Dear Hiring Manager

In this episode, I chat with Jean-Denis Greze, CTO of Plaid and Tido Carriero former CPO of Segment / SVP of Twilio. We talk about several interesting topics around engineering recruitment. They share the importance of a Job Kit and how this can help tech companies hire and attract the right talent. We talk about the areas companies go wrong most, debate whether soft skills interviews are beneficial or have more downside, and discuss what make a good interviewing question. Jean-Denis and Tido Carriero have created an open source job kit for companies to use and build off of! You can find that here: https://www.hatchways.io/blog/create-a-job-kit For more information about how Hatchways can help you build a more real-world technical interview process, visit: www.hatchways.io

In this podcast episode, Emily Sampson, the University Recruiting & Early Career Program Lead at Amplitude, shares her insights on starting a university recruiting program. Amplitude has expanded its intern and new grad hiring across various departments, creating a pipeline of fresh talent. Emily explains the benefits of early career programs, such as DEIB impact, cost savings, long-term talent pipeline, and improved work-life balance for full-time employees. To start a successful program, companies need leadership buy-in, a budget, and dedicated resourcing. Emily offers tips on calculating intern headcounts, managing conversion rates, and selecting partnerships with schools based on the program's goals. Connecting with students can be done through career fairs, student organizations, and intimate gatherings with employee resource groups. Emily shares her favorite tools as well as links and resources in our blog: https://www.hatchways.io/blog/amplitude-on-getting-started-with-university-recruiting For more information about how Hatchways can help you build a more real-world technical interview process, visit www.hatchways.io

In this episode of "Dear Hiring Manager," we sat down with Cliff Jadoo, a Technical Recruiter at Webflow, to discuss recruiting diverse talent and how to create an inclusive and positive interviewing experience. Cliff shares valuable insights on inbound and outbound recruiting strategies, as well as tips for creating an interview experience that caters to diverse talent. Some highlights from our conversation include targeting diverse job boards, partnering with diverse organizations, creating a gender-neutral job description, and publishing diversity reports. For outbound recruiting, Cliff emphasizes the importance of not relying solely on referrals and intentionally sourcing diverse talent using various tools and tactics. In creating an interview experience for diverse talent, Cliff recommends using a rubric, being transparent, investing in interviewer training, and having a diverse set of interviewers. He also shares tips on using take-home assessments and reminding candidates about Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) in place. To help you get started, we've shared a job description template, tips on joining Slack or Google ERG groups, and some common mistakes to avoid. For these resources and additional links, visit our blog: https://www.hatchways.io/blog/on-recruiting-diversity-with-cliff-jadoo-at-webflow For more information about how Hatchways can help you build a more real-world technical interview process, visit www.hatchways.io

Carmen is a Librarian turned Software developer. In this episode, she shares how she self-taught her self programming before/after work and on weekends, how she assessed if it was the right career for her, and when it was the right time to quit her job and dedicate full-time hours to job searching. We talk about how employers who want to attract non-traditional talent should change their job descriptions and how they should ignore resumes. Lastly, for career shifters, she recommends some resources on how to get job-ready... including receiving feedback on your skills from Hatchways! To learn more about Hatchways visit: www.hatchways.io If you would like to be a part of the podcast, let us know here: https://forms.gle/VEowV2sryff84GtcA

Tony is a hispanic test engineer. After a year at Carnegie Mellon, Tony dropped out as he couldn’t afford to keep paying for classes. Instead, he worked as a waiter, took part-time community college courses and ended up graduating at 29. Interestingly, even though he didn't graduate from Carnegie Mellon, he still got his foot in the door by having it on his resume. To learn more about Hatchways visit: www.hatchways.io If you would like to be a part of the podcast, let us know here: https://forms.gle/VEowV2sryff84GtcA

Carille is a software engineer at ATB on the innovation team. She hires for their team and as a minority herself (immigrant, female, POC etc.) she knows what it means to create an inclusive hiring process. Listen to our conversation about how she runs interviewing at ATB and how to build a process that encourages diversity. To learn more about Hatchways visit: www.hatchways.io If you would like to be a part of the podcast, let us know here: https://forms.gle/VEowV2sryff84GtcA

