We launched Training Camp + Draft Day to introduce top talent from non top-tier tech schools to small and mid-sized tech employers for entry-level tech jobs.

WTIA’s commitment to supporting the ever-growing Washington tech industry hit a new high on June 25 with its successful launch of Draft Day, a recruiting program that helps expand the tech talent pool, increase accessibility for new entrants to the industry, and support diversity.

Unlike job fairs, the Draft Day program pre-selects candidates who are nominated by their instructors or supervisors and provides ‘blind’ interviews with recruiters, eliminating bias around their background and educational pedigrees. Nominations were open to all candidates from non-top-tier schools. Of the 86 nominees, sixteen candidates advanced to the final round. All sixteen candidates fared well. Twelve were offered interviews. Four were given red shirts, meaning that when a position they’re qualified for opens up, they, too, will be offered an interview. There were no immediate job offers because the candidates still have to pass the technical interviews before they can be hired.

The finalists represented a wide range of diverse backgrounds and included: ten women, two veterans, and six racial minorities.

About Draft Day

Draft Day represents an effort to help solve the biggest challenge facing the tech industry: the tech talent gap. Draft Day emerged from 2015 FullConTech, WTIA’s cross-sector collaboration conference. During a facilitated breakout session at that event, we heard from educators from non-top-tier tech schools who expressed frustration with the assertion that there’s a dearth of tech talent when, in fact, many of their students are largely overlooked.

Regrettably, the current tech-recruiting environment errs on the side of hiring people with name-brand institutions on their resumes. In Washington, if recruiters don’t see UW-Seattle, WSU, or Western University, candidates get passed over. The irony is that companies big and small have bemoaned the lack of diversity in the talent pool, including WTIA member companies.

Here’s the play from the “Career Transition” facilitated discussion at 2015 FullCon Tech:

“Develop career fairs that are for multiple colleges or Seattle-wide, where Computer Science graduates from all schools (not just UW) can meet with potential employers. Level the playing field.” (2015 FullConTech Playbook, p. 15)

As a result, WTIA created Draft Day, which aimed to help non-top-tier schools prove that their students are capable of rising to the challenge and meeting the demands of the competitive tech world. What’s better, they frequently represent diverse backgrounds, including ‘career transitioners’.

How candidates were selected

For this inaugural event, we were thrilled to have received eighty-six nominations—the first step in a three-step vetting process—from up and down the state: Bellingham to Olympia. Recruiters then selected the next round of candidates by conducting one-on-one interviews during Training Camp (the Interview Prep Program that precedes Draft Day.) And finally, an advisory committee of recruiters from leading tech companies did the final round of vetting, which determined our final sixteen, the best of the best candidates advanced to present at the Draft Day event.

Draft Day candidate, Rena Cummings: Masters Degree in technology information and BS in mechanical engineering. She has been driving for Uber and wants to work in security.

 “I was struggling and now I see how I can fit in. Most job fairs won’t even accept resumes and business cards.”

Hiring partners took a chance

Switching up the process of procuring tech talent could have been a turn off for recruiters, let alone for senior execs. That said we had senior-level representatives including a CTO, a CEO, a VP of Engineering, a Director of Engineering, and heads of HR participate in Draft Day. Their companies ranged from ten-person teams to others with over a hundred engineers in their Seattle office alone. Those companies represented were: Base2, BoldIQ, Forum One, Omni Retail Group, and Redfin.

Connecting talent with industry

Draft Day is a great example of WTIA’s dedication to being ‘the connector’ for our members and the greater Washington tech community. We’re committed to providing a means of finding strong candidates for small and mid-sized companies who often don’t have the time to do an exhaustive, in-house search for talent.

Draft Day candidate, Daniel Browning, graduated from St. Martins. He spent 5.5 years in the military.

“I didn’t know about most of these companies. If it weren’t for Draft Day, I would never have known there were so many small tech companies out there. I got to learn about what the do and I learned not to limit myself to big names. As a college grad, I want to get my foot in the door anywhere.”

We hope all our candidates get invited for job interviews and get job offers, but we also want to help companies recognize that broadening their scope can only benefit them.

Want to help develop innovative ways to help increase opportunities for people to enter into and grow in the tech industry? Join us at the next FullConTech on October 3, at the Microsoft Convention Center. This year’s theme centers on talent—how to grow, attract, and retain it in our region.

Thank you!!

Draft Day wouldn’t have been possible without the support of a big group of volunteers and in-kind donations from WeWork, Fat Yeti Photography, and TalentSonar.

Volunteers:

Training Camp Coaches

Tiffany Dedeaux     Coding Dojo

Sanjala Chitnis     Code Fellows

Lacey Padgett     Dev Bootcamp

Mikaela Kiner     Uniquely HR

Rachel Butler     Uniquely HR

Sjohn Jepsen     Uniquely HR

Matt Cholerton     Hito Labs

Karen Kuhar     Domain Tools

Lonnie Spikes      Department of Licensing

Mei Lu      Jobfully.com

Steve Matly     SM Diversity

Stephanie Smith     Career Muse

Insider Insights – Speakers

Tim Godfrey     FuseIQ

Maya Skolnik     Nanostring

Sanjala Chtinis     Code Fellows

Tiffany Dedeaux     Coding Dojo

Matt Cholerton     Hito Labs

Mikaela Kiner     Uniquely HR

Evan Seguirant     Atlas

Jennifer Carlson     WTIA Workforce Institute

Other Volunteers

Fuzz Azni     E-Ping Nie Medalia          

Karissa Pallagi     Porsha Robinson