Milton Hershey School Recruits Diverse Thought Leaders During COVID-19 Pandemic
Featuring the MHS Recruitment Team
Milton Hershey School is a leader in education and seeks to hire thought leaders to help students break the cycle of poverty. To hire the best candidates, MHS has first employed a diverse group of Human Resources professionals to recruit and hire for open positions.
“Each of the recruiters brings unique experiences and strengths to the role which makes for a rich and diverse blend of insights to the work we do,” said Barbara Nichols, MHS Director of Recruiting. “What unites us is the deep commitment to finding the best possible diverse talent so that MHS students benefit from every staff member’s daily contributions.”
As MHS students come to the school from a variety of different backgrounds and cultures, the school believes in hiring diverse candidates to grow a community of compassion and inclusion.
“A diverse population fosters creative collaboration with fresh ideas to stay current in today’s society,” said Salim Hanna, MHS Recruiter. “Our goal is to mirror the diversity that we have in our student population to help mentor and encourage them for future success.”
The MHS recruitment team promotes open roles to communities of color by partnering with advertising agencies to apply state-of-the art diversity outreach strategies online. Additionally, they use more traditional approaches such as participating in diversity-specific career events and networking opportunities. These traditional strategies have shifted to virtual events due to COVID-19, which enabled the recruitment team to participate in more events.
When positions become available, MHS collaborates with key stakeholders to ensure a diverse applicant pool. MHS utilizes a referral program to help recruit a diverse houseparent workforce and asks current staff to share their experiences with diverse friends and family who may be interested in a career worth every minute. MHS’s diverse alumni population can also be a helpful resource.
“We have sought out stories from current MHS employees that celebrate diversity and have shared their stories with prospective employees to see and read,” said Justin Lee, MHS Talent Acquisition Specialist. “This ensures future employees see a commitment to a diverse community as they consider MHS for a career.”
Since March of 2020, MHS has shifted its recruiting efforts to virtual opportunities such as Zoom interviews, online information sessions, and virtual visits due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Recruiter Lucy Mansour shared that she has completed over 75 hours of Zoom interviews with candidates in Operations, Trades, Health Services, and more. Additionally, since candidates are being cautious in the current climate and are not able to visit campus, the recruitment team invests more time talking with candidates throughout the process to answer questions that arise.
“Due to the pandemic, we have had to adjust our timing to accommodate the candidates’ availability due to home-schooling and working from home,” Mansour said. “Every day I feel very fortunate to be a part of this organization and work with a group of professionals who care about each other and hiring the best staff to fulfill the mission.”
Interested in learning more about MHS and open positions available now? Visit mhskids.org/careers.