Trends in Diversity and Inclusion in Engineering Hiring

Ever walked into a room and felt like you didn't belong? Now imagine feeling that way at work. Every. Single. Day. This is why diversity and inclusion in recruitment isn't just a buzzword – it's a business imperative. As someone who's spent years in executive research and recruitment, I've seen firsthand the power of diverse teams. But here's the truth: attracting diverse talent is just the beginning. I remember when a client came to me, frustrated. "We're trying to hire diversely," they said, "but it's not working." Their mistake? They were fishing in the same old ponds. So, how do we shake things up? Here's what I've learned: 1. Cast a wider net: Look beyond your usual talent pools. Partner with diverse professional organizations. 2. Check your job descriptions: Are they truly inclusive? Words matter more than you think. 3. Diverse interview panels: Candidates should see themselves reflected in your team. 4. Blind resume reviews: Remove bias-triggering information like names and schools. 5. Showcase your commitment: Make your diversity initiatives visible on your website and social media. And hiring diverse talent means nothing if you can't retain them. Inclusion is where the real work begins. I once worked with a company that hired a diverse workforce but couldn't figure out why turnover was so high. The problem? They expected new hires to "fit in" rather than creating a culture where everyone could belong. To foster true inclusion: -> Mentor programs: Pair diverse employees with senior leaders. -> Employee resource groups: Give people a place to connect and be heard. -> Inclusive leadership training: Help managers understand and mitigate unconscious bias. -> Regular feedback: Create safe spaces for honest conversations about inclusion. -> Celebrate differences: Don't just tolerate diversity – embrace it! You should focus on creating a workplace where everyone can thrive, contribute, and feel valued. As leaders, it's on us to make this happen. It's not always easy, but it's always worth it. What's your experience with diversity and inclusion initiatives? #DiversityAndInclusion #RecruitmentBestPractices #InclusiveLeadership #WorkplaceCulture

It's true that organizational inclusion efforts are adapting to meet the demands of the evolving legal, political, and social landscape. But it's not true that all change is bad. Here are three positive trends I'm seeing: FROM: General diversity training 👎 TO: Skills-based learning 👍 We've known for years that general diversity training - ie, we bring everyone into a room and talk about why diversity = good and unconscious bias = bad - isn't particularly effective. Still, a lot of organizations have wanted to host these types of programs, even recently. What we're seeing now is a significant shift towards skill-based learning. The most popular content in our learning platform falls into 2 categories: (1) Skill-building for managers. We're seeing a lot of use of microlearnings on themes like leading effective meetings, giving performance feedback, managing 1:1s, and more. Companies are increasingly focused on equipping managers with skills for fostering healthy, high-performance, and inclusive cultures. (2) Learning that helps people work better together. We're seeing an uptick in the use of microlearnings that help people understand the range of different identities, perspectives, and working styles their colleagues may have. This includes themes like neurodiversity, social mobility, working across generations, and mental health at work. FROM: Performative, check-the box efforts to earn badges for a website 👎 TO: Improving talent practices to promote more consistent, objective, meritocratic, and fair outcomes 👍 Our clients are telling us that they're actually relieved to no longer feel obligated to spend time applying for various badges and external markers of inclusivity, and that they're instead shifting that time to focusing on actually creating an inclusive culture internally. One area that's getting some much-needed attention? Talent practices. Many of our clients are focused on partnering with people teams to audit and improve talent processes to promote more objective decision-making. This isn't just more inclusive, it's also going to produce more merit-based outcomes. FROM: Representation goals (meh) TO: Goals to achieve consistent outcomes at every stage of the talent lifecycle ( 😍 ) Over the last decade, representation goals have been one of the most common ways organizations have held themselves accountable. It's how they've answered the question "are we fair and inclusive?" But representation is a lagging indicator - the result of many things that can go right or wrong in an organization. I don't hate these goals (and certainly think they should be legal), but don't love them. Instead, I'm seeing some organizations shift to a focus on leading indicators - considering whether outcomes are consistent for different groups at each stage of the talent lifecycle. This is better way to hold yourself accountable *and* to communicate that what you care about is fairness, not hitting arbitrary numbers.

