After a full day at Women of Silicon Valley Roundabout, the final speaker of the day said something (see below) and it really resonated with us! We have always known there was a problem, however, until someone exposes the data, you don’t realize how much of a challenge it actually is.
“Recruiters are 13% less likely to select a woman’s profile in a job search”
– LinkedIn Gender Bias Report 2018
Our directors recently asked if we were interested in starting and supporting D&I at Osmii, and we jumped right into it. After educating ourselves around D&I topics and sitting down to write a D&I policy, we found that we had a multitude of unanswered questions. This was the main reason why we attended Women of Silicon Roundabout and attended all the talks around D&I&U.
Some of the main themes and interesting topics that we saw and learned at Women of Silicon Roundabout are as follows:
Taking Action – Are You Doing Something?
D&I fatigue – everyone talks about it, but a very small percentage of companies actually take action.
At Osmii, we are in the process of rolling out internal training across the business to better support candidates and clients. Furthermore, we are looking into getting involved with nonprofits who support this goal.
Unconscious & Conscious Bias – Are you Aware?
There are 188 unconscious biases – see diagram below.
You can never remove unconscious bias. You can, however, look at ways to support conscious actions.
Due to the fact that these biases come into play when recruiting, at Osmii we are researching how to avoid these. For example, with job specs we try to make them gender neutral. We are also looking into getting everyone to take an unconscious bias test to make them aware of these.
Attracting Women to Apply to Jobs
It is known that the majority of women will only apply to jobs which they believe they are 100% qualified for. It is essential that we make sure that the job spec reflects and clarifies the essential skills, responsibilities, and the company.
Why?
- Job specs get created by the hiring managers who want “unicorns”
- Usually, it is an old job spec that has been recycled over the years
- It has been edited by so many people and it loses the main purpose
Cognitive Diversity
At Osmii we have an inclusive culture, and an extremely diverse team which we are proud of, however there are more things we and others can do to increase Cognitive Diversity.
Ways to increase cognitive diversity when recruiting:
- Women and female participation
- Increase underrepresented groups
- Create diverse talent pipelines
- Raising awareness on gender
- Create a flexible, agile and supportive environment
Supporting Women
One of the most inspiring talks we attended, was “A Drone of Her Own” by @GailOrenstein. Gail is a pioneer and first female drone journalist in her field. Her speech was empowering to women, but people in general, as it focused on supporting women first, and to always know your worth.
“The pot is there, find it & go grab it”
Gail Orenstein 2019
All the talks we attended, gave us great insight on how Osmii can come up with a concrete D&I strategy. Look out for further announcements.
If you attended Women of Silicon Roundabout and want to share your experiences, have other views you’d like to share on Diversity & Inclusion or would like to discuss Osmii’s own D&I policy please get in contact with Sarah or Sara.
Alternatively, if you didn’t make it this year, we at Osmii most definitely recommend you check it out for next year.
https://www.women-in-technology.com/
Sarah Neeworth (Digital Exec Search Senior Consultant)- sarah.neeworth@osmii.com
Sara Piotti (Key Accounts Manager) – sara.piotti@osmii.com
