Top diversity recruiter Torin Ellis has put his heart and soul into bringing talent to corporate America. For the last two decades, Ellis has used his expertise as what he calls a “human brand strategist” to coach thousands of professionals and undergraduate students with career advice to help prepare them for a successful future. Ellis has received national attention on several media platforms, including NBCBLK, The Network Journal, and Bloomberg to discuss the benefits of implementing diversity initiatives in the workplace. Ellis will now be joining “The Karen Hunter Show” on SiriusXM 126 on Mondays at 4 p.m EST. Rolling out caught up with Ellis to find out what topics he will touch on during his segment, and why diversity is needed in the workplace.
Why did you feel The Karen Hunter Show would be a good outlet for to discuss career development?
I didn’t know Karen before joining. Terry Williams from the Terry Williams Agency reached out to Karen personally. Terry shared with Karen that she thought I would be a valuable guest to the audience, so initially, I thought the conversation would last somewhere around 15 minutes for a segment. Our very first segment ended up lasting close to one hour. The next morning Karen and I hopped on a call and we chatted for another hour. We talked about my desire to get on the radio over the last four years. I have had been reaching out to major syndicated radio stations asking for three minutes to talk about career development and to share the many opportunities that are available in technology. I kept getting told no. Karen told me if I could give her a syllabus for the next six months I would be on her station every single Monday in the fall during the 4 o’clock hour. I am excited about that.
When did you develop your passion to work in career development?
I tell people that I did not plan to be where I am today. The only thing I knew is that I wanted to own my own business. I had been saying that since I was 10 years old. Where I am today is a result of lucking up on an opportunity to sell long-distance communications for MCI Communications. When I took the interview I asked the young lady what does it take to become a supervisor. She told me no one has been promoted to a supervisor in less than a year. I was promoted in 11 months. Fast forward through all of that time where I built a high-performance sales team. I motivated individuals who stuck with me, unlike other supervisors who were constantly losing their people. If I can develop people, motivate people and hire people then I might as well do recruitment for a variety of other clients. I borrowed $3,000 from a good friend and bought a chunky Dell computer, a phonebook and a $19 desk from IKEA. I started making phone calls and that is how I got started as a recruiter in 1998.
Does the size factor into how diverse the company is?
The larger the organization the harder it is for them to achieve diversity and see a meaningful impact in their efforts toward diversity. For diversity to make a big difference in a company like Google it would almost signal that a half or a quarter of their workforce has to quit and that they would only higher Black and Brown talent going forward. We know that it won’t happen, so when they only bring a hundred people on board a year that are diverse the numbers don’t move. I always encourage organizations to include diversity and inclusion as an initiative as early as they can in the process. They need to make sure they include the people inside of the community they are servicing so that they can get their perspectives and efforts in terms of trying to make a change.
What would you say to the human resources director who doesn’t understand why diversity is necessary for the workplace?
Diversity is something that is very powerful. If we look at what each individual brings to the table their missing out on the opportunity to create different connections for the community and building brand awareness. They are also missing out on the chance to create a talent pool. These are the top three reasons but there is so much more. For each individual small, medium or large they should be included in the strategy for creating diversity. Considering where we are headed with the browning of America, I think it is necessary to include diversity strategies in their efforts?
How important is it to leverage the platforms used to educate people about diversity?
I think it is extremely important because we have a millennial audience and a fast moving audience. We have to utilize the various apps that are available. We have Pandora, Spotify and Tidal. Those are three powerful platforms that can potentially give one-to-one marketing. I would certainly make use of the Internet technology that is out there. I also think it is vitally important that we go face-to-face to deliver information. I think we need to be on college campuses giving career development boot camps like I have been for the past five years. These young people are not as prepared for a career as you would want them to be. I see it every day.
