White paper discussing Employer Engagement and the role of Social Hiring Advocates

1. Social Hiring Advocates as Intermediaries
PROMISING PRACTICES CASE STUDY SERIES | CASE STUDY 2
E M P LOY E R E N G AG E M E N T F O R CO M M U N I T Y B E N E F I T

2. Through funding from the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (MTCU), First Work
researched and developed a series of case studies to represent the experiences of employers,
employment agencies and other organizations involved in employer engagement initiatives.
The case studies profile innovative examples of promising practices that are intended to promote
the hiring of individuals traditionally underrepresented in the workforce. The lessons learned
suggest strategies that will inform future work in this area.
Emerging from discussions at the Futures Conference,
Canada’s largest and longest running youth employment
networking event, this series highlights important
concepts in employer engagement.
Sponsored by
BACKGROUND
PROFILE OF FIRST WORK
Through supporting the work of local youth employment centres
across Ontario, First Work aims to help young people find and
maintain meaningful employment that will help improve the quality
of their lives.
Visit us at www.firstwork.org
SOCIAL HIRING & SOCIAL
HIRING ADVOCATES
Social hiring is the practice of deliberately
hiring individuals traditionally underrepresented
in the workforce. This includes low-income
individuals, people with disabilities, youth,
Aboriginals and single parents.
Social Hiring Advocates are defined as one, or
a cluster, of organizations—non-profit, private,
public or some amalgamation thereof—that are
committed to promoting social hiring.

3. PROM ISING PRACTIC ES CASE ST UDY SER IES | CA S E STUDY 2
Social hiring advocates often act as intermediaries
between employment service agencies and
employers, applying innovative practices to
engage employers and promote the hiring of
individuals traditionally underrepresented in the
workforce. In highlighting the promising employer
engagement practices of social hiring advocates
that have successfully supported employers to
hire agency clients, this case study aims to give
agencies clear information about what social
hiring advocates do and how they do it.
This information will help interested
employment agencies to:
1) Gain insight into how they can work
effectively with social hiring advocates to
leverage their own clients’ success, and
2) Learn about strong, innovative employer
engagement practices that they may be
able to utilize in their own dealings with
employers.
Overview

4. Assess Fit with Potential
Employers
Part of building strong relationships with employers is learning to
distinguish between strong, willing employer partners and those not
receptive to social hiring in a meaningful way.
There is no question that social hiring advocates must earn the trust of
employers by acting as reliable brokers between employment agencies
and companies. This means being honest, maintaining consistent
communication before, during and after a job placement and placing
agency clients in positions to which they are suited.
At the end of the day, the effectiveness of social hiring advocates hinges
on the willingness of employers to make a substantial commitment to
social hiring, and not to view it as a favour or one-off gesture.
This means engaging with employers who are open to spending time,
and potentially, resources, on the social hiring relationship. They must be
invested in the idea and receptive to giving it the attention it requires.
Promising Practices
The following promising employer engagement
practices were identified through discussion with
the social hiring advocates:
 Assess fit of potential employers.
 Emphasize the business case.
 Understand and respond to employer needs.
 Play a neutral mediation role.
 Facilitate realistic matches.
“We need to look critically at employers
to separate the wheat from the chaff.”
— Social Hiring Advocate

