Breaking the “boys club” cycle
Breaking the “boys club” cycle
Advice for prioritizing gender diversity in the sales hiring process
DEAR STAGE 2: I lead a sales team of ~20 ppl at a series B company and we are struggling to recruit women to join the team. I’m committed to building a diverse team, but we’re just not seeing the makeup of the candidate pool change over time. What can I do as the leader of the team? ~Trying to diversify
DEAR TRYING TO DIVERSIFY: I’m going to make some assumptions here… let’s assume you’re at a team of 20 reps in an overall company of 50-70 people. You likely inherited a team when you joined as VP of Sales and diversity wasn’t a priority in the very early days.
I applaud you for putting diversity front and center and encourage you to first reflect on your current team and culture. I can’t say what it looks like, but you should take a hard look — are you running a meritocracy? Who is being recognized and promoted? Are there female leaders throughout the company? Do you offer a flexible schedule and autonomy for employees to work on their own schedule? What is the tone/tenor of company wide or team wide events?
There are countless questions we can ask here, but at this stage, you need to make sure you are addressing any root cause problems and creating an environment where women can be successful before (or in tandem) with, making adjustments to the recruiting process.
So back to recruiting…I’m going to offer advice on two areas:
Where and how to source: it all starts with building a strong top of funnel and ensuring that your candidate pipeline diverse. A few ideas:
Job descriptions: Countless studies have shown that women apply to jobs where they are thoroughly qualified, where men are more apt to apply if they meet even a small portion of the criteria. To this end, minimize the requirements for the roles you are posting. Less criteria, fewer requirements and more nice to haves v. must haves - a shorter, more pointed job description. While you’re at it, have a third party evaluate bias in the language of your JDs (see how your company stacks up with this resource from Textio)
Referrals: Real talk — women know more women. Ask your current team, ask other employees, ask your network, and put your advisors and investors to work! But be smart in your asks and don’t assume intros will just come your way. Set a meeting, comb through their LinkedIn first degree connections, see who they know, and then ask for feedback on the people you’ve identified. You can also ask “who are top X sellers you have worked with?” and take on the work of reaching out and selling these candidates on taking a convo.
Get comfortable with varied profiles: This is not about lowering your bar or changing the qualifications, but reorienting towards competencies and traits instead of experience. Could a seasoned recruiter sell your software product? YES. Could a hospitality worker make the leap to a CS role? YES. Think outside of the box and proactively reach out to candidates instead waiting for them to come to you. To help de-risk the career change, check out groups like Aspireship who offer training for talented candidates looking to get into SaaS sales.
Focused job boards/networks: Check out this list compiled by Lori Richardson. If posting the same places isn’t working, go to where the talent is!
Internships/Apprenticeships (e.g. Praxis): While admittedly a longer term play, I’ve seen some amazing talent come through co-ops, internships and apprenticeship programs. Consider these options for entry level candidates who can grow with you.
The interview process: As you address the top of funnel and put more proactive work into sourcing, it’s time to rethink your interview process:
This is a terrifying stat that has stuck with me over the years — HBR found that if there’s only one woman in your candidate pool there’s statistically no chance that she’ll be hired. I call this out because goals like “1 female finalist” for all roles actually don’t help to address the problem. You need to set more aggressive goals and ensure you have a diverse pipeline throughout your entire funnel.
Women (generally) want to work for diverse teams, see that other women have grown/been supported/thrived in an environment, and work with strong female leaders they can look up to. Are you showing off your commitment to diversity in your recruiting process? What % of your interview panel is female?
This is not an easy fix, but amazing talented women in sales are out there. Excited for you to start meeting them!
Disclaimer: Gender diversity is only one facet of building a diverse and inclusive workforce - please consider this content as part of a broader DEI strategy