How We Hired 7 Women in Tech in 3Â Weeks

How We Hired 7 Women in Tech in 3Weeks Not ur team at PowerToFly but thats what we basically looked like during this hiring blitz.Last year PowerToFly, the company I cofounded, welches faced with our biggest challenge yet diversify a tech team with skilleuchtdiode women for a major media company in three weeks. Oh and the positions were in Seattle and New York??already markets where women in tech are in high demand and recruiting teams are crawling all over them.Weve all heard the myriad of excuses when it comes to finding women in tech. The pipeline problem stands out the most. Companies love to say not enough women in tech graduated from computer science programs so therefore they dont exist in the hiring market. But doesnt that sound ironic when you consider that Mark Zuckerberg or Steve Jobs never graduated with a Computer Science degrees? Clearly no pipeline problem there.At PowerToFly we dont use the P word. We look for women who want to work now because we know they are out th ere, especially if companies lebensabschnittsgefhrte with us in the right ways to find them. Its not easy, but we got the job done for the major media company and were working for them again this winter. We cant give away all of our secrets (we wouldnt have a business if we did) but heres a top line breakdown of how we diversified a tech team to have over 50% women on it.1. ur Platform is Built For and By Women??So Women ComeThink about how most career sites are made. They focus on your timeline. Women often have very different timelines than men. We have babies. We leave the workforce to take care of them sometimes. Or maybe we didnt major in Computer Science in college, but we did go to a bootcamp where we learned to code and build products out of the gate. Our PowerToFly profiles ask women to share their stories first and foremost so they can explain why their timeline doesnt look like a thirty-year old Ivy League grads. Employers can scroll down the page for resume info if they want that information too.2. We Called It A Hiring Blitz and Aligned Our TeamsWere a company of almost all women??but we like using war terms like the rest of the business world Our talent management team aligned with our talent acquisition team on daily meeting schedule that welches managed through a project tracker that we all shared. Heres the template you can download. We actually use this template to manage priorities for our senior team every quarter. My cofounder and I go through and approve top level tasks before the start of the quarter to make sure everyone is on the same page.3. We Created Content Highlighting Women Working at The CompanyWere big believers at PowerToFly that you have to see it to be it. Yes, companies run employer branding campaigns to showcase their employees, but how many in depth articles have you read about women in tech working at those companies? As working mothers ourselves we have questions that arent often answered on company sites. How do you ma nage a product pipeline with two toddlers who need to get plektroned up from nursery school everyday? Weve seen it done and we tell those stories to inspire others.4. We Also Focused on Hiring ManagersWhen looking for a job people can find a lot of information about the company but what about the person they will be working with everyday? At PowerToFly we know transparency creates a more efficient hiring process. Theres two reasons why this makes sense one, you want to give people a chance to be prepared for their interview. If they arent, especially, when there is information out there about their potential boss, then thats a flag not to hire them. Second, everyone should have a clear idea who they are working with on day one. If youre expectations are out-matched then your employment history will be short-lived.5. We Promoted Content In Places Where Women AreJob websites act like its still the mid 1990s. Content is all on their site??and not across the social channels where women spend more of their time. How about going to where women are on the social web, especially since they are already overwhelmed? We are big believers in taking opportunities to women instead of asking them to come to us and we do this at PowerToFly for companies through a network of partner sites, womens organizations, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn groups and a myriad of other places.6. We Invited 400 Women To A Webinar With The Hiring ManagersWe did this for one main reason to measure intent within the candidate pool. As I said in point three, were very insistent that women know who their hiring managers are. We went a step deeper and held a webinar with those hiring managers. After the webinar women raised their hands who wanted to stay in the hiring process. Those who werent interested in what they heard left??everyone saved time. For the record, 141 women expressed interest after the hour-long webinar to work for the media company.7. With 141 Women In The Running, We Star ted The Technical Vetting Process This is where it got interesting. We have Technical Account Managers who focused on code reviews while our Talent Management Team checked in with candidates to see how they felt about the companys cultural principles. Note that we never put ourselves in a position where we could say she isnt a cultural fit. We think thats a proxy-variable for people being able to get away from racism or sexism. Instead we wanted to make sure the women felt comfortable and aligned with the companys internal dynamics.8. We Handpicked 22 Candidates For The Media Company To Review We took over 400 candidates and whittled it down to 22 women for the company to meet. Our goal is to save everyone time??especially women in tech who get pulled in every direction. With those 22 interviews, the interviews began in Seattle and New York. The interview process needed some improvements which we highlighted immediately to the media company. One woman felt that the panel