Let’s see how you are doing in the quest to find the best tech talent in the US!
1. Are you building authentic relationships with your underrepresented candidates?
Is your company spreading an authentic message about who you are? Your vision of the world? Being honest about your past mistakes and how you’ll improve.
Understanding their backgrounds and how they may be different from past hires
Learning how to create an appealing brand and culture
Assessing candidates not just from past success but from potential
Learning how to create an appealing brand and culture
Assessing candidates not just from past success but from potential
2. Are you competing with other companies by wooing candidates with a neverending list of perks – but that no longer differentiates you from the rest?
What’s the key instead? Trust.
To build and maintain trust with your candidate, you can start by:
Ensuring your candidate experience is open and transparent
Not “faking it to you make it” with your diversity and inclusion – be honest about the state of your D&I efforts
3. Have you fallen into the name brand trap?
Many companies overlook quality talent because of the “name brand” trap – they underestimate candidates who went to state schools and didn’t work at the Googles of the world. This is devasting to D&I efforts.
The “name brand” trap affects every company to various degrees – the question is what you do about it.
Start by learning to evaluate with an open mind. Use the “distance traveled” metric to assess candidates by finding out:
Where did the candidate begin their journey?
Which achieves are linked to privilege (e.g. an internship at a family or friend’s company) as opposed to earned in a meritocratic competition?
4. Finally, remember you are not only evaluating the candidate, they are also evaluating you.
Ask for feedback on your process and offer some kind of incentive to show that value their insight
Take that feedback to continuously improve your interview experience
If you want to learn more contact me at andrea.guendelman@wallbreakers.com. Happy to discuss in more detail the needs of your organization.
We are launching W-Squared! to help with retention and wellbeing.
“When one employee lights up, it can affect the entire corporation.” This is called the rippling effect of wellness.
Market research shows skyrocketing employee demand for employer-offered wellness programs that alleviate stress, depression, and anxiety. There is a great need for these programs; the World Health Organization predicts that depression will become the largest health risk worldwide by 2030. From stressed-out Millennials to aging Baby Boomers, individuals are seeking new and insightful ways to overcome their personal and professional challenges.
During these tumultuous times, we seek to address these critical needs and help companies create meaningful wellness programming for their diverse employees. The goal is to help employees find balance in their lives. Wellness programs are particularly important for Black and Latin (x/a/o) employees in a time of extreme vulnerability in our society.
By addressing personal well-being, companies help diverse employees:
- Feel valued and welcomed;
- Develop purpose-driven careers,
- Find their passion and “flow” within their organization,
stay engaged; and
- Be mindful, healthy, and joyful at work and in their personal lives.
To learn more, join us at our upcoming Lunch & Learn: Retaining Diverse Technical Talent in a Covid World on February 11 at 4 pm EST.
We are bringing together a world-class group of experts in diversity tech hiring and retention, corporate inclusion, wellness, indigenous training, energy management, and more.
It takes a village and we look forward to seeing you there.
Wallbreakers Team