Hiring on the res?

February 13, 2007 12:29 PM

How do I advertise my open job positions within the Native American community?

I work for an American Indian/Alaskan Native non-profit in Oregon and we're hiring for several full-time volunteer with living stipend positions through AmeriCorps. I'm in charge of the recruitment campaign and my grandiose marketing plans fell through when I was sidelined for a week with an unexpected illness. I'm hitting up all the regular recruitment resources, but I feel like I should put a greater effort into recruiting within the tribal community and on reservations.

What are the best channels to go through to reach the Native American audience? I'm so-so new and we're an urban agency, so I'm not particularly familiar with the Oregon tribes and reservations yet. How should I go about advertising these positions in tribal newspapers and at tribal colleges? Are there other resources that I should seek out? Bonus points for efficiency, since the application date is mere weeks away. Are there any sensitivities that I should be aware of?

posted by Skwirl to work & money (10 comments total)

Word-of-mouth is how positions are spread on the tribal areas down here. I've also posted openings on bulletin boards at the social service agencies (for social service jobs) and medical clinics (tobacco cessation program coordinator). If there's a tribal council building, posting jobs there would be good. There also may be a local radio station where you could request an ad be read.

As far as finding out about the tribes and reservations in Oregon, you can't beat the local BIA office. (This map provides the BIA contacts right below the graphic.)
posted by parilous at 12:38 PM on February 13, 2007

Deliberately attempting to hire a person of a particular ethnic group is illegal.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 12:48 PM on February 13, 2007

Huh. I didn't see that the poster is setting out to hire someone Native. The poster is "hitting up all the regular recruitment resources", but given that the positions are at a nonprofit serving the Native community, I don't think it's odd that they want to cover all their recruitment bases - isn't that the ideal way to advertise an open job?

Try calling the state universities and talking to someone in their career services office; those universities may also have Native American student associations - they'll tell two friends, and so on.
posted by rtha at 1:02 PM on February 13, 2007

Steven C. Den Beste: I am in no way shape or form attempting to hire based on ethnic bias. In fact, the hiring decision is not mine to make.

My question is purely about improving the marketing of our positions within a particular demographic group in order to have the broadest range of candidates available and in order to maximize the chance of finding interested candidates. I apologize if I did not make that clear in my question.
posted by Skwirl at 1:09 PM on February 13, 2007

You should post your advertisement in Indian Country Today. They have a great job listing section on their website. I would also post on indianz.com. Depending upon the qualifications, you can submit your listing to the National Native American Law Students Association or to Native undergraduate groups at your local university.

Good luck.
posted by sara558 at 1:15 PM on February 13, 2007 [1 favorite]

Right now sounds like a great time to become familiar with the local Res and its many communities. Make up a bunch of flyers and hit the street. Have all the info and even copies of the job application (if there is one). People will almost certainly let you put flyers up and take some for sisters, cousins or friends looking for work.
posted by jmgorman at 2:20 PM on February 13, 2007

sara558 posted some great resources, and I would also add that you may want to go to, call or email their tribal headquarters. A search in google for "Oregon BIA Agency Office" yields this link: http://www.kstrom.net/isk/maps/or/ormap.html
posted by nataaniinez at 3:02 PM on February 13, 2007

"Deliberately attempting to hire a person of a particular ethnic group is illegal."

Many organisations are missing out on the benefits that diversity brings because they do not understand discrimination laws. This statement could be misread.

In some places it is illegal to let ethnicity influence your decision between candidates for hiring, but such laws usually specifically permit measures to ensure that members of under-represented groups are encouraged to apply. That is to say, where the law says you may not give a job to someone just because they are (say) a Native American, you may well be able to hold special Open Days to encourage Native Americans to come and visit the workplace and receive advice on making an application. You just cannot decide after the real interviewing that a candidate who scored less well on the agreed criteria should be given the job because of their ethnicity.

Minor actions like ensuring your advertisements are distributed widely, including places targeting members of a particular ethnic group, are not just legal, they may be construed to be the minimum that is appropriate. The Governor of Oregon has an Affirmative Action Office which presumably will support Skwirl's efforts, while reminding them of the local law on what to do at interview.
posted by Idcoytco at 3:19 PM on February 13, 2007

Do you want Oregon-specific, or are you willing to look further afield?

I found this list at the University of Minnesota OEO (rtf file), which lists several local publications in this area that cover the diversity angle--including about 4 Native ones. Are there local free papers in your area? If there's a local Native paper nearby, that seems like a pretty standard place to put a job ad.

Some examples: Shoshone-Bannock News in Idaho, Char-Koosta News for the Flathead Nation in Montana.
posted by gimonca at 3:30 PM on February 13, 2007

Deliberately attempting to hire a person of a particular ethnic group is illegal.
It seems every help wanted ad I have seen from a tribe says "Native American Prefered". I am not familliar with the law but I think there are certain exceptions to rule you cite, Skwirl's organization may be one of them for all I know.

Skwirl, you might try nativetimes, I am not familiar with the site but they do have job listings.
posted by yohko at 2:12 PM on February 14, 2007