Written by Mark Chaffey, Co-Founder & CEO, hackajob.
Over the last fortnight, we've all seen the awful footage of a US police officer killing George Floyd. Whilst I'm grateful to see the police officers involved will be held to account, it’s not enough. The global response has been incredible and I hope the volume of peaceful protests around the world brings about real change. Black Lives Matter.
Over the last 5 years, we've seen how the recruitment industry does discriminate against race, gender, ethnicity, age, disability as well as other characteristics. I'm really proud of the work we've done to create a recruitment marketplace that emphasises a candidate's skills above and beyond these characteristics and the success stories we've had with this approach. However, we can do more and we must do more. As an organisation I want us to make a positive impact.
I've always believed that actions speak louder than words and I've been deliberating about what exact actions we can take at hackajob to make genuine change over a long-term horizon. Today, I’m really excited to share our new Diversity & Inclusion Committee chaired by Ben and joined by Agnes, James, Daisy and Diana. The committee will focus on the following 4 key pillars:
Our Internal D&I Strategy
We have to start by looking at ourselves. Whilst we've made good progress as a business, I'm very aware we still have a lot more to do to be a genuinely diverse and inclusive organisation. We will be making changes.
Listening & Learning
We do not have all the answers, so we will be reaching out to underrepresented groups and organisations to learn about the challenges they face on a day-to-day basis. We will use this information to build knowledge that we can share with companies hiring, as well as impact our product roadmap.
Partnerships
We want to partner with organisations that are having a positive impact in defeating discrimination in the tech sector and use our network and voices to amplify the great work they're doing.
Work with our clients
Taking all of the knowledge we’ve gained from listening & learning and the partnerships we’ve built, we will work closely with our existing clients to build a truly diverse and inclusive hiring process. This will include facilitating introductions to the great organisations we've built partnerships with, as well as advising them more generally.
I'm really conscious that this may come across as a knee-jerk reaction and something that we don't follow through on - I want to ensure that's not the case. Therefore, we will be publishing public monthly updates on the work the committee produces on this blog and we will be holding ourselves fully accountable to make sure that real progress is made.
I hope by being committed and taking an action-led approach with public accountability, we can have a positive impact long term.
Black Lives Matter.