferences and two-thirds want to "change" affirmative action programs, according to a 1995 Washington Post/ABC poll. U.S. News and World Report found that 51 percent of whites say equal rights have been pushed too far. Likewise, Littlejohn says a segment of the majority population still needs to be convinced of the "business case."

Other critics, Business Week reports, accuse companies of simply hiring minorities to avoid lawsuits such as the discrimination complaint 10 black Merrill Lynch employees filed with the National Association of Security Dealers in 1993.

Harvard students report a divided response on campus to minority recruiting and the use of agencies like Crimson and Brown.

Cohan says he believes many subtly question the system.

"But for many there is a realization that it is compensation for some disadvantage in other areas," he says.

"I guess some non-minorities wish there were a similar service for them," says Ho, since Crimson and Brown provides minorities with an extra opportunity others do not have.

"There is definitely some hostility from the other side," Cohan agrees. As with affirmative action in college admissions, he says, "There is a certain feeling that minorities are stealing a white person's spot."

But Crimson and Brown founder and Managing Director John Kim '87 says the agency does not engage in any sort of equal opportunity drive. While it encourages diversifying work forces, it does not preach.

"The companies that come to us are [already] an extremely dedicated bunch," he says.

Crimson and Brown does, though, have a vision of a more equal society, and this ultimately supersedes its business concerns--and, Kim hopes, those of the companies who are his clients.

"Eventually we should put ourselves out of our jobs," he says.CrimsonJed S. Wahl

The organization runs nationwide Minority Career Forums at which companies congregate to provide information, as well as to meet and even interview students.

And the number of minorities being hired is growing--and growing despite the Supreme Court's repeated restrictions on and an increasingly negative public attitude toward affirmative action programs over the past decade.

Diversity Recruiting

Morgan Stanley has recently instituted a $2.5 million scholarship fund to sponsor minority internships for college juniors and seniors. The First Chicago Bank offers similar summer internships.

Many companies, such as Price Waterhouse, have also started to recruit at historically African-American colleges.

"[Diversifying work forces] is a definite trend," says Michael V. Littlejohn, managing director of national recruitment and work force diversity at Price Waterhouse.

And students are taking advantage of the new opportunities in the workplace.

At Harvard, Crimson and Brown is far and away the most widely used tool for minority students who opt to go through recruiting or who seek internships.

"Crimson and Brown helps make it clear to students which companies are interested in diversity recruitment," Abegglen says.

Founded by a group of Harvard and Brown graduates in 1989, the agency sprang from a six-company minority career fair which the Harvard Asian-American Association and minority Student Alliance organized at the Sheraton Commander Hotel in 1987.

Now, forums take place yearly in Boston, Chicago, New York City, San Francisco and Washington D.C., with the latter two cities added just this year.

The companies that participate are mostly finance and consulting firms, but other participants include advertising agencies, pharmaceutical companies and the U.S. Armed Forces. Each corporation pays a fee, which purchases a forum booth, a profile in Crimson and Brown's magazine and an interview schedule.

Before each forum, Crimson and Brown compiles a book containing the resumes of all pre-registered students. Many companies select their first-round interview candidates from this book, and these interviews take place before the regular recruiting process even begins.

Based on the premise that economic qualifications should not exclude anyone from the recruiting process, Crimson and Brown pays to transport all students who have been invited for an interview to their nearest forum. For instance, the agency busses students from Amherst, Dartmouth, Mount Holyoke and Williams to the Boston Forum.

Crimson and Brown even flies students to forums, particularly from the less well-served West Coast areas.

Boston remains the largest forum, with 63 companies in attendance this year. The agency also runs forums for minority and women MBAs.

This school year, 183 Harvard students pre-registered for the Boston Minority Career Forum, held on December 1, and many more actually attended. Based on the Crimson and Brown resume book, 84 Harvard students had interviews at the Forum.

Derek T. Ho '96 says students use the agency so frequently because it effectively lifts the burden of making initial contact with companies.

"Forums are one more chance for students to meet firms, get in front of them," Abegglen says.

The agency also works as an educator, she says, with forum workshops on skills such as resume-writing and "how to get your foot in the door."

The success rate of Crimson and Brown's students is impressive. Seventy percent of those who pre-registered in 1994 received at least one interview, according to Abegglen.

Likewise, First Chicago Bank's college relations coordinator Kathy A. Barr says she expects the hiring rate of students from minority forums to surpass that of regular recruiting students in the next few years. She says the Bank has only been using Crimson and Brown for two years, and the rate is currently more or less equal to the regular one.

Sean H. Cohan '96, who is black and worked at Prudential Insurance last summer, says he appreciates Crimson and Brown because it boosts a group of prospective employees historically excluded from the networking in which much of the majority population is involved.

Thomas F. Lin '94, director of undergraduate relations at Crimson and Brown, concurs, saying that in a field where much recruiting is by word of mouth, minorities often get lost in the regular channels.

"I don't think that minorities feel that they don't deserve it," Lin says.

But Crimson and Brown does not concern itself much with the "why" behind its programs, according to Abegglen. "We are a means to an end once the decision to hire minorities has been made [by companies]."

"Some may be filling quotes, some may be hiring because of affirmative action, but I think most are because it makes business sense," she says.

