The difference between equality of opportunity and outcomes became a big philosophical debate in the 1970s that I’ve visited of late. It’s thought of differently today, but in hiring the themes seem deeply relevant.
Quotas (be they race, gender or any identity) can seem patronizing to everyone involved. The NFL “Rooney Rule”, introduced in 2004, felt like a compromise — commit not to the outcome of who will be hired, but the pool of candidates. We at Technical.ly have followed something similar — we won’t pre-determine the background of whomever we might hire, but we do evaluate the pipeline we use to hire and think of how our overall organization reflects the communities we serve.
The Rooney Rule has since been criticized, and it surely has its faults but the point is that you have a problem if none of your finalists reflect your target audience — and certainly not if your applicant pool doesnt. The key then is to start with what will you index as success: What demographics should your organization match? What customers or community best reflects your ideal?
We’ve made three hires recently, all of whom were white — but we also feel confident that they are great hires. And they were part of a diverse applicant pool. Other times, we now have paused a hiring process when the applicant pool, or those finalists, did not look fitting.
Over reliance on big jobs board platforms won’t always solve your problem. What personal and intentional and longterm relationships are you building? I also feel this work will never reach completion. It is constant brand building and relationship building and investment.
I did a scan of a few recent hiring processes we went through:
- National Editor: 265 applicants, 14 closer looks, 8 follow up interviews: 3 male (2 white, 1 South Asian decent); 5 women (2 Black female, 3 white)
- Engagement Coordinator: 35 applicants; 7 in-person interviews: 1 white male, 4 female; 6 non-white, 3 Asian and 3 Black
- Events Coordinator (replacing Corinne!): 75+ applicants, looked more deeply at 11: 5 of whom were white male; 5 were women (2 Black, 2 white and 1 Asian)