recruiting a diverse workforce

Con Edison’s recruitment strategies continue to be successful. Last year, 51 percent of all new hires were minorities and 20 percent were women.

The Internet was the primary means of marketing career opportunities to diverse populations. Posting jobs through leading sites, such as HotJobs.com, Careerbuilder.com, and Monster.com, allowed us to reach diverse audiences in technical fields by linking to a broad range of diversity Web sites. These sites include AmericasJobExchange.com, DisabilityJobs.com, GayJobs.org, WomensLinkWorldwide.org, netip.org (Network of Indian Professionals), AsianAmericans.com, AfricanAmericans.com, MinorityJobsite.com, nafe.com (National Association for Female Executives), GayWork.com, HispanicOnline.com, and NAACP.org.

Con Edison also posted jobs on the Society for Human Resource Management Web site, which links to a broad array of professional associations, including those that focus on Native Americans, people with disabilities, Asian/Pacific Americans, and Hispanics. We also participated in the American Association of Blacks in Energy annual conference.

To increase the number of women hired, we strengthened our partnership with Nontraditional Employment for Women (NEW), a nonprofit organization that prepares women for work in construction and other traditionally male jobs. NEW has trained most of the women “hard hats” in New York City and has served as a model for national programs. NEW offers technical assistance to all women in the trades. The Learning Center trained 113 women enrolled with NEW in 2007. These women learned basic electricity, carpentry, plumbing, and math, and received an introduction to transmission and distribution systems. The Learning Center also conducted courses in leadership and management development. We hired nine women from NEW — eight into the title of general utility worker, and one as a customer service representative. Through NEW, we have recruited 62 women since 2000. We will continue our positive and productive relationship with NEW for future recruitment opportunities.

The military is an applicant pool rich in diversity. Our business partnership with Bradley-Morris, a professional search firm specializing in placing military personnel, allows us to tap into this diverse market. In 2007, CECONY hired one woman and two minorities as supervisors from Bradley-Morris. We also participated in an on-site recruitment effort at the U.S. Navy base in Groton, Connecticut.

We strengthened our business partnership with Sairam Consultants, a diversity search firm specializing in structural and civil engineering, and construction management, through whom we hired a woman engineer, and two minorities as an associate engineer and a manager. We also established a business partnership with the South Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation (SoBro), a community-based organization that provides job-placement training. In 2007, CECONY hired two women and one minority from SoBro as customer service representatives. We enjoy a relationship with Buckner & Associates, an executive search firm specializing in diversity.

We established a new business partnership with Bronx Community College Project HIRE, a 20-week, occupational skills training and development program that provides men and women with practical skills to re-enter the employment market in the construction trades. We also began a strategic partnership with the East River Development Alliance, a new community development corporation in Long Island City, dedicated to giving residents skills for job opportunities.

Participating in a variety of New York City job fairs in 2007 introduced us to a multicultural pool of qualified applicants. These fairs were sponsored by the New York State Department of Labor, NEW, Women for Hire, NAACP, City University of New York, Asian Diversity, Inc., Greenwich Village-Chelsea Chamber of Commerce, QS Leadership Career Forums, Dress for Success, and The New York Times.

Con Edison also participated in a breakfast career forum sponsored by Abilities, Inc., an organization that offers people with disabilities one-on-one skills assessment, career counseling, and vocational training. In addition, we took part in several college-sponsored career fairs, including the National Society of Black Engineers, the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and the Women in Leadership Career Forum at Columbia University. CECONY was represented at career fairs at historically black colleges and universities including Morehouse and Spelman colleges, and Clark Atlanta University. We attended other local job fairs at Baruch, Medgar Evers, City, and Brooklyn colleges.