On U.S. Veterans Day, HP is continuing its award-winning Reinvent Mindsets campaign with ‘Ask Me About’, a new short film designed to honor and inspire the veteran community to pursue careers at HP, while working to identify and reduce unconscious bias in veteran hiring.
In a recent study, one quarter (25%) of veterans reported that a job interviewer had preconceptions about them because of their time in the military, while almost a fifth (18%) felt their interviewer misunderstood what their military role entailed while serving. ‘Ask Me About’ features testimonials and insights from real veterans, spanning a diverse range of age, race and gender. Two HP veteran employees are also featured in the film: Jason Fraser, global head of VR training, and Beth Woloszyn-Redman, research analyst.
“Diversity is more than a values issue, it is a business imperative. This Veterans Day, we are reminding all military veterans that HP is hiring, and talent is our only criteria,” said Lesley Slaton Brown, chief diversity officer. “This film is a bold example of identifying an insight and tackling it head on to reduce unconscious bias that can hold top candidates back from important jobs.”
‘Ask Me About’ follows five other powerful films from HP in the Reinvent Mindsets campaign that all aim to identify key insights in hiring diverse talent that help to address unconscious bias:
· Let’s Get in Touch – targeting the African American community
· Dads and Daughters – targeting women
· Proud Portraits – targeting LGBTQ
· #LatinoJobs – targeting the Latino community
· Family Portraits – targeting diverse families
About HP’s Efforts
HP offers unconscious bias training at all levels of the company, starting with global talent acquisition organization and leaders. HP is increasing the training programs for hiring managers across the company: by the end of the year HP will have trained over 1,000 hiring managers through the company’s unconscious bias program.
HP employs veterans in 40 US states spanning all business units and functions. Top five job functions filled with veteran candidates are services, engineering, engineering services, sales, and supply chain & operations.
HP also launched the Veterans Hiring Invitational, a recruiting program that brings veteran candidates from local universities for an introduction to HP via panel discussions, tours, and conversations with hiring managers. Local Veteran Impact Network (VIN) at HP campus sites includes Boise, Corvallis, Vancouver, Rio Rancho, Houston and Palo Alto. HP also works with local veteran organizations such as Hire Heroes to assist with resumes, translating military work into corporate skills, and sourcing candidates.
In addition to the Veterans Hiring Invitational, the company was also the title sponsor for the Silicon Valley Veterans Summit at San Jose State University last week, where HP participated in a morning of conversation around integration into the civilian workforce, benefits for spouses/families, and the unique challenges and opportunities ahead for veterans seeking employment in the private sector.