DEI Hiring

Unconscious bias is one of the most significant challenges in hiring today. Despite organizations’ best intentions to create diverse and inclusive workplaces, biases—often unintentional—can influence hiring decisions. These biases can exclude qualified candidates and prevent organizations from building a truly diverse workforce, ultimately impacting innovation and productivity.

By understanding unconscious bias and taking proactive steps to mitigate it, recruiters can make more equitable, skills-driven hiring decisions.

What is unconscious bias in recruitment?

Unconscious bias refers to the automatic judgments and stereotypes we form about people based on factors like gender, age, race, ethnicity, education, or background. In recruitment, this bias can surface during resume screening, interviews, or even team assessments, leading to unfair hiring practices.

For example, a recruiter might favor candidates from prestigious universities or those with similar interests, even if these factors have no bearing on job performance.

Common types of unconscious bias in hiring

1. Affinity bias‍

This occurs when recruiters favor candidates who share similarities with them, such as hobbies, educational background, or personal traits.
Example in tech: A hiring manager who studied at a top-tier tech school like MIT might unconsciously favor candidates with similar alma maters, even when equally talented applicants from less prestigious institutions have comparable skills.

2. Confirmation bias‍

Recruiters form an early impression of a candidate—positive or negative—and then focus on details that confirm their initial judgment while ignoring contradictory evidence.
Example in tech: If a developer’s resume shows experience at a well-known tech company like Google, the recruiter might overlook their lack of exposure to specific tools or languages required for the role, assuming they’re already qualified.

‍

3. Halo effect‍

A single positive trait overshadows other aspects of a candidate’s qualifications, leading to an unbalanced evaluation.
Example in tech: A candidate’s experience in building a popular open-source project might make a recruiter overlook their lack of teamwork experience, which is critical for agile development roles.

‍

4. Gender and racial bias‍

Biases based on gender or ethnicity can lead to undervaluing a candidate’s abilities, even if unintentional.
Example in tech: A recruiter may unconsciously assume that women candidates are less proficient in systems engineering or DevOps roles, despite data showing no difference in technical capability across genders.

‍

5. Name bias‍

Judging a candidate’s qualifications or personality based on their name, often tied to cultural or ethnic stereotypes.
Example in tech: A candidate named “Rajesh” may be assumed to have strong programming skills simply because of their name, or conversely, may face implicit doubts about their cultural fit in a predominantly Western tech team.

‍

6. Experience bias‍

Overvaluing candidates from large or recognizable companies, while undervaluing those from smaller startups or self-taught backgrounds.
Example in tech: A developer from a major firm like Amazon might be preferred over a freelance coder with a robust portfolio, even though the latter has more relevant experience for the role at hand.

‍

7. Age bias‍

Assuming younger candidates are better suited for roles requiring familiarity with cutting-edge technologies, or that older candidates are less adaptable.
Example in tech: A recruiter might favor a 25-year-old for a full-stack developer role requiring proficiency in React and Node.js, ignoring a 45-year-old candidate who’s equally skilled and experienced in modern frameworks.

Strategies to avoid unconscious bias in recruitment

Tech recruiters can counter these biases by implementing structured interviews, skill-based assessments, and blind hiring practices. HackerEarth’s PII masking feature, for example, anonymizes personal details like names and education during coding tests, ensuring candidates are judged only on their abilities. By focusing on skills, not assumptions, organizations can build more diverse and equitable tech teams.

1. Embrace structured hiring practices

Replace unstructured interviews with a structured approach where all candidates answer the same questions. This ensures fair comparisons based on relevant skills and performance, rather than subjective impressions.

2. Leverage skill-based assessments

Using skill-based tests is one of the most effective ways to avoid bias. These assessments focus solely on candidates’ abilities and problem-solving skills, removing factors like appearance, education, or background from the equation.

HackerEarth’s platform offers validated coding assessments and role-specific skill tests that provide unbiased insights into candidates’ technical capabilities. By focusing on what truly matters—skills—recruiters can eliminate bias in early hiring stages.

3. Implement blind hiring

Blind hiring removes identifiers like name, gender, age, or educational background from resumes and applications, ensuring candidates are evaluated based on their skills and experience alone.

Did you know? HackerEarth’s PII masking feature automatically anonymizes candidate information during assessments, making blind hiring seamless for recruiters and promoting fairness at scale.