A Moral Imperative

Indeed, company representatives say a combination of business sense and a moral imperative are compelling these current diversifying drives.

"It's happening," says Littlejohn, "and the reason it's happening is because the customers of this business are demanding it."

Recruiters agree that an employee base which represents a diversity of thought offers huge benefits. "Six people who think differently are better than 60 who think the same," Littlejohn says.

And the consensus holds that the best way to guarantee creative approaches is to hire people with a spectrum of backgrounds--particularly in terms of race and gender.

Increasing minority hiring can also help business. First Chicago Bank's Barr says she believes customers tend to choose banks where they find the comfort of employees who "look like" them. She cites a sense of security when people see others of their ethnicity who have been successful.

A company's location influences its diversity as well, according to a staffing manager at a New Jersey consulting firm who spoke on condition of anonymity. This means that New York companies, for example, will hire significantly more minorities than Midwestern ones by virtue of the population which is producing their applicant pool.

One factor which doesn't seem to be a major influence is affirmative action regulation.

Companies seem to believe that the government's role is at best that of a guide. Although companies complete federally-mandated Equal Opportunity Employment reports each year, only the large ones are submitted to regular audits, according to one manager.

"The government does not have the bite behind it," Barr says.

But while small companies may not feel governmental pressure, for many large companies, the government's standards serve only as a minimum which they aim to surpass.

"Price Waterhouse wants to be ahead of the curve," Littlejohn says. He also notes the subtler influence by example of government bodies which are themselves extremely diverse.

An adamantly repeated refusal to compromise quality marks the diversifying efforts of all the companies.

"We are out there to recruit the best students." Barr says.

This orientation toward excellence combines with a smaller pool of qualified minorities to make the recruitment process very competitive, she says.

Barr says many companies compete for the same attractive candidates. This process often includes wining and dining them, as well as funding flights and hotels for students with interviews. "You do the best job you can to market yourself," she says.

Cohan says there is also a social welfare argument to be made in favor of diversity recruiting. He says many indicators, including GPA, record a lower performance by African-Americans--even among those whose parents fall within the same income range.

"Structural factors lead me to believe the wrongdoings of the past still...condemn African-Americans today," he says, explaining that this calls for some sort of equalization if society is to be made more fair.

Far more than new recruitment practices come into play in creating a diverse work force, the staffing manager of the New Jersey company says.

She emphasizes retention of minorities over efforts to hire them initially, citing a disproportionately high turnover rate among minorities who have worked for the same employer for 12 to 18 months.

Minorities and women quit companies more than twice as often as white males, a 1995 University of Michigan study shows.

The staffing manager attributes the high turnover rate to a lack of internal support systems for minority employees and a sense of an impenetrable "old boy" network within companies.

To help maintain minority employee satisfaction, the First Chicago Bank's Leadership Program employee satisfaction, the First Chicago Bank's Leadership Program provides mentorship and sensitivity training, according to Barr. She says the bank's turnover rate for minorities is the same as for whites.

Companies have begun to include diversity among their top criteria for measuring success. Price Waterhouse has a new diversity index, Littlejohn says. Likewise, Merrill Lynch awards bonuses to vice presidents on the basis of eight criteria, one of which is recruitment and retention of minorities, according to Business Week.

Minority satisfaction seems high at Price Waterhouse, Littlejohn says.

"The attitude among minorities is that there are never enough," he says. "People are very anxious to assist and very passionate about improving the numbers."

Majority Resentment

The insistence on business sense and quality has become central to companies' defense of their diversity policies against critics.

Although Barr says most people find the efforts acceptable and Littlejohn says he has "rarely if ever heard the comment that [a minority] is underqualified," polls reveal a country increasingly frustrated with racebased programs.

Seventy-five percent of Americans oppose racial preferences and two-thirds want to "change" affirmative action programs, according to a 1995 Washington Post/ABC poll. U.S. News and World Report found that 51 percent of whites say equal rights have been pushed too far. Likewise, Littlejohn says a segment of the majority population still needs to be convinced of the "business case."

Other critics, Business Week reports, accuse companies of simply hiring minorities to avoid lawsuits such as the discrimination complaint 10 black Merrill Lynch employees filed with the National Association of Security Dealers in 1993.

Harvard students report a divided response on campus to minority recruiting and the use of agencies like Crimson and Brown.

Cohan says he believes many subtly question the system.

"But for many there is a realization that it is compensation for some disadvantage in other areas," he says.

"I guess some non-minorities wish there were a similar service for them," says Ho, since Crimson and Brown provides minorities with an extra opportunity others do not have.

"There is definitely some hostility from the other side," Cohan agrees. As with affirmative action in college admissions, he says, "There is a certain feeling that minorities are stealing a white person's spot."

But Crimson and Brown founder and Managing Director John Kim '87 says the agency does not engage in any sort of equal opportunity drive. While it encourages diversifying work forces, it does not preach.

"The companies that come to us are [already] an extremely dedicated bunch," he says.

Crimson and Brown does, though, have a vision of a more equal society, and this ultimately supersedes its business concerns--and, Kim hopes, those of the companies who are his clients.

"Eventually we should put ourselves out of our jobs," he says.CrimsonJed S. Wahl