Diversity in Desktop Support, The Sequel
On February 5, I launched a job search for two, part-time technical support specialists to join our user support team (see 2/9 post, below). Two weeks later the search is completed, technicians hired, and the gender diversity results are in -- over 115 applicants and fewer than 10 women in the pool, total (as low as 6, with a few not clearly identifiable as male or female). That's less than 9%, folks.
Our search netted some amazing candidates, and we were lucky enough to hire two of them. No surprise -- both new hires are men.
It saddens me that there were so few women in the pool to begin with, and even fewer who came anywhere close to meeting the minimum qualifications. But diversity comes in numerous forms, and gender is only one of them. This hiring experience has caused me to reflect on the overall diversity of my team, including direct staff, student workers, and the extended team we outsource our infrastructure services to.
4 staff members (including me): 3 men and 1 woman; 3 Caucasian and 1 African American
6 student workers: 4 men and 2 women; 3 Caucasian, 1 African American, and 2 Asian
4 extend team members: 3 men and 1 woman; 2 Caucasian and 2 Asian
So, in total, my team consists of 14 people, of which 4 are women (29%) and 6 are non-white (43%). Not great, but all things considered, not terrible either. When I think about the diversity trends in IT, I feel proud that we've been able to pull together as diverse of a team as this in such a short period of time (I've been here 6 months, and at the time of my joining there were no women on the team and only one non-white).
There's more we can (and *will*) do, of course, but isn't there always?