Last Tuesday, about 50 Harvard undergraduates met in the East Dining Room of the Harvard Faculty Club for a McKinsey & Co. recruiting event.

The event was like many such recruiting gatherings before it, with one key exception--all of the attendees were women.

According to Liz S. Hilton Segel '92, a McKinsey assistant principal who attended the event, the gathering was an effort to show women undergraduates the human side of the firm--that "it is an intimate, friendly place to work."

"We make the recruitment of women and people from all diverse backgrounds a major part of our recruiting efforts," Hilton Segel says.

With a booming economy and the tightest labor market in recent history, firms that were once predominately white and male are increasingly tailoring their recruitment efforts to attract people who are underrepresented in the corporate world: women, minorities and gay students.

And students are taking notice.

"It's nice when they bring women together. A lot of the time there aren't visible role models because it's a pretty male-dominated field," said Maureen P. Murphy '01, who attended the McKinsey function.

A New Plan

Many of the firms are taking their cue from the Students for Educational Opportunity (SEO), a New York-based organization that matches students of color with internship opportunities in the corporate world.

The group has provided more than 2,300 internships since its inception in 1980. Seventy-five percent of those interns have gone on to accept full-time positions in the fields where they worked, says Assistant Director of the SEO Career Program Recy B. Dunn.

"We've had a good hand in changing the complexion of Wall Street," Dunn says. "There's a need to have a diverse workforce with the diverse demographics of the world. It just makes sense."

More and more, corporate firms are expanding their definition of diversity.

Gays and Lesbians at McKinsey (GLAM), a network of gay and lesbian consultants at the firm, brought together gay candidates from Harvard and MIT at a dinner in Boston last week.

According to Marc P. Diaz '99, a business analyst in McKinsey's New York office, the dinner is an important part of "actively reaching out to candidates who represent diverse backgrounds."

Diaz says the event sought to show how at McKinsey, the outreach process continues even after employees are hired. He describes GLAM as "strong source of support...[that] enables us to thrive at McKinsey."

And at Goldman Sachs, a firm with one of the biggest recruiting presences at Harvard, encouraging diversity also plays a major role in the process, says Elizabeth W. Wamai, a member of the firm's Diversity Recruiting Team.

"Goldman Sachs prides itself on its efforts to recognize, reward and create opportunities for students from many different background," she explains.

The firm offers full-tuition scholarships to minority students attending top universities and business schools. And according to Wamai, Goldman Sachs was the first Wall Street firm to host a gay and lesbian recruiting event.

The new focus seems to be paying off.

"It made me more eager to apply," says a Harvard senior who attended the McKinsey GLAM event. "It made [McKinsey] a much more appealing place to work."

This push for a more diverse workforce has helped spawn several outside firms that help employers connect with potential employees.

Cambridge-based BrassRing Diversity offers several publications for minority students who are seeking jobs.

The company also provides diversity recruiting services to employers and candidates and will hold its annual career fair Friday at the Cambridge Marriott.

BrassRing General Manager Lara L. Breuhn says being a diverse company in the growing international economy is crucial to a firm's success.

"I think that companies recognize the importance of recruiting minorities both in the values of a diverse workforce and the competitive advantage of the global marketplace," Breuhn says.

One of BrassRing Diversity's online competitors, experience.com, takes a different approach.

According to experience.com's head recruiter, Coleman M. Brinckerhoff, the company's goal is "to be a complete career resource for college graduates and young professionals," regardless of race, ethnicity or sexual orientation.

Brinckerhoff, who has been recruiting for four years on an agency and corporate level, explains that in recruiting, experience--"what the individual brings to the table professionally"--is paramount.

"If you look at each and every candidate as an individual, a balanced and diverse workforce will come naturally," he says.

Student Focus

Aware of the corporate demand for diversity, Harvard students are not just attending recruiting events--they're also helping to plan them.

The Black Students Association (BSA) is organizing its annual career fair, to be held Nov. 9 in Loker Commons.

Recruiters from many leading businesses will be at the BSA fair, including Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, Monitor, and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

"A lot of companies are looking to have a more diverse profile," coordinator Jelani F. Jefferson '01 says. "This is a good way to make it easier for them and easier for us."