{"id":1356,"date":"2017-10-16T08:00:04","date_gmt":"2017-10-16T12:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.annelitwin.com\/?p=1356"},"modified":"2017-10-16T08:00:04","modified_gmt":"2017-10-16T12:00:04","slug":"technology-companies-can-hire-retain-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.annelitwin.com\/blog\/uncategorized\/technology-companies-can-hire-retain-women\/","title":{"rendered":"How Technology Companies Can Hire and Retain More Women"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tFor some time now, technology companies have acknowledged that women are underrepresented in their companies in technology and leadership positions. Both large and small companies in Silicon Valley have publicly announced their intentions to increase the representation of women and minorities in their ranks, yet not much progress has been made.\nKatharine Zaleski, the cofounder of a company that helps clients diversify their workforces, writes in the New York Times<\/em><\/a> that a big part of the solution could come from making changes in the interview process. She maintains that often well-intentioned, but clueless, men send clear messages to women during the interview process that they are not welcome or valued. But sometimes these interviewers are not well-intentioned. In one example, Zaleski set up an interview with a tech company for an African American woman software engineer. Zaleski recounts, \u201cafter meeting with the hiring panel, she [the applicant] withdrew her application, telling us she felt demeaned by the all-white male group that failed to ask her any questions about her coding skills.\u201d In fact, one of the men told her that because she wasn\u2019t a \u201ccultural fit,\u201d there was no need to proceed with technical questions. But what does it mean to be a \u201ccultural fit?\u201d Zaleski suggests that the template for \u201cfit\u201d is based on young white men.\nWhat can companies do to be successful in hiring diverse candidates? Zaleski offers these tips:\n\n\n