Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

RPA Inc. believes in and has memorialized in its corporate policy and search procedures, full parity in opportunity and hiring, and makes a conscious commitment to assure full inclusion and to foster diversity in all the searches it undertakes.

• To address full access to opportunities, RPA Inc. assists clients in identifying venues for placing position announcements that will reach the broad spectrum of underserved populations and includes language in all advertisements encouraging participation by women, ethnic and cultural minority members, and members of protected groups. Direct contact on behalf of client institutions includes telephone calls and email directed to women, individuals of minority ethnic and cultural origins, veterans, and individuals who hold protected status for any other reason.
• RPA Inc. maintains a current and growing database of contact information for individuals in higher education and related professions and selects from this source individuals to target. In developing the population to which a position is to be exposed, a special effort is made to ensure that individuals currently employed in historically black colleges and universities, tribal institutions, Hispanic-serving institutions, and institutions with traditions of service to women or other protected classes are included in the initial direct email outreach.
• In assembling information about candidates for presentation to clients, RPA Inc. requests information related to education and professional history only.
• In evaluating candidate qualifications, the firm notes and takes into account only factors related to the parameters of the position and the criteria established by the client institution in relation to the educational and experiential history of the candidate.
• RPA Inc. presents the full candidate pool to its clients and assists them in understanding and objectively comparing the characteristics and qualities each applicant possesses and provides evaluation instruments that focus assessment on those factors, without regard to age, ethnicity, gender or any factor unrelated to the position to be filled.
• RPA Inc. will, as a service to its client, develop and provide to candidates a survey eliciting anonymous information related to membership in under-represented groups. As a general rule, this information is not provided to the client until the search has closed and is then given only in aggregate form so that the client can evaluate the effectiveness of the search process in achieving full inclusion.

 

Reaching a Diverse Population:

• RPA Inc. assists in identifying venues for placing position announcements that will reach the broad spectrum of underserved populations, and includes language in all advertisements encouraging participation by women, ethnic and cultural minority members, and members of protected groups.

• Direct contact on behalf of client institutions includes telephone calls and email directed to women, individuals of minority ethnic and cultural origins, veterans, and individuals who hold protected status for any other reason.

• A special effort is made to ensure that individuals currently employed in historically black colleges and universities, tribal institutions, Hispanic-serving institutions, and institutions with traditions of service to women or other protected classes are included in the initial targeted outreach.

Proven Results:

Success Rate in Placing Diverse Candidates

• RPA Inc. has facilitated more than 100 searches over the past five years.
• Of all comprehensive searches that RPA Inc. has assisted within the last five years, 64% resulted in placements of women or members of underrepresented groups.