Soumya Chittigala

Welcome to #NetflixandHire where we learn some great tech hiring lessons from popular TV shows. This episode is focused on inclusive hiring. Over the course of the next 4 episodes, you’ll learn 4 ways in which you can successfully screen and hire developers in 2020. Buckle up, here we go!

2018 and 2019 brought about a surge of revelations in workplace equality with the #MeToo movement, the gender pay gap disclosure, Silicon Valley’s struggle with diversity and unconscious bias, among others. Things seem to be gearing up in 2020. Companies are now working toward drastically driving inclusive hiring in the workplace.

We thought this would be a great topic to cover in our maiden episode of #NetflixandHire and what better show to learn about inclusion than Orange is the New Black!

This comedy-drama takes place in a women’s prison, and thanks to its plots, it puts a diverse set of women at the forefront. The show ended up being one of the most-watched original series on Netflix. No wonder it won an Emmy, a Golden Globe, the GLAAD awards, and the Peabody awards.

Img source

Diversity in tech is not just about gender. It is your responsibility to ensure that hiring takes place regardless of age, gender, race, religion, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. Here are 3 lessons we can learn from Orange Is the New Black to make this happen:

1. Strength lies in differences and not in similarities

The show embraces ethnicity like no other. Remember the fiery Russian Red, the entire Black cast ..Poussey, Taystee, etc., and the Hispanic gang of Maritza, Daya, and the others? The beauty of the series is it never overshadows one story over the other. Each character is given the screen space they deserve and issues of race and caste are discussed head-on.

Img source

Inclusive hiring is no different! As a recruiter, you hold the onus of promoting diversity by ensuring a fair hiring process. You need to reassure future employees that you have their best interests at heart. Also, at an organizational level, you prepare your current employees on how to appropriately interact with different people. Overall, you need to create a welcoming workplace.

Here are some initiatives by companies we absolutely admire for being flag bearers of tech inclusion:

‍

Since 2015, the company has proactively sought out candidates from outside traditional developer pipelines such as Stanford and MIT. It has also focused on recruiting tech talent from all women’s coding camps such as Hackbright and programs that focus on training black and Latino programmers such as Code2040.

‍

Intel has made the largest-ever commitment to invest in technology companies led by women, underrepresented minorities (African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans), startups led by entrepreneurs with disabilities, US-based entrepreneurs from the LGBTQ community, and US military veterans. Through September 2019, the Intel Capital Diversity Initiative has invested $381 million in companies led by diverse teams.

‍

‍

‍

Buffer uses its blog as a medium to explore issues in tech which affect underrepresented groups. The company also regularly modifies its job descriptions to include language and images that support inclusive hiring. They also sponsor awesome initiatives such as POCIT‘s Beer and Boardgames event and #wocintech‘s awesome photos.

‍

2. Freedom of expression

The first character that comes to our mind when we talk about freedom of expression with respect to the show is Suzanne, aka ‘Crazy Eyes’. Suzanne is portrayed as an intelligent woman, but someone who lacks social skills and is prone to spiral into emotional outbursts when agitated due to mental illness. The show is special because it never takes away from a character’s uniqueness, even if it’s someone like Suzanne. It lets her express emotions the way she wants to, be it in the form of writing a book or reciting Shakespeare’s sonnets.

Img source

Isn’t that the whole essence of inclusive hiring? Letting candidates express their skills the way they want to help both ways —you get to see the most genuine side of candidates without putting the candidate under pressure.

But are we actually providing candidates with the means to give it their all in the tech hiring process? We think not. Take the example of a whiteboard interview in which candidates are asked to solve a coding problem in real-time. The important thing to consider is that a whiteboard is not a code editor. Candidates can’t actually run the code to see if it works, let alone benchmark it.

We suggest you opt for an anonymous coding assessment instead. This is a take-home coding test that candidates can take in an environment of their choice. It also gives candidates a chance to take the test by masking all personal identifiers. This helps eliminate bias and assures that candidates will be judged fairly. Also, since all candidates face the same set of questions, it is less likely to introduce biases that could filter out good candidates.

Create a take-home coding test for free

3. Inclusive hiring is more than just a checkbox

Are you hiring just to complete a mandate? Or does your definition of diversity hiring only mean hiring more women? It’s about time we understood that diversity is much more than that. It is the range of differences that make people unique, both seen and unseen, and this is where we get to the third lesson that we’ve learned from Orange Is the New Black—Sophia Burset’s story.