4. Diversify hiring panels

Including a mix of genders, races, and professional backgrounds on hiring panels helps minimize the influence of individual biases. Diverse teams are also more likely to ask varied, inclusive questions that lead to better hiring decisions.

5. Use AI-driven tools cautiously

While AI can streamline recruitment, it’s essential to ensure these tools are free from embedded biases. Choose platforms like HackerEarth, which prioritize fairness and inclusivity through features like bias-free assessment design and analytics.

6. Provide unconscious bias training

Train hiring managers and recruiters to recognize and mitigate their biases. Awareness is the first step toward creating an equitable hiring process.

Measuring inclusivity in recruitment

Avoiding unconscious bias is not just a one-time effort. Regularly evaluate your hiring processes to ensure inclusivity. Key metrics include:

• Diversity in candidate pools: Track how diverse your applicant and shortlisted candidate pools are.
• Conversion rates: Analyze whether underrepresented groups are being hired at proportional rates.
• Retention rates: Measure how successfully diverse hires integrate into your organization.

The role of HackerEarth Assessments in reducing bias

HackerEarth’s skill-first hiring philosophy ensures that talent is assessed based solely on their abilities. Features like:

• Validated skill assessments: Evaluate candidates objectively with real-world scenarios.
• PII masking: Remove personal identifiers to prevent bias during evaluation.
• AI-driven insights: Use data to spot patterns and ensure hiring decisions are fair.

With HackerEarth, recruiters can confidently focus on merit and create equitable hiring practices, helping organizations build truly diverse teams.

Why bias-free hiring matters

Avoiding unconscious bias is not just about fairness; it’s a business imperative. Diverse teams are 70% more likely to capture new markets and deliver innovative solutions. By taking deliberate steps to eliminate bias, organizations can create a culture of inclusivity that attracts top talent and drives long-term success.

Adopt bias-free, skill-driven hiring practices to unlock the full potential of your recruitment efforts—and HackerEarth can help you lead the way.

In the competitive world of tech hiring, it’s not enough to simply sift through resumes and conduct a handful of interviews. Tech recruiters need a well-defined, structured hiring process that ensures they attract, evaluate, and select the best talent for their teams. A structured hiring process not only streamlines the recruitment workflow but also minimizes bias, promotes consistency, and helps you make data-driven decisions.

This guide breaks down the key elements of a structured hiring process and offers actionable insights for tech recruiters to create a recruitment strategy that works efficiently and effectively.

1. Define the role and set clear expectations

Before beginning the hiring process, it’s crucial to clearly define the job role. This step goes beyond the basic job title and description—it should also outline the specific skills, experience, and attributes needed for success in the role. In the tech industry, this might include technical expertise (e.g., proficiency in specific programming languages, frameworks, or tools), as well as soft skills (e.g., communication, problem-solving, and adaptability).

By having a well-defined role, recruiters can better target the right candidates and ensure that everyone involved in the hiring process is aligned on what they’re looking for.

Example: If you’re hiring for a full-stack developer role, it’s essential to specify whether you’re looking for expertise in front-end technologies like React and Angular, back-end technologies like Node.js or Django, and whether the candidate should have experience working with cloud platforms or databases like AWS or MongoDB. Defining these needs upfront will guide the rest of the hiring process.

2. Implement a multi-stage screening process

A multi-stage screening process allows you to assess candidates from different angles and ensures that you’re making a well-rounded decision. Here’s an example of how you can structure your screening process:

Stage 1: Resume and Application Review Start by reviewing resumes to ensure candidates meet the basic qualifications for the role. Be sure to focus on technical skills, work experience, and relevant accomplishments. At this stage, it’s also important to check for red flags, such as gaps in employment or unrealistic claims.

Stage 2: Pre-screening Assessment Next, conduct a pre-screening assessment. This can be a technical skills test, a problem-solving exercise, or even a short coding challenge. Platforms like HackerEarth allow recruiters to create customized coding tests for various roles, whether it’s for front-end developers, software engineers, or system architects.

Stage 3: Technical Interviews Incorporate a technical interview with a subject matter expert. This interview can involve problem-solving on a whiteboard or through live coding challenges. The goal here is to evaluate the candidate’s ability to think critically, approach problems, and demonstrate their technical skills in real-time.

