Diversifying Our Workforce:: Hire Like a Tech Company

For more than a decade, leaders within Key Equipment Finance—and within the entire industry—have been looking for ways to attract younger, more diverse applicants to careers in equipment finance. We have formed committees, held meetings and conducted research, and still we find that equipment finance just isn’t in the hearts or on the minds of recent college graduates or young professionals in search of a career change.

As I have sought to fill some open positions on my own team recently, it occurs to me that perhaps we need a paradigm shift when it comes to hiring. Can we shift how we think about what the workforce of the future looks like, from where we pull talent and, importantly, how we train and retain our employees to build a more diverse and entrepreneurial industry?

Think Like a Tech Company

These days, every company is a tech company. With the digitization of banking, equipment finance companies are more entrenched in technology than we’ve ever been before, and so are the clients we serve in health care, energy, government and manufacturing. So why aren’t we recruiting our next generation of workers from technology companies, or from companies in the markets where we do the most business? Perhaps we are too focused on looking for people who know leasing, and not focused enough on looking for strong leaders with transferrable skill sets, outside of our industry. We could build on skills such as financial acumen or relationship building and train them on the ins and outs of equipment finance.

Develop a Deeper Bench

Developing the workforce of the future calls for top-down and bottom-up thinking in the present. To attract and retain younger and more diverse workers, our industry needs leaders with open minds—those who are open to new ideas and able to think differently. At the same time, we need to try to fill open positions with people who have different experiences, come from different backgrounds and bring different perspectives.

Be Deliberate About Diversity and Inclusion

We must be uncompromising when it comes to welcoming new and different talent within our companies and within our industry. Thinking driven by a diversity and inclusion mindset could also help open our eyes to new places to look for talent. Perhaps the next new hire will be found through networking with organizations that represent people with different cultural backgrounds, or at a conference or event held for an industry outside of our own.

The time for hiring tomorrow’s workforce is now. I believe as an industry we should challenge ourselves to develop that workforce to be more representative of what our clients—and the world around us—looks like. The people we hire today will be the future of our organizations and of our industry. We need to hire people who approach challenges differently than we do, and then train and retain them with conviction.