Luke is the CTO of Daybreak Health, a startup with a mission to build mental fitness in young people and provide universal access to healthcare in the US. This week we get a look at the other side of the interviewer’s desk as Luke gives some insight as to why the hiring process is as broken as it is, how it can be fixed, and what all is at stake when a company wants to make a change. Research talked about in our episode: Why feedback can be used as evidence to demonstrate discrimination in the hiring process Candidates generally dislike the standard interview process Resume bias White-boarding interview bias Female CS graduate rates Learn more about Daybreak Health: www.daybreakhealth.com Apply to jobs at Daybreak here.

This is a summary episode of key takeaways from Episodes 7 through 11 with my interviews with: Alex, who gave up a steady job, took a self-paced bootcamp, and moved to San Francisco, Selali, a self-taught software engineer who struggled with the North American education system and was working as a freelancer in high school, Darren, a senior Finance Manager and working dad who quit his job to become a junior software developer, Minh, a Vietamnese international student currently interning at Google, and Christine, who majored in life sciences, and still managed to get hired as a software engineer out of college. To learn more about Hatchways visit: www.hatchways.io If you would like to be a part of the podcast, let us know here: https://forms.gle/VEowV2sryff84GtcA

Growing up, Christine was pressured away from computer science as it did not come as easily to her as it did to her male peers, and her parents lacked an understanding of what careers were available in the field. It was only through having friends in computer science that she got a better idea of what being a software engineer was like and started to reassess what she wanted out of a career. Today, she is a software engineer at Paypal. We discuss the importance of having a community, how to land internships while you're in school and how to deal with pressure. To learn more about Hatchways visit: www.hatchways.io If you would like to be a part of the podcast, let us know here: https://forms.gle/VEowV2sryff84GtcA

Minh landed her first internship at Google after she switched her major from political science through teaching herself data structures and algorithms and volunteering at a startup on campus. She is an international student and shares her personal experiences with self-isolation, being in an non-inclusive environment with her male classmates, working in different Google offices with different diversity standards, and how the Coronavirus and the current US political climate impacts her choices as an immigrant. To learn more about Hatchways visit: www.hatchways.io If you would like to be a part of the podcast, let us know here: https://forms.gle/VEowV2sryff84GtcA

Darren went from a senior position at Google in the Finance department to being a junior software engineer at age 39. We talk about how he decided to make this major career shift, what it's like to make this change while raising two young children and what it's like to work for a 25 year old. For the full transcript, view: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rtyMUNn7DCFjGYTJAFqMTFNWah0p9-qpNJYgMzVsew0/edit?usp=sharing To learn more about Hatchways visit: www.hatchways.io If you would like to be a part of the podcast, let us know here: https://forms.gle/VEowV2sryff84GtcA

Selali is an engineer at Peloton. Early in his education, he got diagnosed with ADHD and his parents thought it would be better for him to finish his education in Ghana. He ended up moving back to where he was born to do three years of high school. When he got back to the U.S., he decided to skip college and go directly into the workforce. Read the full transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/11u08GsKxq6-0X1epwZkOXn_RK9o7h-U4H7sIXNLjQl4/edit?usp=sharing To learn more about Hatchways visit: www.hatchways.io If you would like to be a part of the podcast, let us know here: https://forms.gle/VEowV2sryff84GtcA

Alex recently landed a job as a software engineer during the global pandemic. On top of the challenges of job searching during COVID-19, he comes from an unconventional background - he dropped out of college and completed an online self-paced Bootcamp. Much of his path was shaped by the experiences he had when he was a teenager- from facing racism, to never feeling like he fit in, to falling into a depression because of his parents' divorce. We talk about how these experiences eventually helped him find himself and become a successful software engineer. View the full transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Qa2sTBsC891n0tiJ3R95IEyqZTmgE_jYKyHx0DfvQUo/edit?usp=sharing To learn more about Hatchways visit: www.hatchways.io If you would like to be a part of the podcast, let us know here: https://forms.gle/VEowV2sryff84GtcA