Stage 4: Behavioral Interviews Behavioral interviews focus on a candidate’s past experiences, motivation, and cultural fit within the organization. Use competency-based questions like, “Tell me about a time you solved a difficult problem” or “Describe a situation where you had to collaborate with cross-functional teams.”

Stage 5: Final Interview or Skills Challenge Some companies choose to round off their hiring process with a final interview or a hands-on skills challenge. This final step may involve coding assignments or work simulations relevant to the role.

Having a multi-stage process helps tech recruiters gain a holistic view of the candidate’s abilities, ensuring that technical expertise and cultural fit are both evaluated.

3. Use Standardized Evaluation Criteria

To ensure consistency and fairness throughout the hiring process, it’s important to use standardized evaluation criteria. A standardized rubric helps eliminate bias and ensures that all candidates are evaluated on the same set of criteria, making the hiring process both objective and transparent.

A standardized rubric is essentially a scoring system that breaks down the qualities or competencies a candidate should demonstrate, with each one given a specific weight or rating scale. It helps interviewers rate candidates in a consistent way, providing a fair comparison between applicants and allowing for easier decision-making. Here’s how you can create and implement an effective rubric:

Example of a candidate evaluation rubric:

For a Software Developer position, your rubric might look something like this:

In this rubric, each category has a weight that reflects its importance to the role. For instance, technical skills are weighted most heavily at 30%, as this is the primary requirement for a software development position. Similarly, problem-solving ability comes next, followed by communication skills, cultural fit, and collaboration.

The rating scale from 1 to 5 allows interviewers to score candidates based on their performance in each category. For example, if a candidate demonstrates exceptional problem-solving ability, they would receive a rating of 5, while a candidate who struggles in this area would receive a 1.

By breaking down evaluation into clear, objective categories, you reduce the subjectivity in your hiring process and ensure that interviewers focus on specific qualities rather than making decisions based on gut feel.

In this example, technical expertise in data analysis and machine learning is the highest priority, reflecting the critical skill set for the role. Business acumen comes next, ensuring that the candidate can interpret data in the context of business goals. Collaboration and mentorship are also crucial for a senior role, as the candidate must work well with others and potentially guide junior team members. Presentation and communication are valued as well, since senior data scientists need to be able to present their findings to various stakeholders. Lastly, cultural fit is always considered, but it is given a smaller weight.

This rubric-based approach ensures that candidates are evaluated in a comprehensive, fair, and consistent manner, minimizing bias and allowing for more objective comparisons between candidates.

Benefits of using standardized evaluation criteria

1. Consistency: A standardized rubric ensures that all candidates are evaluated on the same criteria, leading to more consistent results across different interviewers and stages of the hiring process.
2. Transparency: With a clear set of criteria and a rating scale, both recruiters and candidates can see how decisions are made. This transparency reduces the potential for confusion or misunderstanding.
3. Objective comparison: Standardized evaluation allows interviewers to compare candidates more objectively, based on measurable skills and qualities. This makes it easier to spot the candidate who truly stands out in terms of both technical and soft skills.
4. Reduced bias: By focusing on specific, measurable qualities instead of general impressions, interviewers are less likely to fall prey to unconscious biases. Standardized evaluation criteria also provide a concrete basis for decisions, making it easier to justify the choice of one candidate over another.
5. Improved candidate experience: When candidates know what to expect during the interview and how they’ll be assessed, it helps them better prepare and feel confident during the process.

4. Integrate Skills-Based Assessments and Tests

Skills-based assessments are a cornerstone of a structured hiring process, especially for tech teams. These assessments help ensure that the candidate’s skills align with the technical requirements of the role. By using platforms like HackerEarth, recruiters can create customized, skills-based assessments that test coding, system design, algorithmic thinking, and other job-specific competencies.

Benefits of skills-based assessments include:

• Objective measurement: Assessments provide an unbiased way to measure technical ability, ensuring that every candidate is evaluated on the same criteria.

• Data-driven decision making: With detailed results from skills assessments, recruiters can use data to make more informed hiring decisions.

• Real-world simulation: Candidates demonstrate their skills in actual work scenarios, giving recruiters a better understanding of how they might perform on the job.

