The talent of the future
“What specific initiative are you conducting to draw diverse talent?”
“What is your biggest challenge regarding diversity in your company?”
These were some of the starting points that Paula Coto, Executive Director of Chicas en Tecnología, proposed to the 20 leading companies that took part in the 4th edition of Breakfast for technology companies. “Connecting the ecosystem for the talent of the future” was the topic that brought professionals from various areas together to co-create and think strategies that enable women’s development and diversity in the technological environment. With convincing data on the technological and scientific gender gap, Paula Coto introduced the main challenges to be solved in terms of innovation, leadership, and diversity in the industry: “When we talk about diverse talent, we not only talk about integrating women and diversity into our companies but also about what kind of technology we want to build,” she said. And as the first approach to the topic, she put forward various teamwork dynamics so that people from different organizations could share experiences, ideas, and initiatives.
On the morning of the face-to-face meeting, there was also a Panel of experiences in the charge of Salesforce, J.P. Morgan, Mercado Libre, and Shifta. They shared good practices they implement in their companies to integrate talent and solve issues related to gender and diversity. Bárbara Martínez Castro, Regional Talent Acquisition Manager of Mercado Libre, explained the importance of diverse workgroups in the creation of innovative technological solutions to satisfy the needs of all users. For this reason, Mercado Libre aims to be a diverse company, not only in the technology sector but also in other areas: “We want to create and accompany talent from the seedbed, to think about the entire journey of people,” said Bárbara. As for Álvaro Fernández Río, Tech Hub Recruiting Lead of J.P. Morgan, he shared experiences and his learning from programs for the integration of diverse talent into the organization and the way they work to reintegrate professionally those women who left the labor market in the last two years. “For J.P. Morgan, inclusion and diversity are important not only when girls start working but when they come back on board,” Álvaro stated. On behalf of Salesforce, Melina Ruggeri, Recruiting Manager of the organization, shared strategies and initiatives to guide the talent recruitment process and ensure its transparency and equity: “During the recruitment process, people are evaluated fairly, according to their skills, qualifications for the position, and desire to learn.” And added: “Nowadays we have to work in a complex labor market, so sharing initiatives is very helpful.” The Panel concluded with the participation of Miriam Frías, Chief People and Culture Officer of Shifta, who shared her experience working on transgender integration projects and her way to make decisions to include diverse talent in workgroups. “Four years ago, we talked to Chicas en Tecnología for the first time and presented the topic of diversity to the directors. Based on that, we evaluated in what way we could contribute and the answer was knowledge,” said Miriam, who added: “Diversity has to be there since the moment we begin building a project, the best way is to seek allies who act from other environments to create diversity.”
“Welcome to the talk” were the words with which the Executive Director of Chicas en Tecnología started the group dynamics between ambassadors from the different organizations. And, as an early summary, that was the stamp of the entire event: the dialog, exchange, and active listening and participation of people and organizations that work from different areas to make the professional technological field diverse and inclusive. Because understanding the motivations and interests of new talents and creating work environments so that they can grow is a challenge that must be solved collectively.