5. Emphasize the Business Case
In acting as advocates for those who are often excluded from
the workplace, social hiring groups take both a sensitive and a
pragmatic approach. They work to balance the interests of individuals
traditionally underrepresented in the workforce with the business
needs of employers. Social hiring should not be confined to the realm
of, “a nice thing to do,” left as an altruistic gesture. Social hiring
advocates insist this approach doesn’t convince busy, resource-
strapped employers to make a long-term commitment. Neither should
social hiring be viewed as a method for businesses to hit corporate
social responsibility quotas. Rather, to be sustainable, social hiring
must be regarded as a legitimate recruitment channel.
The corporate sector is increasingly receptive to the notion that
business value and social impact needn’t exist in silos. Social hiring
advocates are both accelerating and capitalizing on this trend. This
past March, RBC Generator, the investment arm of RBC’s Social
Finance initiative, invested $700 000 in Social Capital Partner’s
(SCP) Community Employment Loan portfolio.
“By linking interest rates to employment outcomes, SCP is
demonstrating how financial incentives can drive social
good in a way that makes sense for business owners…
SCP is a leader in the social finance landscape in Canada…” 1
In addition to financial incentives like low-interest loans and wage
subsidies, social hiring advocates continue to emphasize to employers
some of the auxiliary business benefits of social hiring. These include:
Social hiring addresses skills gaps in the labour market: Employers
from a range of industries claim it’s difficult to find skilled workers,
and some labour market analysts have been referring to an overarching
Canadian “skills gap.” With socio-economic factors like a rapidly
aging workforce and declining birth rates at play, there is merit to the
idea that employers should expand their hiring practices to include
traditionally marginalized groups.
“There is a skills shortage in almost every
industry out there, whether because of an
aging workforce or other factors. Social
hiring is another option for employers to
hit a pain point, this being, ‘we simply don’t
have the people.’ So why not ride the wave
and tie social hiring into this?”
— Social Hiring Advocate
“The whole point is to prove that there’s value to the employers to seek out
and use the services of community agencies, and to hire people with barriers”
— Social Hiring Advocate
PROM ISING PRACTIC ES CASE ST UDY SER IES | CA S E STUDY 21
Sandra Odendahl, head of RBC’s Social Finance initiative, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal
[Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20140317-902265.html].

6. Studies show certain marginalized groups make more loyal employees:
In exploring the phenomenon of social hiring, certain studies, such as
Deloitte’s 2010 white paper “The Road to Inclusion: Integrating People with
Disabilities into the Workplace” have emerged, finding that individuals with
disabilities—a group typically underrepresented in the workforce—often
make more loyal employees than those who haven’t faced employment
barriers.
Employers are increasingly open to the idea that recruiting individuals with
disabilities or other barriers can be a way of securing employees that will
Understand and Respond to Employers’ Needs
To ensure optimal employer engagement, an in-depth assessment of an
employer’s hiring needs should be undertaken. Social hiring advocates
may assess employers’ needs in the following ways:
 On-site visits to ascertain the company culture and the personalities
and dynamic of the staff.
 In-depth discussions with employers to understand what they need
in an employee beyond the hard skills listed on a job posting. It’s also
important to elicit past and previous hiring or retention issues.
Questions to consider include:
• Has the employer seen high turnover in the past and needs
employees who will stick around?
• Do they need to find an employee whose personality better fits
their company culture?
• Do they need someone to work part-time? On certain days of
the week?
 Ascertain if the employer needs help with Human Resource tasks,
such as crafting job descriptions; advertising vacancies; pre-screening
and screening applicants and help with paperwork, like payroll
documentation. Part of this assessment is determining whether,
instead of engaging an employer with a wage subsidy, HR assistance
would be of greater value to them. Whatever an employer’s principal
need, it’s important to pinpoint it and offer to help.
“Sometimes, a community or employment agency will send their
job developer to an employer and she’ll return with a job posting
but nothing more... we call that throwing spaghetti against the wall.”
– Social Hiring Advocate
As well as determining an employer’s needs,
social hiring advocates offer concrete supports.
For example, in order to encourage companies
to hire people with disabilities, Viable Calgary
provides any or all of the following to employers:
 Consultation on workplace readiness and
related policies
 Access to a comprehensive online library of
disability and employment resources
 Information about local job fairs
 Invitations to events Viable Calgary hosts,
in which they bring together employment
service providers and employers
 Introduction to local providers that offer
workplace disability services
 Support in developing a strategic workforce
inclusion plan, which allows employers to
diversify their hiring policies (this can take
anywhere from two months to two years to
develop, depending on the company’s size)
stick around, and of creating workplaces that
better reflect the diverse markets they serve.
For social hiring to have any lasting success
as a movement, an employer should hire
individuals from employment or community
agencies because they believe that person
is well-suited to the job and is likely to stay
awhile, rather than out of a sense of duty
or pity.

