A conversation with Aubrey Blanche

Yesterday I hosted a fireside chat with Aubrey Blanche at my company. She gave an amazing presentation on how equity is the foundation to transform diversity into inclusion, and what small actions everyone at the company can take to improve inclusion. After her talk I asked a few follow up questions, specially on measuring those variables — we are a data company after all!

One of her suggestions that struck me as interesting was to limit the requirements on job ads to ~5 items. Keep the list minimal, and eliminate requirements that are not requirements per se, but simply responsibilities of the role. Finally, add a small note at the end saying "please do apply even if you don't meet all the requirements".

The reason this helps is because people from under-represented groups tend to be risk-adverse, and in general avoid applying for jobs when they don't meet all of the requirements. This doesn't mean they are a bad fit for the company, or even for the role, and these small changes increase the number of people from under-represented minorities that apply.