3 ms·

What kind of outreach do you expect a new startup to do? They don't exactly have an excess of free time or resources to invest significant effort. And perhaps

by thedz 16y ago

What kind of outreach do you expect a new startup to do? They don't exactly have an excess of free time or resources to invest significant effort. And perhaps more fundamentally, are the job descriptions looking for applicants biased towards males in such a way that it warrants an explicit female-oriented recruiting outreach?

jdp23 16y ago
There's a bunch of suggestions on the Geek Feminism Wiki at http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Hiring_discrimination#Solutions http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Hiring_discrimination#Sol... Yes, most job descriptions give the appearance of being biased towards males. The best thing to do is get feedback on it from a couple of women with the skills you're trhing to attract and a diversity/recruiting expert. We did that at my previous startup and it made a huge difference. If a company sees diversity as important, it doesn't really take that much time or money to reach out.
- btipling 16y ago
  'If a company sees diversity as important' Maybe they seek success as important. How does a focus on diversity help a company succeed?
  - Mz 16y ago
    I work for a large company. They think it's important. The framing is along the lines of "How can we sell to everyone if we don't hire everyone?" If you are dominated by white males, you may be making wording choices and other decisions which subtly exclude women, blacks, hispanics, etc and you probably have no idea you are doing it. (Subtle does not necessarily mean the effect is small either.)
    - jdp23 16y ago
      Exactly. Also, diverse teams outperform -- Scott Page's book The Difference presents the underlying cognitive diversity model for why, and there's been some great recent empirical work as well. Conversely a lot of white guys don't believe that diversity leads to success -- and many of them talk primarily to other white guys who reinforce their views (or to women and people of color who agree with them). So, companies they run wind up with mostly male and mostly white development teams, building products optimized for white guys. It's a crowded market space ...
      - Mz 16y ago
        Anecdotally, my recollection is that the most successful organized crime group ever was successful in part because they would work with anyone, so long as they had the necessary skills. Prior to that, the Irish stuck with the Irish, the Italians stuck with the Italians, etc. Inclusiveness of people = not excluding skills/talent based on some arbitrary, irrelevant detail (like skin color, gender, etc).

by thedz 16y ago

jdp23 16y ago

There's a bunch of suggestions on the Geek Feminism Wiki at http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Hiring_discrimination#Solutions http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Hiring_discrimination#Sol... Yes, most job descriptions give the appearance of being biased towards males. The best thing to do is get feedback on it from a couple of women with the skills you're trhing to attract and a diversity/recruiting expert. We did that at my previous startup and it made a huge difference. If a company sees diversity as important, it doesn't really take that much time or money to reach out.

btipling 16y ago
'If a company sees diversity as important' Maybe they seek success as important. How does a focus on diversity help a company succeed?
- Mz 16y ago
  I work for a large company. They think it's important. The framing is along the lines of "How can we sell to everyone if we don't hire everyone?" If you are dominated by white males, you may be making wording choices and other decisions which subtly exclude women, blacks, hispanics, etc and you probably have no idea you are doing it. (Subtle does not necessarily mean the effect is small either.)
  - jdp23 16y ago
    Exactly. Also, diverse teams outperform -- Scott Page's book The Difference presents the underlying cognitive diversity model for why, and there's been some great recent empirical work as well. Conversely a lot of white guys don't believe that diversity leads to success -- and many of them talk primarily to other white guys who reinforce their views (or to women and people of color who agree with them). So, companies they run wind up with mostly male and mostly white development teams, building products optimized for white guys. It's a crowded market space ...
    - Mz 16y ago
      Anecdotally, my recollection is that the most successful organized crime group ever was successful in part because they would work with anyone, so long as they had the necessary skills. Prior to that, the Irish stuck with the Irish, the Italians stuck with the Italians, etc. Inclusiveness of people = not excluding skills/talent based on some arbitrary, irrelevant detail (like skin color, gender, etc).