UC Berkeley offers six-figure salary for 'diversity' recruiter

The University of California, Berkeley is offering to pay as much as $126,200 per year for an administrator to oversee and expand its wide-ranging “diversity” recruitment efforts.

The job posting for “Diversity Program Recruiter” seeks a candidate who will “partner with external institutions to stay abreast of current trends in outreach and diversity recruitment, as well as to work “in concert” with the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission and Affirmative Action Guidance Committee to “formulate actionable plans.”

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The recruiter will also be required to “track and report on diversity staffing metrics, initiatives, and source effectiveness” in order to ensure that the diversity program staff is itself sufficiently diverse, and to “formulate actionable plans to address areas of opportunity on campus.”

The university explains that the individual will lead efforts to “develop enhance, and maintain relationships with current and new diversity organizations and partnerships,” which will require them to “identify, evaluate, and present new recruitment sources and networking opportunities that will generate quality, diverse applicants,” as well as “develop relationships with external diversity partners and organizations that can connect The University to top diverse talent (e.g., underrepresented groups, Veterans, individuals with disabilities, etc.).”

Other roles of the employee will include serving as a “liaison and partner” to  Employee Resource Groups and Diversity Councils “to implement and support solutions related to recruitment initiatives.”

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While working to recruit more “diverse talent,” the Diversity Program Recruiter will also serve as a sort of cheerleader for the university’s diversity efforts.

In addition to coordinating and attending “diversity outreach recruitment events,” the new administrator will also be asked to “influence leaders and staff in the business to participate in these and other diversity outreach programs, events, and to champion our external relationships.”

Moreover, the recruiter will conduct “advertising campaigns” and place employment ads in hopes of attracting diverse applicants directly, while also partnering with recruiters to “implement new networking strategies that will assist with enhancing candidate pipelines for current and future needs.”

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Required qualifications for the job include a “demonstrated and proven track record of developing and implementing diversity recruitment strategy” and the ability to effectively “communicate to a diverse population.”

The job has a title code of 7748U, putting it under the classification of “Employment Specialist 3.” The salary grade designation for that category is 22, which corresponds to a salary between $61,600 and $126,200, with a midpoint of $93,900.

Campus Reform reached out to UC Berkeley to ask why the school feels that hiring a recruiter for diversity programs is a worthwhile expenditure of tuition and/or taxpayer dollars, but received no response.

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