4 ms·

One of the hard parts of being a person from an underrepresented demographic is having to bear an unequal burden to help make your company more diverse, equitab

One of the hard parts of being a person from an underrepresented demographic is having to bear an unequal burden to help make your company more diverse, equitable, and inclusive. There is a tremendous amount of talent out there from underestimated groups, but many of us don't want to work places where we're going to be the only person. And as your interview panel is the most crucial touch point with candidates, the folks least represented end up taking on an inequitable load in hiring and other initiatives. On top of having to perform extra well to overcome the assumption some people will always have that we don't deserve to be there--as evidenced by a significant percentage of the comments here. And it stings extra when that effort doesn't produce results, because the top of the funnel isn't diverse to begin with. The question asker feels complicit, but in my experience, it's often every stakeholder that feels complicit, because it is really, really hard to to build an org that is more diverse than the average (let alone anything near society), and you still have to meet other objectives. The diversity objectives will always be the most expendable, and so the cycle continues.

starky 6y ago
>because it is really, really hard to to build an org that is more diverse than the average (let alone anything near society), and you still have to meet other objectives. I've thought about this a many times with the hiring I'm involved with. There are some potential problems you can tackle internally, such as whether you have bias against certain types of candidate. However, the major blocker is one I really don't know how to solve. Essentially you have to solve the underlying problem of, "How do you increase the number of qualified and diverse candidates in the hiring pool?" Since the pool of applicants for the jobs I'm interviewing for are overwhelmingly male, and the vast majority are White, East Asian, or South Asian, the candidates we end up hiring end up more or less matching people of those descriptions. I am somewhat encouraged that there are improvements happening in the gender split through, there has definitely been an increase in the number of women applying for our student positions, hopefully that translates to more looking for full time positions in the near future.
- schwartzworld 6y ago
  I honestly think that a true commitment to diversity has to require rethinking the recruitment process to actively seek out these candidates. You can tweak the language in job listings, but you can't tweak away the fact that underrepresented groups are going to have way fewer "qualified" applicants when the qualifications include time spent in that industry. I'd love to see tech make a push towards mentorship and a recruitment model that involves seeking out talented candidates who may be struggling to break into the industry. Maybe it requires reaching out to computer science departments or developing a system for training people in house. I don't really know, but I know that it isn't just a matter of finding more Black or women senior Dev applicants.
  - lifeplusplus 6y ago
    Yea i think it's unfair to other candidates to try to fix diversity problem so late in the game, i.e. interview, merit for the job should be the only thing that should be looked at. If the problem is few xyz people going into the field then that's what should be fixed. Otherwise it's like treating fever and ignoring infection, the cause.
  - starky 6y ago
    This doesn't help fix the root socioeconomic factors that guides the careers that people have the opportunities in or choose to pursue. How much of the choice of job a person makes is due to not being aware of a career path or even just the desire to fit in with their community? The problem seems much deeper to me than just recruiting and training.

starky 6y ago

>because it is really, really hard to to build an org that is more diverse than the average (let alone anything near society), and you still have to meet other objectives. I've thought about this a many times with the hiring I'm involved with. There are some potential problems you can tackle internally, such as whether you have bias against certain types of candidate. However, the major blocker is one I really don't know how to solve. Essentially you have to solve the underlying problem of, "How do you increase the number of qualified and diverse candidates in the hiring pool?" Since the pool of applicants for the jobs I'm interviewing for are overwhelmingly male, and the vast majority are White, East Asian, or South Asian, the candidates we end up hiring end up more or less matching people of those descriptions. I am somewhat encouraged that there are improvements happening in the gender split through, there has definitely been an increase in the number of women applying for our student positions, hopefully that translates to more looking for full time positions in the near future.

schwartzworld 6y ago
I honestly think that a true commitment to diversity has to require rethinking the recruitment process to actively seek out these candidates. You can tweak the language in job listings, but you can't tweak away the fact that underrepresented groups are going to have way fewer "qualified" applicants when the qualifications include time spent in that industry. I'd love to see tech make a push towards mentorship and a recruitment model that involves seeking out talented candidates who may be struggling to break into the industry. Maybe it requires reaching out to computer science departments or developing a system for training people in house. I don't really know, but I know that it isn't just a matter of finding more Black or women senior Dev applicants.
- lifeplusplus 6y ago
  Yea i think it's unfair to other candidates to try to fix diversity problem so late in the game, i.e. interview, merit for the job should be the only thing that should be looked at. If the problem is few xyz people going into the field then that's what should be fixed. Otherwise it's like treating fever and ignoring infection, the cause.
- starky 6y ago
  This doesn't help fix the root socioeconomic factors that guides the careers that people have the opportunities in or choose to pursue. How much of the choice of job a person makes is due to not being aware of a career path or even just the desire to fit in with their community? The problem seems much deeper to me than just recruiting and training.