Improving Diversity in Hiring
I want to preface this post by saying, hiring is hard and there are many different strategies out there, some more successful than others. I'd like to discuss the hiring strategy I used to build a team from three to nine engineers over the course of three years, while also improving diversity on the team.
Job Description
I started by writing a job description that covered what I needed in general terms. I purposely avoided asking for specific technologies like AWS or Azure and instead asked for experience working in a cloud environment. The last thing I want to do is miss out on hiring a great engineer because they haven't worked with a specific cloud provider before. I also avoided asking for a specific number of years of experience with any technology and instead focused on general years of experience in IT, application development, or security. The vast majority of technical experience is easily transferrable when you have people who are eager to learn.
Building the Candidate Pool
If you want a more diverse team, you need start with a diverse candidate pool. Since many people (especially underrepresented folks) will only apply for a job where they meet 100% of the requirements, a job description like I describe above is essential for getting diverse candidates into the pool. Another extremely effective method is to purposely scout underrepresented folks and invite them to apply. I would not have been able to build the diverse team I had without the help of an amazing talent specialist who did exactly this.
Interview Pipeline
Once you have a diverse candidate pool you need to start building an interview pipeline. Typically, I would identify six to eight candidates from the pool to be my first cohort and I would send them through the interview process. As I got through the first interview stages I would identify a second cohort of candidates in case no one in the first cohort worked out. I would build each cohort with diversity in mind, which was easy since I had a number of qualified diverse candidates.
Interview Plan
Prior to starting the interviews you should have a written interview plan. The plan should include the number of interviews that will be conducted and by whom. It should also include the questions you will ask the candidates in each interview and the what skills you are hoping to identify with each question. When deciding the number of interviews to conduct, use the fewest interviews you need to identify the needed skills.
When developing interview questions, I tended to focus less on specific technologies and more on identifying characteristics such as humility, willingness and ability to learn, willingness to teach, and desire to help others. Technology stacks change so often, I would much rather have someone who can and will learn new technology vs someone who is an expert in a particular technology with no desire to learn anything else.
It is extremely important that EVERY candidate is asked the SAME set of questions and that the interviewer document their answers thoroughly. When it is time to compare candidates you want to ensure you are comparing apples to apples as much as possible. Additionally, asking the same questions of every candidate reduces "gut feel" hiring decisions.
Reverse Discrimination
To some this process may sound like reverse discrimination but it is not. All I have done is made purposeful choices to increase the number of diverse candidates that have the opportunity to interview. Everyone must go through the same interview process and will be judged based on the written criteria in the interview plan. By having a written interview plan and an internally transparent, consistent process, I am actually mitigating biased hiring decisions based on "gut feel" and "good vibes."