Img source

Though the show is about women inmates, it never leaves out people based on how they identify themselves. Sophia, a transgender inmate, is given equal screen presence as anyone else and delivers a moving and hilarious performance. In fact, after the show aired, she became the first transgender person on the cover of the TIME magazine in 2014 and has used her story to empower others.

Sophia is not the only one. The show served as a platform for several people from the LGBTQ+ community to share their stories and bring more visibility to the group.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could do something similar in tech hiring?

Here are some initiatives we can all be inspired by:

‍Lesbians Who Tech is a community of over 15,000 queer women, with a mission to increase visibility in tech. It has partnered with the White House LGBT Tech and Innovation Summit to empower participants by connecting them with the Federal government information, resources, and opportunities. Additionally, it conducts three annual conferences, facilitating coding scholarships and hiring opportunities. It runs a cool new mentorship initiative called ‘Bring a Lesbian to Work Day’, a one-day shadow program with a mission to match a queer woman with a mentor.

‍

‍

‍

‍

Out in Tech encourages underprivileged LGBTQ+ to pursue tech internships and post-secondary training by giving access to careers held by their heterosexual counterparts. The community actively works with companies to change workplace dynamics by helping evaluate diversity and inclusion.

‍

‍

Microsoft Pride is Microsoft’s initiative for pushing the LGBTQ+ inclusion forward. It was one of the first corporations to include “sexual orientation in their corporate nondiscrimination policy” and “offer employee benefits to same-sex domestic partners.” It also urges employees to be more vocal about the actions that they are taking. By the way, you can download some cool LGBTQ+ buttons from their website.

‍

‍

‍

Started by Angelica Ross after being shut out of the professional world, TransTech Social Enterprises seeks to empower, educate, and employ transgender and non-gender conforming people in tech. It offers tech workshops, peer coach training, study buddies, and graphic design and web development apprenticeships. It also offers job placements through its in-house design studio and remote learning opportunities.

‍

‍

We hope 2020 kicks off a culture-first decade with inclusivity being at the center of it all. Here’s to a vibrant and diversity-fuelled hiring process in the months to come. See you soon in the next episode!

2020 looks like it’s going to be a phenomenal year for the recruitment industry. As a tech assessment company, we’re lucky to be able to regularly swap ideas with HR leaders, visit conferences, and read up on industry experts’ findings. Based on our findings on the latest hiring trends, here’s the scoop:

1. An increase in employee referrals and referral programs

82% of employers rated employee referrals above all other sources for generating the best return on investment (ROI) – source: careerbuilder

There is a reason why they say that two heads are better than one. Your team is first-hand proof of what you stand for as an employer brand. Hence, it is very important that they are your strongest advocates. This recruiting trend is one of the main reasons why we will see an increased focus on collaborative hiring in the upcoming year.

Here is a 5 step guide to building the perfect employee referral program:

1. 1. Determine the goal – Have a clear vision of what your referral program should accomplish. Is it to boost diversity? Is it to increase your remote workforce? Once you have this broad goal set, get more specific—check how you can increase the percentage of referrals or how to improve the quality of referrals.
   2. Create an easy, employee-friendly process – The less work an employee has to do to refer a candidate, the more successful the program will be.
   3. Train your workforce – Train your workforce on the following:
      • How to use the referral system
      • An understanding of what your company is looking for in a referred candidate
      • What employees can expect when they refer a candidate
   4. Don’t forget to say kudos – Recognize employees who are referring candidates. At HackerEarth, we run a cool referral program for our employees. Perks include handsome referral bonuses and a chance to win some awesome tech gadgets.
   5. Measure your efforts – Some useful metrics to track your referral program are:
      • What % of your hires have come from referrals
      • The % of qualified referrals (referrals who meet the mark)
      • How engaged is your workforce in the referral program
      • What is the quality of hires from the referral program

2. A shift from resume-based hiring to non-conventional hiring

Did you know that Google receives close to 2 million job applications in a year and recruiters spend an average of 6 seconds looking at a candidate’s resume– source: The Ladders

Resumes are passé and recruiters are using new hiring tactics like never before. Here are some non-conventional hiring tips for shortlisting candidates:

• Administer a personality test earlier in the hiring process – Good developers, for example, are known to exhibit traits that mark high performance such as teamwork, analytical thinking, and judgment. Looking out for such traits in the initial stages of evaluation can help you shortlist candidates who could be the right fit for the role.
• Gamify your hiring process – Using Artificial Intelligence in the hiring process helps measure specific elements like technical skills, vocabulary, facial expressions, and question response speed. These factors can also help reveal clues about an applicant’s education, intelligence, personality, and emotional stability. For example, Unilever makes use of Pymetrics to recruit and sort job applicants.