For example, if you’re hiring a back-end developer, you can use a coding challenge to assess their proficiency in database management, API integration, and server-side technologies. The results of these assessments give you concrete evidence of the candidate’s abilities.

5. Foster collaboration between recruiters and hiring managers

Collaboration between recruiters and hiring managers is key to creating a structured, efficient hiring process. Regular communication between the two parties ensures that the hiring team is aligned on what to look for in candidates, which skills are most critical for the role, and how to evaluate them.

In tech recruitment, this collaboration is especially important. Hiring managers can offer insights into the day-to-day challenges of the role and clarify what technical skills and soft skills candidates need to thrive. By staying involved throughout the process, hiring managers can help recruiters refine the interview questions and evaluation criteria, ensuring that both the technical and cultural aspects of the role are taken into account.

6. Focus on diversity and inclusion

A structured hiring process also plays an important role in promoting diversity and inclusion. By focusing on skills-based assessments and objective criteria, recruiters can ensure that all candidates are evaluated based on their abilities rather than their background.

Incorporating blind hiring practices, such as HackerEarth’s PII masking feature, can also help remove unconscious bias from the process. PII masking hides personal information, such as names, gender, and educational background, ensuring that candidates are assessed solely on their skills and qualifications. This increases fairness and ensures that diverse talent pools are considered for tech roles.

7. Continuously improve and optimize

A structured hiring process is not static. It’s important to continuously collect feedback, track key hiring metrics, and optimize the process over time. Whether it’s improving the efficiency of the interview process, enhancing candidate experience, or refining the evaluation criteria, regularly evaluating the hiring process ensures that tech recruiters are always making data-driven decisions and improving their strategies.

Key metrics to track include:

• Time-to-hire
• Quality of hire (based on performance post-hire)
• Candidate satisfaction
• Offer acceptance rate
• Diversity hiring metrics

By reviewing these metrics, tech recruiters can identify bottlenecks, adjust strategies, and optimize the process to attract the best talent.

Conclusion

Building a structured hiring process is essential for tech recruiters who want to hire the right candidates efficiently and effectively. By implementing a multi-stage screening process, utilizing standardized evaluation criteria, integrating skills-based assessments, and promoting collaboration between recruiters and hiring managers, you can ensure that your recruitment strategy is data-driven, objective, and fair.

By adopting these best practices, tech recruiters can not only streamline their recruitment process but also position their companies for success in the fast-paced and ever-evolving tech industry.

This article was written with insights from James Deverick at Sage

The current state of workplace DE&I

When it comes to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I), it’s crucial to understand that these are three different ideas. Of course, they are related, but developing an effective overall DEI strategy means understanding where they overlap and where they’re distinct.

• Diversity: This relates to the representation of people in the workplace according to gender, ethnicity, age, physical ability range, neurodiversity, sexuality, etc.
• Equity: This is about ensuring fair treatment for all. It involves arranging your policies and practices so they don’t inadvertently disadvantage anyone.
• Inclusion: Making sure everyone is included and given an equal opportunity to contribute. This means actively considering any biases weighing against this and trying to overcome them.

One challenge that often crops up when aiming to implement a DEI strategy is the asymmetry of information. That’s to say that when data silos develop in your organization, it causes problems. A lack of access to business-critical knowledge can quickly become a barrier to inclusion.

Centralizing your data with an ERP software solution is an excellent way to resolve this. This kind of tool allows you to store all your information in a secure database that links up your systems. Instead of your various teams having no clue what other departments are doing, everyone has access to company-wide data that’s updated in real-time.

This makes it much easier for staff from every area of your business to make contributions, as they all have access to the same information. ERP tools thus level the playing field, which is exactly what you need if you want to focus on DEI.

Of course, this is just one of the ways tech can help boost your DEI efforts. So, it’s now time to dig a little deeper into the broad array of benefits to be gained.

The role of empathetic technology in DE&I

Before we go any further, let’s first spend a moment exploring what exactly is meant by “empathetic technology”. This term covers the use of any tech-based tools or systems designed to understand and respond to human emotions.

The kinds of things that count as empathetic technology include:

• Wearables that use physical metrics to determine a person’s mood.
• Customer service chatbots.
• Platforms that use AI to make an easy-to-learn user interface.

When applied in the workplace, empathetic technology can play a significant role in achieving DE&I goals.

