As the US population becomes more and more diverse, forward looking companies are increasingly recruiting women, minorities, the disabled, and other qualified diversity candidates for their workforces. But many companies, for lack of knowledge of the specifics of diversity recruiting, may stumble and make mistakes in their efforts.

Here is a list of five simple rules to follow for successful diversity recruiting:

• Get everyone involved. Be sure to educate all employees on the tangible benefits of diversity recruiting to garner support and enthusiasm for those initiatives. You should also get the word around in the company to help in your diversity recruiting efforts, as this may lead to employee referrals of qualified diversity candidates.

• Showcase your company’s diversity as much as possible. Prospective employees are not likely to become excited about joining your company just because you say that your company is diversity friendly; they need to see it. Get prospective employees excited about working for you diversity by showing them real life examples of diversity in your workplace as much as you can.
  
  Find a way to get diverse employees that are in senior management positions or exciting positions involved in the recruiting process. These diversity employees can be helpful in communicating information about the company to the diversity candidate that she wants to know about and can raise her level of interest in your company.
  

• Work with diversity groups within your community. By supporting community based diversity organizations, your company will generate the priceless word of mouth publicity that will lead qualified diversity candidates to your company. Offer to provide career assistance for diversity organizations like cover letter/resume-writing workshops, career counseling sessions, and mock interviews.
  
  Though the people you are helping may not be the same ones that you are recruiting, your presence in the community will lead to new diversity candidate referrals, and you will be providing a valuable service to those that you help.
  

• Spend money. If you are serious about diversity recruiting you will need to spend some money getting your message out to the right places. Diversity candidates tend not to look for employment in the same ways as mainstream candidates, so you need to place advertisements in the media that your diversity candidates, read, watch, listen to, and use.

• Sell, sell, sell— and measure your return on investment. Remember that diversity candidates have a lot of employment options in today’s market as many of the best companies are aggressively seeking diversity employees. As a result, to attract and retain diversity candidates, employers need to sell their company to prospective diversity employees and present them with a convincing case as to why their company is a good fit for the diversity candidate.
  
  Make sure that you measure your return on your diversity recruiting efforts to determine what works, what doesn’t work, and what tactics bring the greatest return. Then adjust your diversity recruiting strategy and plans accordingly.
  

By following these five simple steps, your company can build a solid foundation for successful diversity recruiting and retention.