“Recruitment is part of a broader trend of using gamification in the workplace. Gamification uses game mechanics and experience design to engage users and solve real-world problems, by tapping into human psychology and rewarding positive behaviors in the workplace. Traditional recruitment processes can be intimidating and stressful for candidates and adding elements of games can make the experience more enjoyable as well as bringing out deeper aspects of the candidate’s psychology and behavioral styles.” – Kerstin Oberprieler, Gamification Expert

• Use skill-based assessments – Looking to test and filter candidates on job competency? One great way of doing this is to incorporate skill-based assessments in your hiring process. In fact, one should not only be looking at skill-based assessments for screening, but the entire hiring process should be based on skills.

Conduct accurate coding assessments with HackerEarth. Find out more.

3. A boom in Gen Z hiring

Did you know that 61 million Gen Zers will enter the US workforce in the coming years– source: CNBC

Gen Zers will form a major chunk of the workforce in the coming years. This makes it very important for recruiters to understand their needs and wants. Both millennials and Gen Zers come with their own skill sets yet both could not be more different from one another. With the oldest of Gen Zers being in the age group of 23 to 25, most recruiters can’t use the same tactics which work for millennials.

To solve this puzzle, recruiters need to understand why recruiting Gen Z is so different, what they care and don’t care about the work/workplace, and how to effectively recruit and retain this talent. You can find some great hacks on this hiring trend of recruiting Gen Zers in this webinar.

4. Embracing remote work

Did you know that in the past two years alone, there’s been a 78% increase in LinkedIn job posts advertising flexible work arrangements? – source: Remote year

Every distributed team looks different, but they all have one thing in common: they’re the future of work. Since distributed teams are set to become the norm, it’s key that you adapt and update your management skills for this new mode of work.



To be on point with this hiring trend, here are some strategies to get you into a remote management mindset for great results with remote teams:

1. Think remote-first -Start with how to manage teams remotely—maybe through a tool like Trello or with daily stand-ups via Zoom—and then see how this fits into the in-office group.
2. Use the same communication channels - Make sure you’re using the same processes with your in-office and remote workers. Slack is a great solution for communication. It is immediate and leaves a digital paper trail so that deadlines and expectations are clearly agreed upon.
3. Collaborate using digital management tools - There are great digital tools out there to boost collaboration. Tools like Slack, Asana, or Basecamp can promote easy and instant communication so that your team stays connected and nimble.
4. Create social spaces online - In addition to getting work done, you should also build relationships within your distributed team. This will make your team members feel more unified as not feeling part of the team can be a big challenge for working remotely. Some ideas include channels or boards for sharing photos of your weekend plans, social events such as virtual happy hours, or even a Friday email sharing stories from the week.
5. Celebrate success in public - When remote workers feel “out of the loop,” it’s usually because they don’t see how they’re positively impacting the team or company. One way to solve this isolation is to communicate success stories across the company. Send a weekly email of successes or use a Slack channel to give regular shout outs to good work. Your workers will feel appreciated and more engaged in their job.

---

Conduct remote coding interviews effortlessly with FaceCode.

---

5. Looking beyond the conventional skill set

Did you know that 84% of recruiters say culture fit is a prominent factor in the hiring process - source: cubiks



Competition for top talent is at an all time high with recruiters finding it challenging to hire candidates who fit both culturally and skill-wise. Most organizations are now looking beyond industry standards and are hiring candidates who are eager to learn.



According to the balance careers, here’s how you can create your own cross-training program for candidates:

1. Look within your own function for opportunities to cross-train on assignments.
2. Establish a formal job rotation across your organization.
3. Offer incentives for certifying on a variety of positions, functions, systems or products.
4. Measure employee feedback on their interest in and satisfaction with the cross-training work. Ask for their ideas on improving the initiative. Consider generating a dynamic QR code and integrating it to gather employee feedback on your cross-training program. Analyze the data to identify areas for improvement and optimize the program for better outcomes. This can lead to a more successful and productive workforce.

There you have it, our selection of hiring trends to look out for in 2020. This isn’t an exhaustive list but we hope it gives a direction to your hiring plans for the upcoming year. Happy hiring!



Popular posts like this:

1. 5 must-have proctoring tips for a developer assessment platform
2. 5 reasons you should use tech recruitment software
3. 6 steps to create a detailed recruiting budget