Some major benefits you can gain from implementing this kind of tech into your strategy include:

Fosters inclusion and accessibility

Key to promoting inclusion and accessibility is recognizing that individuals’ different perspectives on life have value in and of themselves. It’s crucial to find ways for all employees to participate equally, regardless of their background.

Examples of empathetic technology that can support this include:

• Voice recognition and natural language processing tools. These can make workplace communication more accessible for people who have disabilities.
• Multilingual language support for your key platform user interface. This can help staff whose first language isn’t the one used for general workplace communication.
• Personalized content and recommendations using machine learning techniques. Catering to individual needs and preferences using tailored content makes sure employees feel valued and included.

Mitigates bias and discrimination

No matter how hard you try to avoid it, the truth is that human beings are creatures of bias. Confirmation bias, logical fallacies, groupthink—we’ve all been there.

Let’s take recruitment. You’ve probably devoted a lot of time to developing an effective hiring process that acknowledges the importance of diversity in tech. After all, you know your business will thrive if it can attract top talent.

Maybe you already use cutting-edge techniques such as values-based recruitment (which you absolutely should, by the way). But could you be doing more to make the process more equitable?

Luckily, there’s help out. Empathetic tech can go a long way toward stripping out any remaining biases in your selection procedures. That’s because AI algorithms can be trained to detect and minimize biases in your process, helping you make fairer and more diverse hiring decisions.

Once your people have settled in, empathetic technology can help you in other ways too. For example, you can use it to develop training plans to reduce the risk of discrimination in the workplace.

One approach is to use augmented reality or virtual reality platforms. These can simulate real-life scenarios to raise awareness about unconscious biases and foster empathy among employees.

Enhances collaboration and cultural understanding

The right tech can also play a significant role in breaking down barriers and promoting effective communication among diverse teams.

Let’s use chatbots as an example. The standard of chatbot tech has undergone phenomenal improvements over the past few years. When most people hear the word “chatbot”, automated customer service agents probably spring to mind, but there are other ways you can use them in the workplace to promote DEI.

For instance, chatbots can be helpful as virtual trainers or guides to educate employees about different cultural norms and customs. They’re also a good option for delivering interactive modules or simulations to raise awareness about cultural diversity.

This kind of initiative helps your employees better grasp cultural differences. In the long run, this is one of the best employee retention strategies, since staff are much more likely to stay in a work environment where they feel valued and understood by their peers.

How to adopt empathetic technology in your DEI strategy

Whatever type of tech you plan to introduce into your organization, there are a few essential elements you first need to consider.

Set clear goals and objectives

Clarity is key. Define your DEI-related goals and objectives aligning with your organization’s overall strategy. Work out how empathetic technology can contribute to achieving these and develop a list of realistic KPIs.

Be specific about the metrics you want to hit, whether it’s fostering inclusion, mitigating bias, or enhancing cultural understanding. Make sure you set down in detail what the desired outcomes are and set deadlines for meeting these.

Secure support from organizational leaders to prioritize DEI

There’s no doubt that although many leaders talk about diversity in tech, they don’t all walk the walk. Unfortunately, without C-suite buy-in, any DEI strategy is doomed to fail.

So, how do you engage organizational leaders and secure their commitment to prioritizing DEI efforts? Answer: you show them evidence of its practical benefits.

Let’s consider something familiar to most businesses: the accounts team. In any organization, one of the most critical functions of this team is paying suppliers and other stakeholders accurately and on time.

DEI policies can address unconscious biases and ensure equity in accounts payable processes. These could include such day-to-day operations as invoice processing, payment approvals, and expense reimbursements.

You can use modern account payable software to keep track of transactions and automate your procedures. Doing this makes it easier to make sure that all employees and stakeholders receive fair treatment. This will bolster your company’s reputation and boost your DEI credentials.

Also, Read: D&I Lessons to Learn From Top D&I Global Organizations

Adopt a user-centered design approach

Involving employees and stakeholders in the design and development process is also a good idea. This means conducting user research to understand the needs, preferences, and pain points your tech will address.

Some people are reluctant to embrace wearable tech, for example. It’s vital to be aware that previous work experiences may have left some employees mistrustful of senior management’s motives for introducing biometric tech into the workplace.

