ebook

3 Methods for
Attracting Diverse
Tech Talent
Introduction

Inaction isn’t an option

Day by day, turnover tsunamis continue to take the corporate

world by storm.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, a record four

million Americans quit their jobs in April 2021 alone—and
a recent Gallup study found that 48% of America’s working
population is actively job searching or open to new opportunities.
COVID-19 has forever changed the corporate minorities,” says an article by CNBC. For
world. During the pandemic, countless people example, many enterprises saw only “low
paused to ask: Do I like the life I’m leading, single-digit increases in their percentage
personally and professionally? If not, how can I of Black employees” from 2014 to 2020.
change that? Prioritizing hiring more underrepresented
talent—as identified by the U.S. Equal
As one Harvard Business School professor told Employment Opportunity Commission
NPR, “We have changed. Work has changed. (EEOC)—and expanding your candidate pool
The way we think about time and space has are critical first steps to a successful sourcing
changed.” And the resulting resignations speak strategy.
for themselves.
At Hired, we’re committed to building a world
Now, an influx of candidates are back on the where everyone has equal opportunity to find
job market seeking meaningful opportunities a job they love. Nearly 30% of the job-seekers
that align with their core values. As a company, on our platform are from underrepresented
you should take action, too—using the Great groups—and we’re passionate about paving
Resignation as a chance to pinpoint areas their path to professional success. In this
for improvement, reimagine your recruiting ebook, we’ll share three specific methods for
approach, and proactively attract diverse talent hiring a more diverse workforce to help you
in a changed climate. create an action plan and reach your hiring and
DEI goals through the Great Resignation and
Historically, diversifying tech teams has been beyond.
a major struggle for companies everywhere.
“Prominent tech companies have made little Let’s get started.
progress in their stated goal of hiring more

3 Methods for Attracting Diverse Tech Talent 3

The opportunity

Homogeneity hurts your business

Study after study has shown that diverse workforces reap the
best business results.

According to the McKinsey Global Institute, gender-diverse

companies are 15% more likely to have financial returns
above their national industry median. Similarly, ethnically
diverse companies typically experience a 35% increase in
performance compared to their homogenous counterparts.
And a report from Boston Consulting Group found that
diverse management teams generate 19 times more revenue
than non-diverse teams.

Despite these undeniable benefits, many companies still

struggle to meet their diversity goals. Whether the culprit is
alienating job descriptions, unconscious biases in the hiring
process, or limited sourcing strategies, something clearly
needs to change.

It’s easy to tell candidates you’re committed to diversity,

equity, and inclusion (DEI). Walking the walk, on the other
hand, takes effort—and is the only way forward.

Ready to get on the path to progress? We’ll show you how.

