Whether or not “the pipeline problem” is one of the major contributors to the overall lack of diversity in tech, there are many things you can do to ensure it’s not a problem in your own organization. To help you address this problem, this post lays out a list of resources (compiled by Ablorde Ashigbi) for improving the diversity of your talent pipeline and hiring process.
Before we begin, there many others with deeper expertise in this area than ourselves?—?Code 2040, Paradigm and Project Include are good examples of organizations that live and breathe the work of building more inclusive tech ecosystems. But we hope this provides a living document that companies (particularly in Chicago) can use as a resource when looking to add a more diverse set of talent to their teams.
Enterprise Software
- Textio is an AI-driven cloud software suite that will identify bias in your job postings. It’s been trained with tens of thousands of job descriptions over the course of years. In addition to bias, it will also help you craft a more compelling job description that will improve the quantity and quality of your applicants.
Interesting fact: usage of the term “rock star” is inversely correlated with the number of women who apply to a job and typically means the role will take over 8x longer to fill
- Unitive is a more holistic solution that helps you manage your entire hiring process to manage for bias. It will help screen your postings similar to Textio, it will remove name/gender from resumes during review, and will help you structure an interview process that is as objective as possible.
National Groups
Many of these organizations have formal engagement mechanisms for companies looking to diversify their workforce. Even the ones that don’t will be happy to speak with you and provide advice and referrals to help you in your diversification efforts.
- MLT is a mentorship and development network for Black, Hispanic, and Native American young professionals. The program has 5,000 alumni who are now in the top levels of every major industry.
- Toigo promotes better inclusion and diversity in the professional world through career advancement and increased leadership of underrepresented groups.
- INROADS is an organization dedicated to improving the representation of Blacks, Hispanics/Latinos, and Native Americans in corporate America. The group’s primary program involves matching students from these populations with internship programs.
- SEO “provides superior educational and career programs to young people from underserved and underrepresented communities to maximize their opportunities for college and career success.”
- Jopwell is a jobs platform for Black, Latino/Hispanic, and Native American students and professionals.
- HireTechLadies is a platform to connect women in technology to the best jobs and opportunities in the industry. It has worked with over 10,000 women.
- The Mom Project is a digital talent marketplace and community that connects professionally accomplished women with world-class companies.
Chicago Groups
- VentureUp brings together all of the junior venture capitalists in the Midwest. Diversity is a very important issue to all of us and we would be happy to help you diversify your pipeline.
- ChiTech Diversity hosts a Slack channel committed to improving the diversity of the tech industry in Chicago. Join up for a safe discussion and limitless resources on improving diversity in your pipeline.
- Blue1647 is an entrepreneurship and technology innovation center that fosters economic development in technology and 21st Century skills through people development (classes, workshops, and events around technology), workforce development (through youth and adult technology programs to prepare individuals for high-demand jobs) and Business Acceleration (through shared coworking-services).
- Black Tech Mecca is committed to improving the representation of the Black community in the tech industry. It does this through better access to data on the community and working to create public-private partnerships.
- ImBlackInTech is the Midwest’s largest membership network for Black & Latino/a Founders and Professionals in (tech).
- Ms. Tech is a community dedicated to women in the tech industry, centered around an online community and curated in-person events.
- Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce provides resources and guidance for Hispanic entrepreneurs in Illinois.
- Chicago Urban League is dedicated to improving the lives of the African American population in Chicago through access to jobs, education, housing, and entrepreneurship.
- Women Tech Founders promotes women in technology and leadership through storytelling and events.
- Bunker Labs provides resources for military veterans starting their own companies and working in the tech industry.
Note: This post originally appeared on Medium, and has been updated with additional resources. David Vandegrift is an associate at Pritzker Group Venture Capital.
