Tech Recruiting

Growing a diverse workforce is part of our climate justice mission as we aspire to reflect the diversity of the communities we serve. Our commitment is not justified by appeals to productivity benefits or better business metrics. Instead,

1. We simply believe that a person’s social identities don’t limit their talents; and

2. We strongly prefer working in diverse teams rather than teams lacking diversity;

The vision for recruiting is that Cadence OneFive will be an employer of choice for top talent underrepresented in engineering fields. We’ll know we’re succeeding when, for example, top underrepresented candidates would choose to work here rather than anywhere else.

Metrics

As a startup, we’ll focus on directional improvements rather than quantitative goals. Note that even directional goals require benchmarking:

1. Diversity of applicant pool: Aim for increasing percentage of applicants from underrepresented groups

2. Diversity of interview pool: Aim for a high proportion of top talent who make it to interview stage

3. Team composition: Strive for increasing diversity with each new hire

Recruiting Strategy

Our interview processes are fair and effective—when we have diverse applicants, we hire diverse talent. The challenge is pipeline: we receive few applications from underrepresented groups for technical roles. Our strategy focuses on proactive outreach to build relationships with diverse candidates before positions open.

1. Empower Our Champions Lots of people believe in us. We’ll ask them to help amplify our message and reach.

2. Expand Shallow-Relationship Networks Develop a systematic approach to grow our networks that tie us to potential candidates from underrepresented groups before we have open positions. This is fundamentally a people-to-people task. Read more here.

3. Understand What Matters to Underrepresented Candidates Conduct actionable research improve how we connect to underrepresented talent.

4. Go Where Top Underrepresented Talent Gathers Identify and actively participate in spaces where diverse tech talent congregates.

Needless to say, everyone we hire, regardless of demographics, geography, or anything else, has to be a great fit for a software startup.

• the highest technical capacity our money can currently attract
• understands how individuals and teams must adapt in the first years of a startup — person scaling is a lot harder to fix than tech infrastructure scaling
• hard-coded bias for getting shit done. Shipping regularly and frequently is where it’s at
• proclivity for horizontal behaviors - possibly chafing against vertical systems their whole career

Background

As we implement our diversity recruiting strategy, it’s valuable to consider what the broader tech industry recommends as best practices for seed-stage startups. We already do a lot.

1. Start Early. Building diversity from the very beginning is crucial. It’s much easier to create a diverse team from the start than to try to diversify a homogeneous team later.

2. Make Diversity a Core Value. Diversity should be a fundamental part of the company’s mission and values, not just an HR initiative.

3. Create an Inclusive Culture. Building an inclusive culture where all employees feel valued and heard is crucial for attracting and retaining diverse talent.

4. Be Transparent About Diversity Efforts. Open communication about diversity goals, successes, and challenges can build trust and accountability.

5. Set Diversity Goals: Even at the seed stage, having specific, measurable diversity goals can help drive action and accountability.

6. Encourage Open Dialogue. Creating spaces where team members feel comfortable openly discussing diversity in recruitment reinforces the commitment to diversity recruiting.

7. Expand Networks. Startups should actively work to expand their networks beyond their immediate circles, which often lack diversity.

8. Remove Bias. Strategies like blind resume reviews and structured interviews with predefined questions and evaluation criteria help reduce bias in the hiring process.

9. Offer Flexible Work Arrangements. Flexible work options can help attract diverse candidates who may have different needs or constraints.

10. Provide Growth Opportunities. Clear paths for growth and development are particularly important for retaining diverse talent in startups.

11. Consider Alternative Talent Pools. Looking beyond traditional tech backgrounds can bring in diverse perspectives and skills.

12. Regularly Evaluate and Adjust. Building a diverse team is an ongoing process that requires continuous evaluation and adjustment.