How to Source Diverse Talent for Your Dev Team?
If every candidate who applied for a job went through multiple hours of interviews with multiple engineers, it would be impossible to keep up with the demand. If you only look at pedigree indicators like previous employer or school to filter candidates, it can introduce noise and create false negatives. This would not be equitable.
The use of pedigree as a proxy for capability in resume screens eliminates candidates from non-traditional backgrounds, which limits the talent pool.
It is essential to have a diversity of voices, thoughts, and opinions involved in the creation of technology, especially AI. If the technology we create only benefits a small group of people, are we truly progressing? Or are we simply creating self-reinforcing feedback loops?
I challenge you today to consider how you can effectively rethink your hiring strategy to not rely solely on resumes.
- This can be a start:
- Bringing diverse talent into your view:
- Expand applicant pipeline
- Transparancy
- Broaden your pipeline
1. Expand applicant pipeline
Karat's data from 80,000 technical interviews showed that less than 10% of direct applicants received interviews.
However, many companies are over-screening direct applicants and preventing them from demonstrating their capabilities.
We recommend that you try to diversify your candidate pool by filtering in more of the direct applicants. One effective tactic is to review technical interview pass-through rates for each of your recruiting sources. If your direct application pool is similar to your proactively recruited candidate pool, consider increasing the number of direct applicants you let through. Another option is to loosen your pedigree requirements and send through 15 or 20 percent of direct applicants to the interview.
If the candidates are just as successful in your technical interviews, you have not only reduced your sourcing costs, but also diversified your pipeline sources, instead of relying on the same demographics from the same schools and other companies that everyone else in the industry is recruiting from.
The data indicates that direct applicants have close rates that are, on average, more than 10 percent higher than proactively sourced candidates.
2. Transparancy
It is essential that candidates who lack experience in the tech industry are given the same opportunity to excel in the interview process as those with experience.
If your software engineers have friends or family that could be a great fit for the company, but they come into the interview knowing what questions they will be asked, you may not be getting an accurate hiring signal.
Programs like Karat's Brilliant Black Minds are striving to close the access gap at the industry level, making sure that underrepresented candidates have the same understanding of the interview and hiring process as your director of engineering's nephew.
Another way to close the access gap at your company would be to record and post a mock interview with one of your existing engineers on your career page.
3. Broaden your pipeline
It is easy to get stuck hiring from the same institutions because we are familiar with their talent and programs, and may even have many alumni from there. However, if we want to create an inclusive company, we have to broaden our search.
With the outbreak of COVID-19, many in-person recruiting events have been cancelled. However, there are still many opportunities to find great talent through remote career fairs.
However, they may later find computer science interesting and complete a coding school or bootcamp. The use of a resume screener that automatically rejects the applicant because it doesn’t recognize the certification or college is indirectly punishing the applicant for something over which they have no control.
Equitable Hiring is more efficient
Engineering leaders who are finding it difficult to reach their hiring targets should explore all avenues for expanding their pipeline. However, they must be cautious not to overlook the great candidates who are already expressing interest.
Expand your direct sourcing of applicants to ensure that all candidates know precisely what their role will entail and what sort of qualities are necessary for success at your company. Help them understand what their daily routine may look like. The more you set them up for success, the better they will be able to perform.
Achieving your organizational hiring goals faster will also give you an advantage on your strategic diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, making the tech world a better place.
It is my hope that in the near future, more companies will take active steps to ensure that their employees are representative of the entire population.
