job sometimes lack companies white tech
Tech industry continues to struggle with lack of diversity in workforceThe few minorities hired into big tech companies can often feel alienated inoverwhelmingly white (and sometimes Asian) environments. Unsurprisingly, theyare sometimes reluctant to recommend their employer to friends, classmates andformer colleagues, furthering the cycle of underrepresentation, Williams andothers say.• WHEN THE CULTURE DOESN’T FIT.Silicon Valley startups like to talk about “culture fit” — in theory, thequestion of whether a job candidate’s attitude and behavior meshes well with acompany. In practice, though, it can mean that since a lot of people are whiteand male, they “hire what they know,” says Dave McClure, a prominent angelinvestor in Silicon Valley.Larger companies such as Facebook publicly eschew discussions of “fit,”although the notion can unwittingly seep into hiring practices. For example, a2013 study found that words used in engineering and programming job listingscould serve to discourage women from applying. Words like “competitive,”“dominant” and “leader” can make a job seem less appealing to women in a fieldthat is already male-dominated.Some companies, including Facebook, offer training on “unconscious bias” tocombat the problem. But they don’t make such training mandatory for allemployees.And once hired, people can get lost in the shuffle given the lack of rolemodels and mentors in higher ranks — and thus find it difficult to advance.