Diversity hiring empowers female IT professionals in Brazil

A global IT company and our RPO customer needed to change their hiring culture to focus on gender diversity.

Project ADA, named after Ada Lovelace, the English mathematician and “the first computer programmer”, was created to help source, recruit, hire, and upskill 200 female-identifying IT professionals in 6 months.

The team used a multi-channel approach which included:

• Digital and community-based marketing campaign
• Attracted female talent through social campaigns featuring female influencers
• Collaborated with local non-profits creating opportunities without distinction of sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, and disability

The team was asked to enhance female candidate diversity. We consulted with the customer to create an actionable plan– quickly locating, sourcing, and recruiting female talent.

“Based on a 2021 labour market gender gap analysis, women are at a 33% disadvantage in terms of economic participation and opportunity in comparison to men”. Statista.com

Reasons for this inequity include:

• Imposter syndrome – lack of confidence and self-esteem as females join the workforce.
• Knowledge gaps – candidates needed additional IT and technical training due to lack of resources and educational opportunities.
• Candidate market scarcity – only a few female-identifying IT candidates were available to source.

We partnered with local non-profits and consulted key stakeholders.

Our efforts developed Project ADA’s digital marketing campaign and attracted local female talent through powerful messaging and imagery.

Innovative media campaign and sourcing strategy: Through job profiling and market mapping, the team showcased female employees in digital and print campaigns as well as Facebook group promotions, LinkedIn advertising, and female influencer manifesto videos.

Relationship management: Our local team established trust and confidence with female candidates within the community. We connected on a personal level and offered emotional support and motivation as needed.

Remote IT academy: To fill in candidate skill gaps, we co-created an IT skills academy. New hires underwent comprehensive on-the-job onboarding and upskilling, receiving full wages throughout their learning process.

This effort resulted in hiring and upskilling 200 female-identifying IT professionals in only 4 months. 

The targeted sourcing strategy resulted in 72% of all 2,961 applicants being screened. 52% of recruiter-interviewed candidates made it to the technical interview and 79% of those applicants were hired.