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To the extent the CEO's claim about a "lack of exposure" is correct, it's entirely possible that separately reaching out to minority candidates will help find "
by comex 11y ago
To the extent the CEO's claim about a "lack of exposure" is correct, it's entirely possible that separately reaching out to minority candidates will help find "the best". If nothing else, the job market (in Silicon Valley, and elsewhere) is intensely affected by the human social network it's embedded in - it's who you know, and both the natural dynamics of a graph with sparser connections between certain groups than within them, and the instinctive aversion people have to getting to know people that aren't like them (easily overcomeable in the right situation, obviously, but everpresent), make it harder for a minority candidate to have the right connections.
- justizin 11y agoI'll add that minority candidates, including women and members of the LGBTQ+ community are often concerned about tokenization, and this can create a barrier for even the most well-meaning teams of mostly white mostly straight mostly males. Some weeks ago at SF City Hall I heard some passionate teens and teachers from the Mission talking about their frustration with having Latino cultural education cut in favor of technology education intended largely to grant them token spots at tech companies. In the east bay, I know there are networks of minorities trying to home-grow startups rather than line up to be someone's diversity hire, and while people are up in arms about this team being not terribly visually diverse, it may be built by people who understand the complex challenges of members of their own communities, including having businesses that don't have models which prey on them.