It’s a tough job market out there. In April of this year, the unemployment rate in the United States reached 14.7% — a percentage unparalleled since the aftermath of the Great Depression.
Turns out there is still at least one industry hiring: technology.
And it’s not just the largest players that are recruiting. The New York Times recently reported that many tech startups focusing on health, learning, fitness, and gaming — among others — are expanding and seeing an infusion of investment.
This trend has led both established professionals and individuals entering the job market to look at tech as their main prospect for employment.
I work for a global nonprofit called Out in Tech, which unites the LGBTQ+ tech community and serves 40,000 members around the world. To better serve our members, many of whom are currently job-seeking, we have been organizing a series of workshops with recruiters to provide practical tips on standing out as a candidate.
During our first iteration of Out in Tech Talks | Career Edition in June, our panelists offered some astounding data and insights:
• Mona Khalil from Greenhouse Software revealed that referrals account for 40% of offers.
• Avantha Arachchi from Bombshell noted that recruiters spend only 1-3 seconds looking at resumes before deciding if they should go further.
• Amin Gates from LinkedIn said that profiles with up-to-date work experiences received eight times more views and 10 times more messages.
• Jarvis Sam from Nike provided tips on figuring out if a company is LGBTQ+ friendly.
Aside from the valuable content our attendees left with, there was another important reason why this event was a success: It was built with inclusivity top of mind.
If you are in the process of organizing a virtual event, whether you are a recruiter or a community organizer, I’ve compiled a list of five tips you can use to create inclusive and safe event environments.
If you are using a tool that allows you to rename yourself, like Zoom, consider asking attendees to add their pronouns next to their name. This ensures that correct pronouns are used for every person, and it sends a message that you respect the participants’ identities.
There’s a lot of debate between whether or not virtual events should be video-on or video-off. The reality is that it’s up to your attendees and what they are comfortable with. Attendees may not want to turn on their video for a variety of reasons. Be explicit and intentional at the beginning of your event by saying “you do not need to turn your camera on.” If you are going to record a session or take a screenshot, make sure to warn people beforehand — giving them a chance to turn their cameras off.
Here are two examples from Out in Tech events as to why this is important: We hosted a recruiting event where one of the attendees did not want their current employer to know they were seeking a job. At another event, an individual was not publicly out as transgender and did not want a picture of them circulating online.
If you’re going to accept attendee questions, make sure there is a way for users to submit those questions anonymously and privately to the moderators (and explain how to do so at the beginning of your event). Even better: Allow participants to submit their questions in advance when registering for the event. (This also encourages attendees to actually attend your event, since they have a stake in the content.)
If all of your speakers share a similar race and gender identity, it sends a message that you don’t value equality and inclusion.
Having diversity of voices is about having a more well-rounded discussion: more vital perspectives, more varied experiences, and a higher caliber of conversation.
Here’s a practical example: If you are organizing a recruiting event, prospective candidates might not respond well to a homogeneous environment. A close friend of mine who works in HR had a candidate turn down a job offer as a software engineer because her five rounds of interviews only included men. This gave her pause about the type of working environment she would face.
Out in Tech has organized hundreds of events since its inception in 2013. While the bulk of our panel discussions went well, we’d sometimes receive feedback from speakers about incidents that had negatively impacted their experience, e.g., being interrupted by fellow panelists or being made to feel marginalized by the moderator.
We now share a list of best practices with all speakers to preemptively address behaviors they may not be aware of. Here are two excerpts:
• Try not to interrupt panelists (unless really necessary) and encourage other panelists to follow that same rule.
• Be mindful of “mansplaining” and “whitesplaining,” both of which have unfortunately happened at panels in the past. This happens when the moderator or another panelist condescendingly explains a concept or repeats something that was already said to women or people of color.
While most people might be mortified to learn that they were engaging in “whitesplaining,” simply making them aware of the possibility before the event has the power to prevent it from happening.
Gary Goldman (he/him) is the Senior Program Director for Out in Tech, the world's largest non-profit uniting the LGBTQ+ tech community. Gary is responsible for creating opportunities for the organization's 40,000+ members to advance their careers, grow their networks, and leverage tech for social change.