This is a summary episode of key takeaways from Episodes 7 through 11 with my interviews with: B (a developer that wanted to keep anonymous because of the stigma his family has around mental illness), Ali (a college drop-out that now works at Facebook), Ro (a Hispanic software engineer that was a mother of two by the time she graduated college), Caroline (a non-binary software engineer that uses they/them pronouns) and Shah (a software developer that grew up in poverty and now earns $100K/year). To learn more about Hatchways visit: www.hatchways.io If you would like to be a part of the podcast, let us know here: https://forms.gle/VEowV2sryff84GtcA

When you’re on a household income of $30,000 with your four other siblings, your education and career path is the last thing on your mind. Listen to how Shah went from having to repeat grade 12 to cheating on one of his software engineering interviews to now earning $100,000. Where to find Shah:http://www.shahsyed.me/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/shahdeys View the full transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1C1z2HihqOC86gvp55LrtPSkBieyIREpn-RXerts0JoI/edit?usp=sharing To learn more about Hatchways visit: www.hatchways.io If you would like to be a part of the podcast, let us know here: https://forms.gle/VEowV2sryff84GtcA

Caroline was assigned female at birth but discovered later in their life that they were non-binary. What is it like to question what box to check off when you're filling out a form and it asks for your gender? How do you come out to your mom who holds so dearly that you are her daughter? How do you ask your colleagues to use your proper pronouns? Why are gender-neutral bathrooms important? We discuss all of these questions on this episode of Dear Hiring Manager. View the full transcript https://docs.google.com/document/d/14_onWLdG1UnUKjndLdJnwNJLZAzb6i9o1zMRcewZjpM/edit?usp=sharing To learn more about Hatchways visit: www.hatchways.io If you would like to be a part of the podcast, let us know here: https://forms.gle/VEowV2sryff84GtcA

Ro is a Hispanic software engineer in New York City. She was born, raised, and educated in the Bronx and spent 10 years in and out of college. By the time she graduated with a computer science degree, she was a mother of two! Her unique journey is one of breaking down multiple barriers- being a person of color, graduating in her late twenties, being pregnant while finishing her education and completing a fellowship at Microsoft, and coming from an under-resourced community. View the full transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/17XkVYeQXyrDLCSxLQeKZBdJRK0VEvG2ifAOIphXYR84/edit?usp=sharing To learn more about Hatchways visit: www.hatchways.io If you would like to be a part of the podcast, let us know here: https://forms.gle/VEowV2sryff84GtcA

This 25-year old Facebook Engineer is a college drop-out who got mediocre grades in community college. Instead of finishing his degree, he decided he would learn on his own, create projects, and attend in-person Stanford lectures for free. He shares his experience of being biased in interviews because of his lack of CS degree, but how he eventually landed a job at DoorDash. View the full transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ptgzcvF_1L-qNNNzgpFpJd9L1cyAB7oHztjQixM655I/edit?usp=sharing To learn more about Hatchways visit: www.hatchways.io If you would like to be a part of the podcast, let us know here: https://forms.gle/VEowV2sryff84GtcA

This software developer wanted to keep his identity anonymous, due to the stigma that his family, his community and the job market has on mental illness. He shares how because his family discouraged him to get help with his ADHD, the lack of treatment caused him to go in a downward spiral depression. We talk about how now, after being finally diagnosed 11 years ago, he is ready to get back in the job market. And despite graduating from an elite university, having years of work experience and being a talented software engineer, the gaps in his resumes and the inability to be open about his mental illness, has caused him to be unemployed for over 2 years. View the full transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kDLcdFhEw6G8JEvQa8vliaCCUBiejgFY8YHoFJz6bPE/edit?usp=sharing To learn more about Hatchways visit: www.hatchways.io If you would like to be a part of the podcast, let us know here: https://forms.gle/VEowV2sryff84GtcA

