Diversity Expert: Hiring Managers, Stop Looking For Another ‘Fred’

Hiring expert, Laura Mather, founder and CEO of the app Unitive, knows from experience that diversity is the secret sauce for growing stronger companies. As part of her company’s mission, she’s developing technology-based tools to help hiring managers focus exclusively on job requirements — rather than a candidate’s appearance or hobbies. We checked in with Laura for her tips on sidestepping bias, the future of management, and how certain job postings alienate women.

You’re developing your own talent management software to transform the work traditionally done by HR departments. How can this help to improve recruitment?

One of the biggest problems in hiring today is the “pattern match.” We often create an image of the person we think would be perfect for the job and then try to find someone to match that image. An example is when a hiring manager thinks, “I’ve got Fred. I love Fred. I just need another Fred.” There are parts of that image that are definitely relevant. If Fred has built a sales team and taken sales from $500K to $2M, then that’s a great pattern to look for. If the hiring manager sees a resume that talks about how the candidate plays hockey in their free time and thinks, “Fred plays hockey!” That’s not a relevant pattern match and, yet, this case will often change how a hiring manager looks at a resume regardless of the other resume components.

Can you describe your most effective hiring tools and how they work?

We can help focus hiring managers on what is important for a job. Unitive makes hiring managers prioritize the qualifications for a job (skills, competencies, experience, education, etc.), and then reminds them of those priorities in both resume review and interviewing. In the example above, the hiring manager may see that a candidate played hockey, but they probably told our system that extracurricular activities have a low priority for determining whether or not someone can do the job.

What type of descriptions in job postings help to attract a diverse pool of candidates? What have you seen that alienate?

An example of how a job description can alienate candidates is putting too many requirements in a job posting. Research by McKinsey & Company, a management consulting firm, shows that women only apply when they meet all of the requirements where men apply once they meet approximately 60 percent. An example of something that can help is talking about how the company values diverse perspectives. That can attract people who often feel like they are minorities in the corporate environment.

What are your go-to tips for managers looking to build a highly productive team, but don’t know where to start?

The key is understanding the skills and competencies that will complement your current team and making sure that is the focus of your job search. Before looking at candidates, specify what is important for the job and be sure those are the criteria you are using to evaluate candidates. Be very careful of the “I’m not sure I want to hang out with this person” or the “S/he is not a culture fit” reasons for turning down a candidate. Culture fit is important, but if you think someone is not a culture fit, you need to give a reason that corresponds to the values of your company — not a frivolous reason like “they don’t drink alcohol” or, “they don’t follow the same sports we do.”

What about managers who are looking to make their current teams more productive — any tips for hacking the system?

It’s important to realize that the most productive teams are the ones that have the most diverse perspectives. Cultivating a diverse team will help. If you already have a team, identify the ways the perspectives of your team are diverse and try to capitalize on that. As an example, if you have a team where everyone has computer science degrees except one person, be sure to constantly ask the person without the computer science degree about their perspective. Certain degrees are great, but they teach people to look at the world in a particular way, and someone who hasn’t been taught to look at the world in that way may see something the others would miss.

Zappos announced last May it would eliminate bosses. Do you think a traditional org chart is still the most effective way to structure a company? What do you predict the future of management will look like?

I’m not sure we’ll ever get away from having bosses. Mostly because executives are always going to need to be able to hold particular people responsible for accomplishing the corporate goals. I do think the work world is changing and moving towards a more results-only work environment. In this environment, it won’t matter where or when you work as long as you get your work done. I think this is going to increase productivity, increase diversity (it creates more flexible workplaces), and make it possible to engage a larger portion of the population. I’m super excited about where this is headed.

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