Cody Horton Interview: Diversity Sourcing Expert

Jonathan Kidder

2 years ago

I have had the pleasure of knowing Cody Horton for several years, and he has been an exceptional leader in the D&I sourcing field. When writing my Diversity guide book, I drew much guidance and inspiration from Cody’s work. Currently, Cody is the founder of the Cody L Horton Group, which focuses on assisting companies with their diversity and inclusion recruitment and hiring strategies.

As a consultant for diversity and inclusion recruitment, our objective is to assist companies in creating inclusive and equitable hiring practices. We believe that a diverse workforce not only fosters innovation and creativity but also contributes to a more positive work environment and a stronger bottom line. Our team of experts collaborates closely with our clients to evaluate their current recruitment strategies, identify areas for improvement, and create tailored solutions for attracting and retaining a diverse pool of top talent. Whether it’s training hiring managers on unconscious bias, developing inclusive job descriptions, or partnering with diverse organizations to source candidates, we are dedicated to ensuring that all qualified individuals have equal employment opportunities.

How did you get your start, how did you progress, where are you at this point in time?

The Navy assigned me to recruiting as part of my shore duty rotation. I recruited Healthcare professionals including nurses, physicians, dentists, and optometrists.

After a successful tour in recruiting, I was sent to the Naval Postgraduate School and earned a master’s degree in information technology management. After several assignments in IT leadership roles, I decided to leave the Navy and joined Microsoft and eventually returned to my passion as a recruiting professional.

Over the past couple of decades, I have worked on amazing teams doing technical recruiting, college recruiting and diversity recruiting for some of the world’s most recognized companies and global brands. In 2016, I founded Diverse Recruiting Experts and built a fantastic diversity sourcing company which was acquired in October 2022 by the Austin based search firm HireBetter where I became a partner. I recently started a diversity recruiting strategy company and am a speaker, coach, and author of a book to be published in April 2023.

What are the unique talents you bring to the field?

I am curious, build relationships and have both creative and analytical skills. What helps me in recruiting is that I have been in leadership, training, and technology roles, which makes it easier to relate to a diverse group of people.

“My personal vision is to empower people to change their lives.” – Cody

Share your biggest success story in recruiting so far?

I am most proud of the success that my team members have achieved. It was certainly amazing to start and grow a company that was valuable enough for someone to acquire, but my joy comes from seeing so many people who have worked for me be widely successful as leaders and entrepreneurs.

What is the best advice you’ve received during your career path, and from whom?

A very successful leader told me to put myself in a position to decide and always explore the opportunities in front of me. Today he is a top leader at a very successful non-profit.

What’s your favorite recruiting tech tool?

I believe interviewing experience is a vert important step in the hiring process.

BrightHire is a fantastic platform that takes interviewing to the next level and has been a game changer for our team.

What do you hope to achieve in 2023?

My top focus is to publish my book in April. I am looking to inspire and empower companies to hire and onboard a diverse and inclusive workforce. My efforts as a speaker, coach and consultant will allow me to share practices and approaches that accomplish that.

Any future predictions on talent sourcing?

Recruiters and Sourcers will need to be more creative and use critical thinking skills to better leverage AI enabled platforms and automation tools. The most impactful sourcing efforts will be those with an intentional focus on creating broader and more diverse connections, networks, and engagement with diverse communities.

What’s your favorite Boolean String?

I don’t have a favorite Boolean string. My favorite operator is the site command. I think you should use the site search to find something new every day.

In preparation for our discussion, I used this search, and it returned a wealth of information:

https://wizardsourcer.com/top-boolean-strings-to-find-diversity-candidates-online/

Tell me about your book.

My book will help leaders meet their hiring goals and give them the tools to create a diversity and inclusion recruiting strategy. The frameworks in the book will enable readers to attract, hire and onboard people with more consistency. The operational practices in this book will enable people to implement an enterprise-wide diversity and inclusion recruiting system that works.

I believe that this book will help everyone who reads it understand what they can do to contribute to diversity and inclusion recruiting. They don’t have to be a manager or recruiter, the book outlines things the average person might do. The book has not been titled yet; we are close. I plan to publish and launch the book in April 2023.

“I was given the opportunity to read Cody’s forthcoming book, and I am eagerly anticipating its release. It is an essential read for any team seeking to enhance their D&I recruiting efforts.” – Jonathan

Anything else you would like to discuss?

I want to express my admiration for the recruiters who have persevered through layoffs and other challenges. Despite these obstacles, the TA community has shown compassion and support for each other. It’s great to witness such a strong sense of camaraderie. I invite people to connect on LinkedIn or via email. Let’s continue to support and uplift each other.

Thank you, Jonathan, for the opportunity to share.

Knowing Cody Horton is truly an honor. He is an exceptionally engaged member of our talent sourcing community, and I am eagerly anticipating the release of his debut book.

Connect with Cody Horton:

Email: cody@codylhorton.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/diversityrecruiter

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