First, as you mentioned, it’s important to establish an actual relationship with the institution. This means significantly more than just contacting the person in charge of scheduling corporate visits during career fairs. Schools that serve the underrepresented populations you seek are also deserving of the attention often lavished on larger so-called prestige institutions. Offering corporate executives and other professional employees as visiting lecturers, providing real internships (vs. paper pushing ones), engaging in community outreach with the institution (e.g. supporting a program like Rutgers Future Scholars) is the type of relationship that will pay off with skilled and motivated employees from underrepresented groups who graduate from that institution.

Second, an untapped resource is often a company’s employees – particularly if they are members of the target group – who are graduates of the institution being targeted in the recruitment process. I once worked for a large firm in North Carolina that didn’t realize that many of its Black employees had graduated from HBCU’s in Virginia, North and South Carolina. As a result they went outside of the company, and the region, to recruit Black professionals. It wasn’t until they were made aware of their employee resource that they began to utilize it.

Finally, companies need to realize that a sought after graduate (minority or otherwise) is a commodity in that they are able to demand a salary commensurate with their value in the corporate marketplace. I know of minority candidates with superior academic records in a particular specialty, for instance, who were inundated with offers from a number of companies at salaries significantly high than others might be offered simply because the company “needed” an Hispanic or Black or woman. I not saying it’s the right approach or good business, but it is part of the minority recruiting environment in some areas.

Also, companies that do business for the federal government are obligated to actively search for under represented candidates. Unfortunately, in some industries (aerospace for example) the under represented often miss job opportunities because of nepotism. Many times sons and daughters of managers are hired as recent college graduates. In other cases, minorities that are over represented within a discipline are hired to try to fulfill the government’s requirement.