So, it’s crucial to incorporate their feedback and perspectives. This way, the technology you invest in will be more likely to meet employee expectations and be inclusive by design.

Provide comprehensive employee training and education programs

You can never have too much in the way of upskilling and reskilling in the workplace. Offer comprehensive training programs to educate employees on the benefits and ethical considerations of using empathetic technology.

Specifically, teach them how to use this tech to enhance DEI efforts, address biases, and promote inclusive practices. Encourage open dialogue and create spaces where employees can share their honest insights.

Prioritize data privacy and security considerations

Data privacy and security are paramount when implementing empathetic technology. Ensure compliance with relevant regulations and establish watertight procedures for protecting sensitive information by taking into account the utilization of top proxies to enhance security.

Keep a two-way conversation going at all times surrounding data collection, storage, and usage. Always remember to obtain explicit consent from users, as well as regularly review and update privacy policies to nip any problems in the bud before they cause real headaches.

Ensure technology can accommodate future growth

Your empathetic technology solutions must also be scalable and adaptable to evolving DEI requirements. Regularly evaluate the effectiveness of your tech and make necessary adjustments as your organizational goals develop.

New possibilities with empathetic technology

We’ve certainly come a long way from where we started. Over the years, DE&I policies have adapted as businesses everywhere have begun to understand how crucial it is to achieve diversity in tech.

Although some challenges remain, there’s no doubt that the rise of empathetic technology is opening up new possibilities for solving them. If you’re looking to breathe new life into your current DEI strategy, it could be time to get some digital help.

From nerve-wracking job interviews to the nail-biting waiting period, navigating the tech industry’s hiring process is often a roller coaster of emotions.

Add in the additional layer of being a member of the LGBTQIA+ community in tech and identifying as a queer or non-binary individual. The ride becomes even more complex.

To shed light on these experiences, we have collected authentic narratives from seven LGBTQIA+ tech professionals.

These candid conversations reveal a spectrum of encounters, both empowering and challenging, and propose crucial strategies for cultivating a more inclusive recruiting landscape.

Read on.

Here’s what the LGBTQIA+ community in tech had to say about their interview experience

1. Cecilia Righini (They/Them), Founder and Creative Director of Studio Lutalica

a. Was disappointed when the employer asked them to omit their pronouns from the company signature.

Cecilia: As I was looking for my first job within the Design and Tech fields (as a Project or Design Manager), I had been asked by a potential employer to omit my pronouns from the company email signature. They said they were ‘absolutely ok with it’, but their clients ‘may not be’.

Asking someone to hide their identity at work is discrimination, and (now I am an agency owner myself) I believe agencies should take a stand against any type of discrimination. Educate your clients when possible or even consider not working with them at all.

b. But on the other hand, they also had a delightful experience.

Cecilia: When I interviewed with Lattimore and Friends, a London-based (remote-first) web development agency, I was told they were actively trying to employ more women and non-binary people as the tech industry is overwhelmingly male-dominated.

Once I joined, my employer immediately changed his signature to include his pronouns and asked everyone else to do the same, so I would feel comfortable including my pronouns in my signature.

Also read: How To Build Safe And ‘PROUD’ Workplaces – A Personal Story

2. We interviewed Lizi Gigauri (She/Her), Marketing Coordinator, Alphamoon.

Here’s what she had to say:

a. Can you share what kind of experience you had during the tech interview/hiring process?

Lizi: I have gone through many stages of recruitment with numerous tech companies in my downtime and not once have I explicitly been asked about my sexual orientation. I do however provide my pronouns.

From my (and my friends) experience the tech industry is the least judgmental about queerness – your job speaks for you, not your sexuality. It’s refreshing to see that no one cares about anyone’s sexuality. It’s not theirs to care about.

b. Was it a positive or a negative experience? Please elaborate.

Lizi: Some of the highlights in the past three years have been the support from people and culture officers who go out of their way to make it a comfortable and inclusive space for the LGBTQIA+ community in tech. One of the last companies I worked for donated money to several LGBTQ+ charities operating in Poland. The company also encouraged us to attend the pride parade (a very scary event) during pride month which was awesome to see.

In another company, I could choose to add another person to my private health insurance (gender or relation not specified). I’m pretty open about my sexuality and highlight it whenever there’s a possibility to see how others react.

