You have followed the practical suggestions made in Part 1 of Diversity: Attracting & Retaining Tax Professionals. As a result, your department is more "diverse".¹

Attracting diverse talent to your department, however, is simply not enough. The complete package requires development and retention.

In Part 2 of this series we will offer some practical suggestions on how to develop minority talent. In Part 3 we will discuss steps you can take to retain minority tax professionals.

Shannon King Nash is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law. She is a CPA and currently works as a senior tax attorney. Wayne Hamilton graduated from North Carolina Central University School of Law and holds an LLM from the University of Florida. He is a corporate tax counsel. ... TaxTalent.com, with over 12,000 registered members, is the largest tax-oriented community on the internet. TaxTalent.com provides career development tools to its members and consultation services to employers; including salary benchmarking and interim and temporary staffing.

Picture this: Jane Doe was hired several years ago from a top business program. She has a great work ethic, she gets the best projects (although her role is limited), and she has outstanding annual evaluations. Many of her colleagues feel that Jane is good management material. Yet Jane feels unchallenged and leaves the organization before the end of her third year.

Though Jane seemed to be excelling, this did not mean that she was being appropriately developed.

To properly develop talent, organizations have to do more than simply assign "good" projects to an employee. They must take steps to ensure that their employees have access to resources that will develop both their technical and "soft" skills.

Here are some practical suggestions that can get you on your way.

Mentoring Programs

A mentoring program is a critical tool in developing any professional.

Over the last few years, many organizations have implemented mentoring programs. While they may differ from company to company, most programs share similar objectives - to expose employees to top-level leadership, corporate culture, corporate values, and the opinions and experiences of others.

A minority employee may or may not have unique mentoring needs. What may occur to the employee is that their needs/concerns might be unique because they are a minority. This is where an experienced mentor can provide a broader perspective and direct the minority towards the resources necessary to resolve their issues. More importantly, such programs give many minorities the knowledge that the organization is serious about developing people from different backgrounds, cultures, races and religions.

The mentor does not have to be from the tax department. It is more important that the mentor is someone who will take a genuine interest in the minority's career development by offering opportunities to be exposed to key decision makers and critical information about the company and the industry. The mentor should be at the senior management level and be knowledgeable about the company and the industry.

In Jane's case, a mentor should have been assigned to her within the first year of employment.

Although Jane was getting good assignments, she probably felt that she wasn't getting overall exposure and was doubtful about her contributions to the company.

A mentor familiar with the organization and its structure would have been able to confirm or refute her thoughts and feelings, and reassure her about her position within the company - which could well have influenced her decision to stay or leave.

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