🚨 Big Tech’s $50B Diversity Equity IInclusion Illusion: Performative Posturing Meets Mass Retreat "The lack of progress in recent years toward increased diversity across the tech and venture industries is a result of leadership values." — Lili Gangas, Chief Technology Community Officer, Kapor Center. In 2020, after the murder of George Floyd, corporate America pledged over $50 billion toward racial equity. In 2021 seeing all the pledges I coined the term Performative Posturing when tech leaders issued bold statements, launched DEI programs, and promised change. Now? 🚨 Less than 5% of pledged funds have been spent on DEI. 🚨 DEI hiring dropped 33% in corporate America by 2023. 🚨 Google, Meta, Amazon, and Salesforce slashed DEI budgets and cut key roles. Where are the leaders who made those promises? 🔹 Marc Benioff (Salesforce CEO) once declared: “Presidents change, administrations change. We don’t change. We’re the same company, we’re the same core values.” Yet Salesforce removed workforce-diversity goals and erased “diversity” from its annual report. 🔹 Becca Lewis (Stanford Research Fellow) warns: “A lot of people see the writing on the wall that one way to curry favor with power is to fall in line around anti-DEI stuff.” Since then: Uber, Airbnb, and DoorDash scrubbed DEI mentions from reports and websites. Alphabet Inc., Meta, and Amazon quietly cut diversity hiring targets and reassigned DEI leadership. This isn’t about cost-cutting. It’s about weak leadership. The Reality: Diversity in Tech is STILL a Crisis 📉 Women in Tech: Women hold 26% of computing jobs, 16% of CEO roles, and 25% of leadership positions. 📉 Black & Hispanic Representation: Black employees make up only 7% of tech jobs (14% of the total workforce). Hispanic workers are 8% of the industry (18% of the total workforce). Black & Latino founders receive less than 1% of VC funding. 📉 Asian Representation: Asians make up 20% of tech but are underrepresented in C-suite roles. Cost of Leadership Failure? 💡 Lost Innovation: The most diverse companies are 35% more likely to outperform competitors. 💡 Losing Top Talent: 50% of Black tech workers are considering leaving due to bias. 76% of employees say they’ll quit companies that abandon DEI. 💡 Economic Loss: Black and Latino entrepreneurs face a $300B funding gap. Women-led startups receive just 2.3% of VC funding. 💡 Credibility Erosion: Companies that backpedal on DEI lose trust. Employees and consumers see through the hypocrisy. Real Leaders Don’t Retreat—They Stand Firm It was easy to post black squares and pledge billions when the world was watching. It was easy to claim allyship when it didn’t require action. But leadership isn’t about convenience—it’s about conviction. Samantha Katz Gillian Marcelle, PhD Mike Green Joe Cardillo https://lnkd.in/eyUagxUq

Here’s the math: 76 cents on the dollar. That's what Black professionals earn compared to White professionals in America. And what's happening now? Companies are slashing DEI programs faster than their PR teams can spin it. The truth? ↳ Systemic bias doesn't vanish when we ignore it. ↳ "Merit-based" hiring is often network-based hiring in disguise. ↳ Cutting DEI isn't a return to basics. It's a regression. I've been in over 100+ hiring meetings at Google, Meta, Calibrate and DoorDash. Guess what the focus isn't on? Qualifications. It's about "fit." It's about "previous company experience." See the pattern? → Lack of access to networks. → Lack of access to opportunity. → Lack of access to high salaries. → Rinse, repeat. Here's what actually works: ↳ Structured interviews with unbiased rubrics. ↳ Anonymous resume screenings. ↳ Diverse interview panels. ↳ Pay transparency from offer to promotion. ↳ Regular pay equity audits. This isn't a political issue. It's a talent issue. It's a fairness issue. It's a competitive advantage issue. Companies cutting DEI aren't economizing. They're cannibalizing their own ability to thrive in a diverse world. The data is there: Diverse companies outperform the competition by 36%. (That's being conservative) We know how to solve this. We have the tools to solve this. We just need the guts to solve this. #careers #equity #leadership #diversity #careeralchemy