Problem

BIPOC individuals face several barriers in hiring, employment, and equitable [job transition](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_Transition#:~:text=Just Transition is a framework,climate change and protecting biodiversity.). Unconscious bias increases discrimination when hiring and recruiting is done by majority non-BIPOC employers. Heightened reliance on referrals and networking can also lead to geographic and cultural biases against BIPOC candidates, exemplified in Silicon Valley where the norm of warm introductions can be exclusionary.

As the racial wage gap persists, it’s critical to ensure social mobility for all. Since American manufacturing industries began to decline in the 1970s, the Black-white wage gap has only increased with median white households making $33,000 more than Black households in 2018. Additionally, the fall of manufacturing jobs has disproportionately affected BIPOC and other underrepresented communities, reinforcing the need to justly transition workers into a continually automated world.

Key Terms

Warm Introductions: A personalized referral where someone you know introduces you to a contact. When recruiting for jobs, warm introductions can help your application, but also lead to intense exclusion, such as in the case of VC investing.
Just Transition: Used largely in the context of unemployment due to [fossil fuel industries "going green."](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_Transition#:~:text=Just Transition is a framework,climate change and protecting biodiversity.) Moreover, it urges for the protection worker's rights, creation of new jobs, and dignified transitions from one industry to another for those whose work is displaced.
Gig Economy: In a gig economy, temporary, flexible jobs are commonplace and companies tend to hire independent contractors and freelancers instead of full-time employees.

Solutions

1. AI-Related Blind Recruiting

Anonymous recruiting can reduce unconscious bias during the candidate screening and technical interview process.

Existing Solutions

Anonymous.io is a hiring platform for software engineers that provides anonymous technical interview screening for recruiters and practice for candidates.
Blendoor ****is a people operations and hiring platform that automatically screens, recommends, and anonymizes potential candidates.
Mursion is a virtual reality simulation company that delivers experiential learning for essential skills (diversity and inclusion training) in the workplace.

What needs to be done?

<aside> 👤 Unbiased recruiting for non-technical roles: Screening for non-technical roles can be writing or interview-heavy, making anonymization difficult. With the right technology, it may be possible to scale an automated NLP system to match a candidate’s experience, written job requirements, and references with hiring position criteria — circumventing human recruiter bias. Models would need to be carefully designed so as not to enshrine bias.

</aside>

2. Breaking open the "Black Box"

Historical exclusion and inaccessibility to certain industries create a legacy of exclusion to minority groups. Technology can help ****demystify recruitment processes and industry know-how through democratizing career advice-sharing for minorities.