interviewin g her was too male. Another woman felt like a hiring manager barely asked her any technical questions and made his assumptions about her fit based on her appearance. It was our job at PowerToFly to let them know. When we told the hiring manager at the media company he took the feedback and made changes immediately. That was one of the more rewarding parts of the blitz. Real time change for women during the interview process.9. They Hired 7 WomenAnd thats the story.So, have you created a profile on PowerToFly yet? If not, you should. Its time to elevate your value -- get noticed and interviewed by some of the best hiring managers on the planet.Check out the following job openings below at companies we have accepted on the PowerToFly platform because they value gender diversity and inclusion.UX Design Technologist??Volkswagen (Belmont, CA)Senior UX Design Technologist??Volkswagen (Belmont, CA)Backend Engineer, Video Player??Time, Inc. (NYC)Senior Software Engineer, Ad Distribution??Ti me, Inc. (NYC)Solutions Engineer??AdRoll (NYC)QA Analyst??Hearst Corporation (NYC)Automation QA Engineer??Hearst Corporation (NYC)Software Engineer??Hearst Corporation (NYC)DevOps Engineer??Hearst Corporation (NYC)Senior Engineer??American Express (Palo Alto, CA)Senior Engineer, Big Data??American Express (Phoenix, AZ)Java Engineer??American Express (Phoenix, AZ)Senior Data Science Engineer??AdRoll (Remote)Lead User Experience Researcher??AdRoll (San Francisco)Account Executive??BetterUp (San Francisco)Senior Django Software Engineer??Rover.com (Seattle, WA)Senior Product Manager??Rover.com (Seattle, WA)Senior Full Life Cycle Recruiter??Rover.com (Seattle, WA) One of the biggest challenges in almost all industries today is achieving gender parity. Gender diversity provides huge benefits in the workplace. pWhile some industries have made significant advancements in gender diversity, some industries lag further behind... and the constructio n industry is well-known for being in the latter category. If someone says, construction workers, youll likely picture a group of men in yellow hard hats analyzing an architects plans or laying bricks on top of a scaffold. And men at work signs only help to reinforce this image.pThis stereotype is rooted in reality. When was the last time you actually spotted a woman on a construction site? Or hired a female plumber or carpenter? Your answer is most likely never. In fact, the Bureau of Labor Statisticsreports that only 3.4% of the total of 8.3 million construction employees are women.pBut the construction industry has a lot more to offer than steel-toed boots and hard hats, and it needs women to help advance the industry in this era of rapid change. Here are 5 reasons why women joining the workforce or looking to make a pivot should consider a career in construction.h21. Fuel Innovation/h2pNot only is diversity the socially and morally right thing to do, but it is also actually an e xcellent business strategy. pResearch presented in the Harvard Business Reviewshows that diverse teams develop more innovative ideas. This is further supported by a study conducted by Gallupon the performance of gender-diverse teams versus single-gender teams, which found that the difference in backgrounds and perspectives led to better business performance and problem-solving. h22. Capitalize on Demand/h2pThe construction industry is currently experiencing a labor shortage. The industry itself is booming and projected to be one of the fastest-growing industries, with total spending projected to exceed $1.45 trillion in 2023/a. However, most construction companies are unable to meet the rising demand. pAccording to the Associated General Contractors of America/a, more than 80% of contractors are experiencing difficulties filling hourly craft positions that represent the bulk of the construction workforce.pAnd demand isnt limited to individual contributor roles. Given the industry bo om, there are a number of open stable and high-paying roles (any project managers out there?) waiting for the right candidateh23. Leadership Opportunities/h2pAccording to the Bureau of Labor Statistics/a, women compose only 7.7% of the total 1 million managerial positions in construction.br/pBut given the highly collaborative nature of construction work, more women in leadership roles would help drive innovation and enhance productivity.Furthermore, as a woman in construction in a leadership position, youd have the unique opportunity to drive change for the industry and make it a more attractive vorkaufsrecht for other women.h24. High-Income Potential/h2pSalaries for many skilled positions in construction are on the rise, making a construction career a prime choice for women looking for a high-paying job,pThe 2018 Construction Craft Salary Surveyconducted by the National Center for Construction Education and Research revealed that salaries for many skilled craft areas are increasing . Project managers and project supervisors topped the list at $92,523 and $88,355, respectively. The next set of highest-paying jobs include those of combo welders ($71,067), instrumentation technicians ($70,080), pipe welders ($69,222), power line workers ($68,262) and industrial electricians ($67,269). Of the 32 categories of workers in the survey, 19 positions earned an average salary of $60,000 or higher.h25. Sense of accomplishment/h2p The construction industry can give employees a unique sense of achievement. Yes, the job is stressful and the work can be demanding, but nothing beats the feeling of being able to build something from the ground up. pHow many professionals in other industries can point at a school, a hospital, or a skyscraper and say I helped build that?pThe construction industry has a long way to go in combating gender bias and supporting women in the workforce, but given the current demand for workers, theres no better time to pick up a sledgehammer (figurative or literal) and smash the gender stereotypes plaguing the construction industry.