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Gender and Race Preferences in Hiring at Silicon Valley Tech Firms [pdf]

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Re: Gender and Race Preferences in Hiring at Silicon Valley Tech Firms [pdf]

#21

Post by jefftk »

candu wrote: post #16

There's a fascinating study on orchestra auditions, where it was found that performing blind auditions (where the interviewee's identity is hidden to the interviewer) led to more equitable gender representation: https://gap.hks.harvard.edu/orchestrating-impartiality-impac... IMHO, if the tech industry wants to live up to its narrative of meritocracy, this is one obvious improvement over existing processes. No, it won…

> performing blind auditions (where the interviewee's identity is hidden to the interviewer) led to more equitable gender representation

There has recently been quite a bit of pushback on this: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/16/arts/music/blind-audition...

> It can't be any less arbitrary than asking random questions about manhole covers and light bulbs.

Asking random questions about manhole covers and lightbulbs doesn't work very well! Don't take that as your comparison.

Re: Gender and Race Preferences in Hiring at Silicon Valley Tech Firms [pdf]

#22

Post by in3d »

candu wrote: post #16

There's a fascinating study on orchestra auditions, where it was found that performing blind auditions (where the interviewee's identity is hidden to the interviewer) led to more equitable gender representation: https://gap.hks.harvard.edu/orchestrating-impartiality-impac... IMHO, if the tech industry wants to live up to its narrative of meritocracy, this is one obvious improvement over existing processes. No, it won…

You may want to read https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2019/05/11/did-blind-...

“One of the more interesting findings of the study that I have not often seen reported: overall, women did worse in the blinded auditions.”

Re: Gender and Race Preferences in Hiring at Silicon Valley Tech Firms [pdf]

#23

Post by jackfrodo »

Communitivity wrote: post #12

Surprising study results regarding women being more likely to receive a callback than men. From personal experience and the teams I've been on, women have always been in the minority, along the lines of 8-10 men for every two women. However, I am not in Silicon Valley. We need more studies in this area. I'd also like to see studies that include other possible sources of discrimination (gender identity, age) that are…

There's a contradiction in your second sentence, I'm not sure what your meaning is.

>women have always been in the majority, along the lines of 8-10 men for every two women.

Re: Gender and Race Preferences in Hiring at Silicon Valley Tech Firms [pdf]

#24

Post by GhostVII »

Communitivity wrote: post #12

Surprising study results regarding women being more likely to receive a callback than men. From personal experience and the teams I've been on, women have always been in the minority, along the lines of 8-10 men for every two women. However, I am not in Silicon Valley. We need more studies in this area. I'd also like to see studies that include other possible sources of discrimination (gender identity, age) that are…

There are less women in the tech industry, so it is very possible for them to be more likely to get a callback and still be underrepresented.

Re: Gender and Race Preferences in Hiring at Silicon Valley Tech Firms [pdf]

#25

Post by protomyth »

And once again a race study that doesn't list Native Americans at all. It would be nice if they remembered 2% of the US population, since certain policies ("Actual Name") have discriminated against Native Americans because of the ignorance of silicon valley firms. AIHEC and American Indian College Fund (collegefund.org) could really use the help to get placements for students.

Re: Gender and Race Preferences in Hiring at Silicon Valley Tech Firms [pdf]

#26

Post by commandlinefan »

einpoklum wrote: post #4

Key point of the abstract: Women: +9 to +10% chance of callback relative to men Black, Hispanic, and Asian: -8 to -13% chance of callback relative to White people. Anyway, kudos (I guess?) to the researchers for choosing the absolutely most fashionable subject they could possibly study in this day and age.

That's surprising - every software team I've worked on for the past 20 years at least has been predominantly Asian.

Re: Gender and Race Preferences in Hiring at Silicon Valley Tech Firms [pdf]

#27

Post by [deleted] »

candu wrote: post #16

There's a fascinating study on orchestra auditions, where it was found that performing blind auditions (where the interviewee's identity is hidden to the interviewer) led to more equitable gender representation: https://gap.hks.harvard.edu/orchestrating-impartiality-impac... IMHO, if the tech industry wants to live up to its narrative of meritocracy, this is one obvious improvement over existing processes. No, it won…

[deleted]

Re: Gender and Race Preferences in Hiring at Silicon Valley Tech Firms [pdf]

#28

Post by monoideism »

candu wrote: post #16

There's a fascinating study on orchestra auditions, where it was found that performing blind auditions (where the interviewee's identity is hidden to the interviewer) led to more equitable gender representation: https://gap.hks.harvard.edu/orchestrating-impartiality-impac... IMHO, if the tech industry wants to live up to its narrative of meritocracy, this is one obvious improvement over existing processes. No, it won…

To believe that blind applications would help increase female representation presupposes that they're being discriminated against right now, when TFA shows that women are getting preferential callbacks. That completely jives with my experience: most female candidates are highly, highly sought-after, and are quickly hired by top tech companies (leaving smaller companies looking bad in the process, despire their equal desire for female candidates).

Blind applications would probably hurt female representation. It's possible it would help minority representation.

Re: Gender and Race Preferences in Hiring at Silicon Valley Tech Firms [pdf]

#29

Post by monoideism »

jefftk wrote: post #2

> Using matched sample analyses and controlling for a rich set of job and applicant attributes found in applicants’ resumes and LinkedIn profiles, we find that women are 9-10% more likely to receive a callback compared to men, whereas Black, Hispanic, and Asian applicants are 8-13% less likely to receive a callback compared to White applicants. These outcome gaps do not cancel-out in the later stages, as female and W…

> I'm skeptical that this actually captures what hiring managers or recruiters care about when looking at resumes,

You're in the tech industry and you honestly are skeptical that recruiters and hiring managers at most companies aren't extremely eager, to say the very least, to hire female candidates?

Re: Gender and Race Preferences in Hiring at Silicon Valley Tech Firms [pdf]

#30

Post by krona »

einpoklum wrote: post #10
lettergram wrote: post #8

I always try to give the recruiter no indication of race or gender. Frankly, if we all did that it would remove the bias. The challenge is, I suspect they ask for race & gender is intentionally requested to add bias . I’ve worked with recruiters and part of the job is indeed targeting “under represented” groups to improve the figures.

Well, you do give them their name, that's a strong indication of race and gender for most people, isn't it?

Gender and social class, the latter of which has been shown to be a the discriminating factor in some industries in many countries.
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