Any businessperson worth his or her salt knows that there is now an undeniable business case for increasing diversity in their workplace - and not in a merely superficial way. Increasing diversity means being inclusive of candidates of different races, genders, cultures, sexual orientations, ages, and levels of physical ability. The reasons for committing to diversity are manifold, but among the most important are:

• Companies should be as diverse as the markets they serve. In some cases, businesses may even open up new markets they had not previously considered due to the injection of fresh perspectives into their business outlook.

• Exceptional ability is distributed among many types of people, and if you want to increase the likelihood that you’ll land great talent for your organization, you should take a close look at a diverse set of candidates.

Hiring diverse talent is only the beginning. Retaining those hires, giving them the opportunity to realize their full potential, and creating an environment conducive to their full and meaningful participation in your business is crucial. Of course, there are wonderful and experienced executive-level candidates already in the marketplace, and one way to effectively diversify your organization is to simultaneously search for diverse candidates at both the executive and the entry-level.

Entry-level candidates come with their own set of advantages. As far as diversity hiring is concerned, you will have the opportunity to mentor and grow these candidates, thus seeding future diverse management who understand your organization and can mentor subsequent groups of new hires.

Things to consider when hiring diverse millennial candidates:

Don’t condescend
Millennials, those born from roughly the early-80s to the mid-90s, do not like to be spoken down to, and one sure way to turn them off is to frame your commitment to diversity as a favor to them. Instead, be sure to frame diversity as a vital value-add for your company.

See Also: Diversity, Inc. - an excellent resource for learning the central arguments for the importance of diversity, and for advice on hiring, retention, and special considerations to be mindful of when managing a diverse organization. Their Top 50 Companies for Diversity list will offer you profiles in diversity hiring and management, which you can use as case studies for your company.

Present a clear path for ascendancy
In order to increase satisfaction for hired candidates, be honest about your entry-level positions and their requirements, and be explicit about expectations that must be met before candidates can be considered for promotions. Many millennials are vulnerable to the myth of the meteoric rise, with figures like Mark Zuckerburg (the twentysomething billionaire of Facebook fame) as a paradigm. Let them know that they can ascend, and tell them how, but manage expectations carefully.

Know your target…
…Particularly if your company is in a nontraditional field, or is a small company. Be prepared to demonstrate to candidates that the skills they amassed for an anticipated career in, say, finance, are transferable to your field - maybe search engine marketing or sales. For small companies, play up exposure to multiple job functions and senior management, which are easier to come by at small companies.

See Also: One up-and-coming resource for small and large companies alike is GetConnects.com, which has a growing database of minority college students and recent graduates from top colleges and universities, offers free assessments of companies’ visibility to minority candidates online, and creates targeted campaigns to promote companies’ positions to candidates in their database.

Create a welcoming work environment
One important component of this is to get buy-in for diversity recruitment from current employees. You should also actively enlist your current employees to help you recruit interested, talented candidates. Remind them that a rising tide lifts all ships, and that pulling the most promising hires possible into your organization will only increase your collective success.

See also: Check out White Men as Full Diversity Partners for ideas, and to sign up for coaching. Diversity Inc. is, again, a useful resource for this aspect of diversity hiring and management.