7. “Where we can help is getting more
information about these specific needs
from employers... it’s almost like we
need to compensate for some of the
shortcomings these job-seekers might
have going in—they likely won’t have
every single hard skill that has been
advertised right off the bat.”
— Social Hiring Advocate
Play a Neutral Mediation Role
Unlike employment service agencies, which often face pressure to hit
job placement targets, social hiring advocates typically don’t have a
vested interest in getting clients from a particular agency placed. This
frees them up to play a kind of mediating role between agencies and
employers.
They are often privy to the activities and challenges of both agencies
and employers, putting them in a position to point out gaps or
inefficiencies in the ways the two entities interact. Further, they can
pinpoint and disseminate innovative ways that some agencies are
working to fill in these gaps. For example, Social Capital Partners was
told by some employers that they found the Employment Ontario
service system difficult to navigate. The employers explained that they
were overwhelmed by being contacted by multiple job developers from
competing agencies. In addition, some employment agencies identified
that having to compete with fellow agencies in their communities
proved challenging.
“Some Employment Ontario providers
have been frank about their challenges
trying to make headway and build their
own capacity when there are [numerous]
job developers from other agencies all
calling the same company...there can be
eight of them within a [neighbourhood]
and they’re all competing to place clients
with the same employers.”
— Social Hiring Advocate
“It is important to reduce as many barriers as you can ahead
of time, so that the workplace is ready for diversity groups.”
— Social Hiring Advocate
PROM ISING PRACTIC ES CASE ST UDY SER IES | CA S E STUDY 2

8. FIGURE 1 | Stakeholders in Social Hiring
CLOSE RELATIONSHIP
EMPLOYER
SOCIAL HIRING
ADVOCATE
EMPLOYMENT
AGENCY CLIENT
REFERRAL CLOSE RELATIONSHIP
Social Capital Partners points to a group of agencies in one Ontario
city who decided to counteract competition and confusion by forming
a coordinated sector council. These agencies pooled their client bases,
assembled a shared database of resumes and appointed the agency
with the strongest relationship with employers to manage referrals.
This approach, which is underway in several cities, allows for stronger
relationships with employers and increases the likelihood that the best
possible client is referred to each job. Spreading the word about innovative
examples of collaboration and transparency amongst agencies provides
an opportunity to leverage good works and enhance effective employer
engagement.
Viable Calgary plays an intermediary role by working to break down
barriers for job-seekers with disabilities, simultaneously striving to
remove stumbling blocks for employers. Acting as a kind of broker
between employers and employment or disability service agencies, Viable
Calgary has identified that many private sector managers fail to actively
seek information regarding workplace disability support services. Viable
Calgary strives to fill this gap, bringing information about services to
busy employers and encouraging them to shift towards a more proactive
approach when it comes to accessing services.

9. Facilitate Realistic
Matches
“Social hiring cannot be expected to fill the
high skilled gaps in the workforce... to take
someone like an at-risk youth and think
they’re going to fill a position like that is
completely unrealistic.”
— Social Hiring Advocate
Part of engaging employers is ensuring they aren’t overwhelmed with
inappropriate employee referrals. Though gaps in the labour market make
social hiring a viable business need at present, clients should never be
referred to positions beyond their capacities.
Because social hiring is generally geared to entry-level positions—ideally,
those with room for advancement—many employers value soft skills, like
an individual’s positive attitude, above the technical skills they possess or
lack starting out. In this way, a social hiring advocate won’t push for a client
to be hired to a position that’s beyond them, yet they also understand that
a client shouldn’t be written off if they are initially short on certain hard
skills identified in the job description. For instance, Social Capital Partners
has placed a number of agency clients in entry-level oil and lube technician
positions. From there, these clients often acquire specialized training and
progress to more sophisticated automotive service apprenticeship roles.
Viable Calgary operates according to the philosophy that people are
different, and that equal opportunity means that every individual
has distinct needs. The Viable Calgary method is therefore practical,
encouraging employers to note the benefits of hiring a person with
disabilities when they are the right person for the job, but not to ignore any
extra workplace supports that the person may need. Workplace supports
can range from flexible hours to an ergonomic desk set-up.
Ultimately, employer engagement isn’t tenable if agencies or social hiring
advocates make a habit of slotting candidates into jobs they are unable
to do. By demonstrating to employers that they can be trusted to find
appropriate candidates with the willingness and potential for growth,
social hiring advocates establish employer buy-in and trust.

