August 04, 2021

You can't hire your way into workplace diversity- Rosie Nestingen, Technology Transformation Director at Best Buy

36 minutes

THEN: She became Miss North Dakota for a big reason: to use her voice as a young Black woman on a platform with influence and reach in a place not expecting to see someone like her. Rosie Nestingen tells Jess Von Bank, our Head of Marketing and Now of Work community host, about the day she arrived at a school assembly to share her inspirational youth message with grade school kids. The principal greeted her: "I love your message, I love your story, but you should know your audience. There is ONE diverse person in our community. The only family who isn't German is Norwegian."

NOW: What it must feel like doing diversity recruitment. You can't hire your way into workplace diversity. (Repeat that 100 times.) You CAN welcome marginalized employees by addressing belonging, inclusion, and retention. That's the real work, the harder work, and it also requires knowing your audience. "Where are we really at, if we're being honest?" You don't create workplace diversity in a Big Bang; you do it in repeatable, measurable, incremental ways that show PROOF of the PROMISES you make."

This is Rosie's approach in her mission to attract and retain more diverse technology talent within Best Buy. She's not on the DEI team, she's on the technology team. DEI isn't a TEAM, it's a WAY OF BEING. Important #NowofWork podcast conversation; listen up!

Connect with Rosie Nestingen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rosienestingen/

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