This is a summary episode of 10 key takeaways from Episodes 1 through 5 with my interviews with: Aecio (a developer with hearing impairment), Sam (a developer with speech impediment), Jimmy (a self-taught, university drop-out), Michelle (a woman of colour who is the first in her family to attend college) and Evan (a developer with Tourettes, OCD, and ADHD). View the full transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/16JXJTtwyN88HD-Xapti5T6uZV8Re8DPJDfBjfw9Wh8A/edit?usp=sharing To learn more about Hatchways visit: www.hatchways.io If you would like to be a part of the podcast, let us know here: https://forms.gle/VEowV2sryff84GtcA

Evan has a combination of challenges including growing up with tourettes syndrome, having ADHD, and being diagnosed with OCD. The only thing about these barriers that impact his work is his ability to focus on more mundane tasks, and in fact, the advantage of having ADHD is his ability to hyper-focus on really challenging and stimulating problems for extended periods of time. But, the current process of applying for jobs is one that makes it difficult for someone like him, who needs to spend hours on end on applications which spurs a lot of doubt and frustration. View the full transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/16mDoJneeDcA7ermiVainB4YiNXL15t6WjdEAQdEipcc/edit?usp=sharing To learn more about Hatchways visit: www.hatchways.io If you would like to be a part of the podcast, let us know here: https://forms.gle/VEowV2sryff84GtcA

Michelle is a first-generation Asian American who grew up in an under-resourced neighbourhood in San Francisco. Because her parents didn't go to college, she didn't have any role models and she had to learn how to navigate the system on her own. She knew she would be a minority in the tech field but she had no way of knowing just how difficult being a woman in tech would really be. Michelle shares her experiences of dealing with imposter syndrome, interning at a company where every employee was an older white man, and the challenges she faced during interviews when trying to solve coding problems as well as stand up for herself and deal with the social aspect. View the full transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YE7Su_fCpzfv6aSUyQHNp00O7yI3EMSD1UxjTRlxszE/edit?usp=sharing To learn more about Hatchways visit: www.hatchways.io If you would like to be a part of the podcast, let us know here: https://forms.gle/VEowV2sryff84GtcA

Jimmy is a university drop out and a self-taught programmer. He landed full-time employment within 15 months of beginning his self-taught journey. He shares his struggles to get in front of employers, how his cultural and social environment impacted him, and some resources for those who want to take the self-learning path. View the full transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1G6cgD3qB04Qyb-4sLGwY80j0iImdVx54Vpyr5pKmwbU/edit?usp=sharing To learn more about Hatchways visit: www.hatchways.io If you would like to be a part of the podcast, let us know here: https://forms.gle/VEowV2sryff84GtcA

Sam, who is a talented software developer working in Ottawa, Canada developed a stutter when he was a child. His stutter does not affect his ability to problem solve or be a software developer, but it is heightened when he is put in high anxiety environments, such as an interview. We’ll hear about the many failed interviews he went through and how it affected his self-esteem, but how he eventually landed his first job as a software developer at a networking event when he raised his hand, took the mic and told a room of hundreds of employers that he was a self-taught developer looking for a job. View the full transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZKOaYChIQHhkc4p_6dB06ma-Cad_mUv_qUlLNqEqMOE/edit?usp=sharing To learn more about Hatchways visit: www.hatchways.io If you would like to be a part of the podcast, let us know here: https://forms.gle/VEowV2sryff84GtcA

Aecio is a software developer working in Canada who is an immigrant from Brazil and in addition to being new to a country with no network or connections when he was first in search for a job, he also faces the barrier of fairly severe hearing loss. He shares his experience about how he developed hearing loss, how it impacted his education and job prospects, and how the current hiring process is inaccessible to people with hearing impairment. View the full transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Sgzx9sNJPqnqbYBBBYGUAzH-Rtow-OmZZ383XJHy4iI/edit?usp=sharing To learn more about Hatchways visit: www.hatchways.io If you would like to be a part of the podcast, let us know here: https://forms.gle/VEowV2sryff84GtcA