In this country, you really need to test the waters and I often raise conversations about the living conditions in this country along with the struggles we have to go through. So to see the willingness to ensure the safety of their employees in every regard is undoubtedly a plus.

c. What do you think needs to be changed to make tech hiring more inclusive of the queer community?

Lizi: I think one thing that could be changed is the linguistics. Due to the linguistics of the country which is gender-specific like most Slavic countries, the job offers are also gender-centered. For example, instead of saying writer (non-binary), it’s often writer (male).

Apart from this, I would also encourage more tech companies to ask and respect the pronouns of the applicant since here it’s seeped into the society to assume the gender based on the presentation.

Also read: 5-Step Guide To Gender-Fluid Tech Job Descriptions (+Free Checklist)

3. Swetha Harikrishnan(She/Her), Senior HR Director, HackerEarth

a. Can you share what kind of experience you had during the tech interview/hiring process?

Swetha: I’ve never really had much of an experience specifically being queer. However, there was this one time at this interview with HR folks with a global advertising/marketing Tech company. It had proclaimed to be really progressive when it comes to D&I and specifically had a target for reaching 50-50 composition on gender (men-women) in the company.

But I experienced behaviors that strongly demonstrated that I lost the final selection there because I said that I was queer and wanted to be a visible role model and work on LGBTQ+ inclusion under their D&I umbrella.

b. Was it a positive or a negative experience? Please elaborate.

While looking for new opportunities in terms of work, I was very clear that I wanted to be my whole self with the next company and brand I associate myself with. That means that I would transparently be letting the new employer know that I’m queer, I would like to visibly and vocally role model my personal journey as being queer and also talk about inclusion with that lens. Thus, carrying the brand/projecting the brand with me alongside my personal brand.

When I interviewed with HackerEarth, something that really stood out to me very naturally was that the group (leaders of the company) that I interviewed with was extremely diverse. And not talking in the sense of a typical ‘gender’ or LGBTQ+ diversity, but just naturally felt like they had a very diverse set of individuals with diverse personalities. Now this got me really excited. To feel ‘diversity’ in that sense. This was refreshing.

It’s riding on this feeling that I also decided to talk about my representation from the queer community to Sachin (the CEO) and my intent to visibly role model myself with the next brand/company that I associate myself with. When I asked him how he felt about it, he said that’s totally up to me and that he doesn’t see why I wouldn’t be able to do that with HackerEarth.

Now it’s one thing to talk the language, and it’s another to actually walk it. You need to be fiercely authentic and bold to walk it. The conversation with Sachin and his views here felt very honest and genuine and he did not appear as a trained ‘leader’ who’s blindly following a language without believing in it.

Fast forward to the date today, I stand here vouching for HackerEarth being the most inclusive company I’ve worked with, as a culture.

This is very difficult to establish. I’m not saying that we don’t make mistakes. I’m saying that with ‘inclusion and creating a safe space for everyone’ being at the heart of the company, we take every step to acknowledge our mistakes, correct them, and not make the same mistake again.

Also read: Embracing DE&I At The Workplace – #1 Back To The Basics

Swetha provided the following pointers on how the process can be improved to make it more comfortable for the LGBTQIA+ community in tech:

Educate your staff and give them the proper tools for hiring. We need to ensure that we walk the talk. A queer representation on the hiring panel/team would be awesome too.

• Train your employees on the overall inclusion definition, how to tackle unconscious bias, what personal definitions for inclusion look like for each individual (reflect internally, then externally), and what is psychological safety (respect for all & their views)
• Next, train them on what LGBTQ+ means under the larger umbrella of inclusion.
• Tools: Hide PII + make all elements gender-neutral.
• Organize a recruitment drive for hiring folks only from the queer community – be bold and transparent in the communication and intent here. It’s okay to positively have a selection to move towards ‘equity’.
• Use gender-neutral language: on the job descriptions that TA folks use to communicate with potential candidates, on our website, etc.
• Ensure that our policies & benefits have LGBTQ+ inclusion and talk proactively about:
  • Anti-harassment policy coverage
  • gender-neutral restrooms, if any.
  • insurance for same partner coverage + gender affirmation surgery coverage etc.
  • EAP (employee assistance partner) – covered for queer community-related mental well-being and language.
• Create & talk about the queer support groups/ERGs (employee resource groups) in the company.

