Our Black Progress Matters team continues to grow, and we are thrilled to welcome our newest BP Partner, Calvin Blackmon. We had the opportunity to sit down with Calvin this past week to ask him a few questions about what inspired him to build with Black Progress Matters.
What drew you to Black Progress Executive Staffing?
The mission of Black Progress Matters and the opportunity to create genuine relationships with executive teams across the organizations we partner with and with the executive candidates we speak with daily. Our goal is to help these organizations change the color of their executive suites. And I would say, ultimately, the ability for me to build a community through BPM, the Black Progress Executive Membership group, and the BPM Black-Owned Incubator – and everything else we have coming down the line.
What gaps do you think Black Progress Executive Staffing fills in the talent acquisition space?
According to various well-documented studies, "80% of executive-level positions are not posted" - and this statistic floors me. Typically higher-level jobs are filled through the relationships that people already have, and if you don't have relationships, it makes it harder to fill these openings. Where Black Progress Matters come into play is building that community and giving these organizations a platform and a resource where they can find the best Black talent in their candidate pools. We build relationships – we fill the gap.
As a talent acquisition specialist, what catches your attention when you’re looking for a candidate for any given role?
First and foremost, a level of professionalism, and from there, it's about relatability. I think everything we do comes down to relationships. So for me, if a candidate brings a level of energy, and there's a level of connectivity that we have, and they're someone that I think will be relatable to any position we are looking to fulfill. As they say, you hire personality and can teach the skill, right? So if you hire people with the right personality, implement them into the right system, and ensure they have a transferable skill set, we can build the skill set to match the organization's needs.
What is your personal ‘Why’?
I thought about this question for a while and didn’t want to sound cliche, but at the end of the day, my ‘why’ is really to leave a legacy for my kids. I lost my father at age eight; he was only 42 years old when he passed away. I’m 40, so for me, that kind of hits home. There were a lot of things that, unfortunately, he wasn’t there to see. So for me, I want to be there for them as much as possible until my last days on this earth. And through Black Progress Matters and everything else I’m doing, I want to leave that legacy for them.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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