10. Concluding Comments
Social hiring advocates are privileged to have a ‘bird’s eye view’ of
the employment service network. They aren’t obligated to reach job
placement quotas and don’t always have a vested interest in getting
certain clients hired. Nor do they have to contend with the atmosphere
of competitiveness that employment agencies often face. Relatively
unencumbered by external pressures, social hiring advocates have had
the freedom to develop creative employer engagement practices. They
understand that barriered clients may not have all the necessary technical
skills going into a job and may require extra support to thrive in the
workplace. In engaging employers, social hiring advocates don’t oversell a
client’s capabilities. They facilitate good matches, and step in as required
to provide extra assistance.
The promising practices offered by social hiring advocates suggest that
they have an important role to play in the sector. They are in a position to
help facilitate the development of relationships between employers and
employment agencies, convening joint forums and facilitating a shared
understanding of needs and expectations.
This case study highlights specific employer engagement strategies that
have yielded successful job placement results, including: assessing fit
with potential employers; emphasizing the business case; understanding
and responding to employer needs; playing a neutral mediation role,
and facilitating realistic matches. These techniques can be adopted by
employment agencies or other social hiring advocates. At their core, these
strategies speak to the importance of building trust with employers and
finding sustainable employment opportunities for clients. 
This publication is one in a series of case studies addressing issues surrounding employer
engagement for community benefit. Please visit www.firstwork.org for more information
about the series and our organization.

11. Contributing Stakeholders
Social Hiring Advocates
 Social Capital Partners (SCP) is a national nonprofit organization
founded in 2001 by Canadian business leader and philanthropist
Bill Young. Its mandate is to apply market-based solutions to tackle
systemic social issues like unemployment. For the purpose of this case
study, they have been defined as a social hiring advocate, as their
work focuses on easing issues of unemployment across the country,
particularly for people facing employment barriers.
Through their Community Employment Loan program, started in
2006, SCP provides loans to franchisees on the condition that the
latter do a certain percentage of their hiring through community or
employment agencies. SCP currently works with over 50 franchises
across the country, most of whom are located in Ontario. The bulk of
their success has been in the automotive and service sectors, with
franchisees of Active Green + Ross, Mr. Lube, Boston Pizza, Shoeless
Joe’s and Swiss Chalet.
In acting as a mediator between agencies and employers, SCP
leverages the good work that the agencies are already doing to
help find work for marginalized job-seekers, while simultaneously
appealing to employers’ business needs.
 Viable Calgary, an initiative of the nonprofit organization Prospect
Human Services, is a government-funded workforce project located
in Calgary. This case study defines Viable Calgary as a social hiring
advocate because they encourage and facilitate opportunities for
companies to hire people with disabilities. Specifically, they work with
employers and industry associations to develop strategies for more
inclusive hiring practices.
Employment Service Agency
 Goodwill Career Centre is a charitable nonprofit agency that provides
job training programs to people with disabilities and employment
barriers, serving Hamilton and Halton regions. Social Capital Partners
has worked with their team to find employment for marginalized job-
seekers.
PROM ISING PRACTIC ES CASE ST UDY SER IES | CA S E STUDY 2

12. FIR ST WO RK
Th e O n tar io Associa t ion of
Yo u th Em ployment Cent re s
CO MMU N ITY INSIGHTS ADVANCING YOUTH EMPLOYMENT
Suite 350 – 215 Spadina Ave.
Toronto, Ontario
M5T 2C7
(416) 323-9557
info@firstwork.org
www.firstwork.org