3 Methods for Attracting Diverse Tech Talent 4

 Method 1:
Meet diverse talent where they are
I. Partner with diverse organizations
By partnering with diverse organizations,
employers can expand their talent pool and
pave career pathways for previously overlooked
candidates.
You might try sourcing talent from tech
bootcamps, which are an increasingly popular
way for professionals of all backgrounds to
upskill, reskill, and advance their careers.
Making a global impact on DEI can’t be
done alone. That’s why Hired partners with
organizations and communities who share
our vision for a future where everyone has
equal opportunity to find a job they love. Our
partnerships allow us to amplify our values and
accelerate towards much-needed progress.
Companies can also pursue paid internships,
mentorships, or temporary work programs with
universities known for having diverse student
populations. For example, Netflix partners with
Historically Black Colleges and Universities
(HBCUs) and Hispanic Serving Institutions
(HSIs) to equip students with real-world tech
skills—and funnel underrepresented tech talent
directly into their organization.
Here are a few inspiring organizations to consider
working with ▷▷▷
3 Methods for Attracting Diverse Tech Talent
Ada’s List
Ada’s List is the place for professional women and non-binary
people who work in tech to “connect, conspire, and take a stand.”
Ada’s List is a visibility platform and marketplace designed to help
members collaborate and progress professionally.
CodeYourFuture
CodeYourFuture is a UK-based nonprofit that trains refugees and
other disadvantaged people to become software developers and
find work in the tech industry.
Techqueria
Techqueria is a nonprofit that is committed to empowering Latinx
professionals with the resources and support needed to thrive
in the tech industry. With 16,000+ members and allies across
seven cities, they serve the largest global community of Latinx
professionals in tech.
QTBIPOC Design
QTBIPOC Design empowers LGBTQ+ BIPOC designers with
education, mentorship, and networking opportunities. By educating
and empowering marginalized communities through workshops
and masterclasses, QTBIPOC Design hopes to make design teams
more equitable.
The Knowledge House
The Knowledge House is an award-winning digital technology
school that has served 1,750+ students since 2014. Through year-
long data science and web development courses, the organization
strives to empower aspiring tech professionals and alleviate poverty
in low-income communities.
Blacks in Technology
Blacks in Technology is a nonprofit committed to leveling the playing
field for Black tech workers through critical training, education,
networking, and mentorship.
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 Method 1: Meet diverse talent where they are
II. Sponsor and attend events
Events like career fairs and coding challenges give
employers a chance to build brand recognition,
expand talent pipelines, and clearly communicate
diversity goals—sharing where they are and,
more importantly, where they’re headed.
Hired’s most recent Quarterly Summit centered
around ​​closing the wage gap in technology,
III. Go remote
The demand for remote work has reached a
record high. Today, 93% of Hired candidates are
open to remote work—and from those, 11% only
want remote work. As a result, half of all tech job
placements on Hired’s platform in July 2021 were
for remote positions, up from 35% in January.
What’s more, our data shows that candidates are
significantly more likely to accept a final offer for
a remote position.
In setting rigid geographic boundaries, many
companies alienate diverse candidates and
perpetuate corporate homogeneity. For
instance, New York City, San Francisco, Boston,
Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles rank as some
of the most expensive cities in the United States.
They also happen to be tech industry hubs. In
reality, not everyone wants to uproot their life
and move to those cities—nor can many people
afford to. However, this doesn’t mean those
candidates are content with limiting themselves
to local job opportunities. That’s where remote
work policies come into play as powerful
equalizers of opportunity.
3 Methods for Attracting Diverse Tech Talent
providing professionals with actionable strategies
for negotiating fair pay and connecting them
directly with representatives from top companies
like Compass and Dropbox.
Engaging with events like this helps demonstrate
your commitment to DEI goals for potential
candidates—and can leave a lasting impression.
Hired research shows that interest in remote
work spikes among underrepresented groups—
with Black and veteran talent electing the “open
to remote” option more often than anyone else
on our platform. As Frances Coronel, Executive
Director at Techqueria, explained in our remote
work ebook, “Remote work helps put everyone
on the same playing field.”
The remote work movement isn’t slowing down
anytime soon. Simply put, ignoring this trend
means missing out on talented tech candidates
and stalling DEI efforts—which companies can’t
afford to do.
If you’re not offering remote work options for
candidates yet, take the above data and research
to make your case internally with your company
leadership and advocate for more flexible work to
support your hiring goals.
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 Method 2:
Create a diversity-focused candidate experience
I. Train your team
To create an inclusive candidate experience,
hiring teams must actively combat unconscious
biases at every recruitment stage—from
resume screens to interviews to candidate
communications via various channels.
Hiring managers and leaders should commit to
constant DEI education: establishing budgets for
attending workshops around unconscious bias,
investing in cutting-edge tools, and regularly
II. Use inclusive language
When it comes to candidate communications,
every word counts—from the copy on your career
site to the body of each job description.
Inclusive hiring content helps candidates
envision themselves at your company, while
exclusive content does exactly the opposite.
In fact, one Harvard study found that job ads
featuring stereotypically masculine words like
“dominant” and “competitive” discouraged
women from applying.
To attract diverse talent, recruiting teams can
leverage modern tools like Textio, an augmented
writing platform that helps companies craft more
insightful and inclusive hiring content. Using
language patterns, data, and research from nearly
one billion documents, Textio helps companies
quickly spot gendered and biased phrases—then
replace them with accessible alternatives.
3 Methods for Attracting Diverse Tech Talent
sharing relevant resources (articles, books,
papers, videos, podcasts, etc.) with the entire
team through a dedicated Slack channel or
alternate platform of choice.
To increase accountability, companies should also
set specific diversity goals for hiring managers—
and use tools like Gem to track progress in real
time.
“Whether it’s a job description, career site,
recruiting email, or any other employer brand or
hiring content, the words we use shape a person’s
impression of what it’s like to work at a company,”
explained Andrew Violante, Communications
Manager at Textio, in our ebook on driving DEI
through technology. “And it impacts who can see
themselves thriving there.”
Companies can also fuel DEI efforts by creating
diversity-focused microsites filled with
compelling and relevant content. For instance,
featuring current employees’ personal stories and
career paths can showcase the diversity on your
team—and help prospects see themselves at your
company.
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 Method 2: Create a diversity-focused candidate experience
III. Demonstrate your commitment to DEI
Candidates can tell the difference between
companies that talk the talk and ones that walk
the walk.
To create a welcoming candidate experience
for underrepresented talent, consistently
communicate your commitment to DEI,
emphasize equal growth and development
opportunities, and express clear enthusiasm
about diverse partnerships.
For example, Discovery partners with third
parties to evaluate their hiring processes and hold
themselves accountable. They then analyze the
data and layer it over their process to understand
if initiatives designed to build diverse teams are
truly working as intended. The result has been a
significantly broader mix of demographics going
3 Methods for Attracting Diverse Tech Talent
through their hiring process—and a more diverse
workforce.
In the energy sector, OVO Energy understands
that transparency and accountability are
key to gender pay equality. The company
publishes a detailed, honest report each year
outlining differences in pay by gender within
the organization—publicly committing to
transparent goals. These reports deliver a
blunt assessment of what they can improve on
and do better in the following year. Initiatives
they’re advancing as a result include building
a mentoring program for women in the
organization, relaunching their careers website
to remove unconscious bias, and adopting new
workplace policies that promote inclusion and
diversity.
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 Method 3:
Upgrade your hiring toolbox
I. Use diversity-focused recruiting tools
Your current recruiting tools might be limiting
your searches to a certain group of people and
causing you to overlook underrepresented talent.
To combat this harmful trend, take advantage of
modern hiring tools that are specifically designed
to help you build more diverse teams.
For instance, Hired and Canvas are
complementary platforms that can be used
together to recruit and hire diverse tech talent
across all seniority levels. Hired has developed
a cutting-edge DEI sourcing tool, Diversity
Goals, to support companies that recognize
representation as a critical component of their
culture and overall success. This new feature
helps employers simplify the process of sourcing
and engaging underrepresented candidates in the
tech industry, empowering them to efficiently
and effectively identify a wider range of diverse
candidates to fill tech positions. Diversity Goals
is designed to help employers:
3 Methods for Attracting Diverse Tech Talent
•Q
 uickly discover a population of qualified,
underrepresented candidates using the Hired
platform
•E
 liminate exhaustive searches to identify active,
diverse candidates—saving time, money, and
resources
• I mprove the overall recruiting and hiring
process with compelling and actionable market
insights
While most Hired candidates have 2+ years
of experience, Canvas focuses more on junior
talent and recent graduates, making these two
tools the perfect pair. With Canvas, recruiters
can easily filter through 75+ candidate data
points including demographic, experiential,
and cognitive diversity—quickly discovering
qualified applicants and ensuring equitable
pipelining.
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 Method 3: Upgrade your hiring toolbox

