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Its black history month. We’re going to see a lot of black creators asking companies and individuals to spend this month not only to amplify Black voices, but also hire them. I want to tackle that dog whistle we all see under recruiting posts calls for diverse candidates-
"Well the most qualified should get the position.”
My skin CRAWLS every time I see that, because the tech world is not a meritocracy. Tech companies often give out referral bonuses to people who refer others, and then subsequently their referral gets hired.
My skin CRAWLS every time I see that, because the tech world is not a meritocracy. Tech companies often give out referral bonuses to people who refer others, and then subsequently their referral gets hired.
Often times these bonuses are $500+, no small amount of change. According to the article below, about 35% of tech hires, are from referrals. Other studies range it at 65%. That’s a lot! https://www.seattletimes.com/business/technology/job-referrals-may-spur-hires-but-also-lead-to-less-diversity-and-pay-gaps-study-says/
This point is exasperated more when we point out that many white Americans, which dominate tech and games, don’t know a single non-white person. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/08/25/three-quarters-of-whites-dont-have-any-non-white-friends/
That’s also not to say that individuals who get referrals aren’t qualified for the job, because most of the time they are. But it is another way Black and POC’s are at a disadvantage compared to our white counterparts.
Couple this with recruiters not looking at places like HBCU’s where tons of fresh talent exists, you start to understand why tech and games industry are so white. https://www.marketplace.org/2017/08/03/recruiters-often-overlook-historically-black-colleges/
And often times it’s not even about skill. I’ve seen incredibly skilled and experienced candidates be passed up, because they didn’t fit into a culture the company wanted to create and foster. There are a number of reasons why hiring managers go for one candidate over the other-
and while skill and experience are important factors, there is more that goes into it. But posting “The best qualified individual should get the job” under calls for diverse candidates, does not help anyone. Games & Tech are better with diverse candidates, studies show us this.
Posting, “Well the most qualified” lets us know a few things about you. It tells us you don’t care for diversity, because you don’t understand the benefits of diversity not only on a team, but on a finished project.
It shows you don’t understand the impact of Nepotism in Games and Tech industry. Finally it tells us you have no idea what goes into recruiting. It belittles the hard work many recruiters do to find great candidates.
Like no recruiter has ever been on twitter, seen “Well the most qualified person should get the job!” post, and been like, “OMG I’ve been doing my job description wrong the entire time!” Just stop it. It’s not constructive, it’s not useful, it’s just cringe.
