Ask HN: Diversity in Action at FB Hiring – Yay or Nay?

10 points by DiversityinSV 10 years ago | 8 comments

Silicon Valley Hiring Diversity In Action:

Me: Latino dude, 35-40, Over 10 years bouncing in SV, last company I was at was acquired

Facebook recruiter calls after I apply for PM post

Recruiter Says:

Looking for PM - Monetization with at least 6 years experience Needs Mobile experience Needs to understand banners/interstitials/other mobile ads formats International Marketing preferred Must know metrics for monetization and adoption Participation in developer events (e.g. hackathons) is a plus!

Me: Yay- I got all of this!

Recruiter says: OK, come by for interview

Me: Prepare like hell for interview for days

Meets FB team for interview: 3 Google lifers just transferred to FB, 4 FB lifers, none with direct experience in the market or on the monetization product they are now working.

Recruiter & Team: Thanks, we pass.

Facebook hires - White dude Stanford MBA, 2015 grad with no experience besides 2 years at a VC firm and an few months internship from UBER

Me: ?????

Yeah man, we are rocking this diversity push for sure around here and nobody is lowering standards, no siree....

‪#‎stanfordlifesmattermorethanothersaroundsiliconvalley‬

raincom 10 years ago |

Hola,

Sorry to hear about the rejection. If fb/google/goldman sachs/blackstone/kkr hires a stanford mba, instead of you, it has nothing to do with you being a latino. It has everything to do with the fact that you are not a harvard/stanford MBA. If you were a harvard/stanford latino mba, they would have hired you.

Tech/VC/HB/PE/IB elite companies look for elite credentials. That's how the American system works: lack of 'culture fit'.

What is 'culture fit'? You can answer it negatively.

1. You don't have an elite mba (harvard/stanford) 2. You don't have an elite undergard (hyp, s, etc) 3. You don't have an elite job pedigree (you haven't worked for McKinsey, BCG, GS, etc) 4. You don't have elite genes (you are not a kid of a billionaire/senator/president/dictator of Pakistan/etc) 5. you are not a wealthy white (you are not a Rockefeller)

You can add many more to the list.

There was a time Stanford MBAs wanted to work for PE firms like Blackstone, KKR, etc. Now Facebook product mgmt roles attracting/recruting Stanford MBA's tells a story about how the valley has changed over the time: more routes are closed for ordinary mortals, esp if you don't want to be a programmer.

DiversityinSV 10 years ago | |

Noted. Yeah, my MBA is over a decade old and not an Ivy one.

Guess the Diversity applies as long as you come from a few key schools & employers. It is as it always has been.

staunch 10 years ago |

Do you think wealthy Latino men with Stanford MBAs are struggling at all?

This problem is much more about class than race.

White people from poor backgrounds have the same kind of experience all the time. This is the way many companies founded by upper class people operate.

The good news is that there are plenty of meritocratic companies, or at least teams inside companies, that aren't fooled much by elite credentials. You just have to work harder than those other people to prove yourself.

Silicon Valley won't be truly diverse until more companies are founded by people from poor backgrounds. Almost all of the current ones were founded by the most elite.

DiversityinSV 10 years ago | |

so sad that for anyone else wishing for an alternative, has to just 'work harder' somewhere else 'where you will be appreciated' by 'others like you' whether the distinction is race or class. But do 100% agree there are such places like that out there where one is valued on experience + credentials, not only background. I guess the much discussed diversity topic around SV was just like a Summer hit song, cool for a few months, forgotten later.

Alrighty then. Gotta go & work harder :-)

NetStrikeForce 10 years ago |

Unconscious bias. They think they'll feel more comfortable with people that fit their own stereotype.

It's difficult to add diversity when you're unaware of your own bias, but you shouldn't be mad at the situation (in case you were). Think about it, do you really want to work in that team? You might want to also choose if you want to work in a company/team/project after interviewing - don't just blindly jump because it's Facebook. Their lack of diversity would be a big NO for me.

That's my attitude at life and it works. I live in a different country from where I was born, moved at an adult age so it's easy to tell I'm not native and, well, I look different than the local stereotype.

argonaut 10 years ago |

Yeah. Having done a few PM interviews, to an engineer like myself they do seem very very subjective and personal. Because there is no right answer, it seems to me you have to say things that the interviewer thinks is thoughtful (subjective), or reason about things in a framework that the interviewer likes, or otherwise share their opinions. Which is a huge enabler of hiring people the interviewer likes.

At least in engineering there is a right answer. I've never been rejected from an engineering position where I aced all the questions with clean code, and designed all the systems robustly (of course, this is rare, it's when you don't get everything correct that the subjective judgment in engineering interviews comes into play).

pavornyoh 10 years ago |

Nay.

I am sorry to hear you didn't get the job. Did FB give you any concrete feedback as to why they passed? There may be several factors at play here. Was it your salary requirements? How was your interactions with the group during your onsite? etc..

I am sure Facebook is looking to diversify their workforce so be more objective and look pass race (I know it is hard but try) for concrete answers as to why you didn't get the job.

DiversityinSV 10 years ago | |

So Culture fit > Skillset and Requirements? That's why we are where we are diversity speaking. 'Culture' means whatever to whoever.

Salary req'd were not discussed on interview. Recruiter said salary expectation was within the position.

I don't know how to be more objective than listing actual requirements for the position and see if they got what they say they wanted. In this case, they sure didn't and I don't know why.

I didn't screw up the interview for sure. I prepared quite a bit.

I am sure FB is trying to diversify too... but I hope someone replies here saying how is this happening.