II. Augment your boolean searches

Your commonly used search terms may be second
nature. Now, it’s time to revisit them with fresh
eyes, asking: Who am I excluding with these
parameters?
To tap into diverse talent, consider searching
for universities with high populations of
underrepresented students. Historically Black
Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) like
Howard University and Morehouse College can
be fantastic sources of diverse candidates—
expanding your pipeline and advancing your
equity goals. Try including some of these in your
searches ▷▷▷

Women’s Hispanic serving Historically Black

Universities: institutions: Colleges and Universities:
Agnes Scott College Michigan State University Claflin University
Barnard College Texas A&M University Fisk University
Bryn Mawr College University of Arizona Florida A&M University
Mount Holyoke College UC Davis Hampton University
Scripps College UC Irvine Howard University
Simmons University UC Merced Morehouse College
Smith College UC Riverside North Carolina A&T
Spelman College UC Santa Barbara Spelman College
Wellesley College UC Santa Cruz Tuskegee University
Xavier University of Louisiana

III. Leverage skills-based assessments

Pedigree bias has long plagued recruitment,
punishing candidates who don’t fit a
predetermined mold and blocking worthy talent
from the tech industry.
Fortunately, modern technology can help combat
unconscious bias in the sourcing, screening,
and assessment stages. Hired Assessments helps
recruiters look beyond alma mater and
work history to focus on what matters most:
proven skills.
The result? New candidates, new perspectives,
and newly paved pathways for previously
overlooked talent.

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Conclusion:

Drive DEI with Hired

Diverse tech talent is out there, eager to drive impact

through innovation at organizations like yours. Ready to
open the door and let them in?

At Hired, we’re here to help. Since 2012, we’ve been

providing HR teams with full pipelines of diverse,
pre-vetted candidates. Built on millions of successful
matches, our algorithms find the right people for
each open role, saving you 45 sourcing hours per hire.
Meanwhile, bias reduction technology helps recruiters
filter for skills—ensuring that candidates are hired for
proven talent, not pedigree. And with our new Diversity
Goals tool, we also help employers surface skilled,
underrepresented candidates to diversify their talent
pipeline and teams.

Make your hiring process more equitable than ever.

Try Hired today

3 Methods for Attracting Diverse Tech Talent 11

Additional resources:

How to Source and Attract Diverse Talent

Hired 2021 Wage Inequality Report

How to Use Technology to Drive Each Stage of Recruiting

The Ally Series Playbook

How to Stay Accountable With Your DEI Goals

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