5. Shakambari Jaiswal (She/Her), Customer Success Associate at Recruit CRM

a. Can you share what kind of experience you had during the tech interview/hiring process?

Shakambari: This one time when I was interviewed for a job at an IT company, they really didn’t seem queer-friendly and didn’t care much about pronouns. I also noticed their minimal knowledge of the LGBTQIA+ community in tech.

I identify as bisexual and I have never really felt safe to disclose my identity during interviews or even once I become an employee, often because people are too quick to judge.

b. Was it a positive or a negative experience? Please elaborate.

Shakambari: However, my experience with Recruit CRM was pleasant. I feel incredibly grateful for the recruitment process that introduced me to this remarkable team. Right from the start, they displayed a remarkable level of inclusivity, ensuring that my pronouns were consistently acknowledged and respected. Their open-mindedness and lack of bias toward my bisexuality were truly inspiring, making me feel valued and welcomed as an individual in their inclusive work environment.

Also read: 8 Unconsciously Sexist Interview Questions You’re Asking Your Female Candidates

6. Employees and the Founder of COMPT share their views on the tech hiring process

• Amy Spurling (She/Her), founder & CEO, identifies as lesbian:

Amy: There is so much that needs to change – too many to enumerate here. One place I’d point out is that too often, companies get into the space of “we are a family-oriented company,” but then all of their definitions of family are straight, cisgender parents with kids. Families come in all shapes, sizes, and designs.

As a member of the queer community, I often feel like I have to justify or further define my family (in prior companies). Normalize that everyone has a family, but every family looks different.

Normalize your “family” benefits to include things beyond fertility treatments and child care – things like adoption, surrogacy (where it’s legal), pet care, eldercare, or even just supporting mental and physical wellness (what family doesn’t need that!).”

• Anonymous (She/Her), Marketing Manager, identifies as gay

a. Can you share what kind of experience you had during the tech interview/hiring process?

“I had an awesome experience interviewing with Compt. For one, I didn’t have to create an account in one of those applicant tracking systems where it feels like your application just disappears into a black hole. I sent my application directly to the hiring manager via email, and he reached out personally to schedule an interview. Every step of the interview and hiring process that followed was equally thoughtful. Many companies claim to be people-first, but Compt truly walks the walk.

b. Was it a positive or a negative experience? Please elaborate.

Unfortunately, I have not felt comfortable disclosing details about my personal life in past job interviews out of fear of experiencing discrimination.

However, Compt publicly talks about its efforts to hire a diverse team, even going as far as sharing data on what percentage of the staff identifies as LGBTQ+.

The fact that our CEO personally tracks this information made me feel like there is a genuine commitment to creating an inclusive work environment, which put me at ease.”

c. What do you think needs to be changed to make tech hiring more inclusive of the queer community?

“I think companies need to take it a step further beyond just saying, “We don’t tolerate discrimination.” They should make it clear that they are actively searching for candidates from diverse backgrounds, including individuals from the queer community. This could be especially helpful for companies located in states where anti-LGBTQ+ legislation is prevalent.

Also, training people who are in positions to make hiring decisions is crucial. Sometimes a hiring manager simply wants to develop rapport with a candidate and may ask an innocent question like “Do you have kids?”, but it’s important to understand what questions should be avoided to promote fairness in the hiring process.”

• Tim Faherty (He/Him), Customer Success Manager

Tim: I had a seamless experience during the hiring process for Compt. The leadership team stayed transparent throughout and set expectations and next steps accordingly for the interview and follow-up process. All my questions were answered thoroughly, and expectations were set on when I could expect more information about the next steps in the hiring process.

Tim believes that transparency is the key to ensuring a smooth tech recruiting process:

Knowing you’re interviewing for a diverse company makes hiring so much easier from an applicant’s perspective. If a company doesn’t outwardly advertise its diversity, then it can add anxiety as a person never truly knows the work environment they might walk into.

A queer person is never finished coming out, as things like a new job put that person in a position where they will inevitably address their sexuality. Transparency is the key to eliminating potential anxiety.

As we unwrap these stories, we realize that the journey to an inclusive hiring process is a shared responsibility – demanding transparency, active inclusion, and constant learning.

Let’s champion diversity by remembering these narratives and embedding their lessons into our tech industry’s hiring tapestry.