Learnings and Recommendations for More Inclusive Job Calls

Since 2022, MetaDocencia has had two open calls for hiring various roles within our organization. Both attracted individuals with diverse profiles from across Latin America, who provided us with very positive feedback about the process.

In this publication, we share some lessons learned and a series of recommendations to promote fairer and more inclusive job search processes at different stages:

1. For the Design of the Call

Building a friendly job search process involves a multitude of details that require more time and effort from the organization, but that engage potential team members even before they join the team! At MetaDocencia, we believe this is time well spent.

Here are some specific recommendations to promote an excellent relationship with team members:

• Pay attention to language to avoid biases. Designing open and inclusive calls requires using language that avoids biases and stereotypes and promotes diversity. It is important that the job description, all communications and feedback that are part of the selection process, and work documents are inclusive. At MetaDocencia, we encourage people identified with minority groups to apply through the call text (in Spanish). If people who identify with minority groups do not feel included at this stage, they are likely to hesitate to apply.

• Plan actions. It is important to create a schedule identifying tasks, deadlines, and team responsibilities to meet the objectives and commitments made to those who take the time to participate in your selection process. To facilitate planning, task assignment, and follow-up, we at MetaDocencia now use Trello, but any other planning tool can help.

• Intensify efforts to maximize the reach of the call and use diverse media to publicly disseminate the call. For these calls, we published on our website and social media, in Slack workspaces and friendly communities, in our newsletter, and through personal recommendations.

• Form a work team to review and contextualize applications. In our case, a team of 3 to 4 people reviewed each application and classified profiles considering the fulfillment of selection criteria and requirements, as well as MetaDocencia’s values and conflict of interest policy. Notes were also taken on the applications, and additional variables were marked to contextualize, make balanced decisions, and measure the impact of the call (e.g., country of origin, professional trajectories, and areas of training).

• Leave no one out. Including the approximate salary for the position in the call also helps people consider whether it is convenient for them to apply and avoids negotiations with information asymmetries. Transparency in evaluation criteria also benefits those with less experience in job searches.

It is important to highlight that in our calls, although we defined specific profiles for the interview round, we invited all applicants to join our community. Several months later, we launched the Polen Project, a pilot initiative aimed at further expanding community inclusion for those interested in joining our team or engaging with our proposals.

• Provide feedback to applicants. People who respond to a job search invest their time in your organization, so the least you can do is keep them informed about the process’s progress. At MetaDocencia, we respond to all applications, whether they meet the job requirements or not.

In our case, we maintained fluid communication throughout the process so that everyone knew when they would receive a response about their application, whether positive or negative. The negative response is as important as the positive one for applicants, as it gives them certainty and autonomy. While we do not have enough budget to provide personalized feedback, we prepared segmented communications and tried to increase personalization as the selection process progressed. Additionally, we invited all applicants to join our community, and several of them later accepted the invitation to join our Proyecto Polen.

2. Interview Round

• About the Interview Team. Each interview included three members from MetaDocencia’s stable team with different roles and responsibilities: one from the executive team, one from the coordination team, and one from the collaborators team. We always prioritized the candidate’s unpaid time: instead of having individual interviews with each team member, we coordinate our schedules to have a single group interview with the candidate.
• Conflict of Interest. If any team members personally knew the candidates selected for the interviews, they had to disclose this beforehand. Team members with conflicts of interest did not participate in the interviews.
• The Importance of Preparation. Each interview participant had pre-assigned questions and a collaborative document to record their impressions and a rubric with evaluation aspects. Each interview lasted approximately 50 minutes. However, the interview moderation team connected 10 minutes earlier to review relevant aspects and background considerations. We also stayed 10 minutes after the interview to share impressions and observations.
• Schedule the Interviews. AAll candidates were asked the same questions, which were sent to them at least three days in advance to allow preparation and reduce the stress typical of job interviews. During the interview, the moderation team focused on listening and taking notes. There was also room for follow-up questions and dialogue to get to know each other better.
• Record the Exchange. To promote transparency, we recorded the interview with the candidate’s consent and shared it exclusively with the rest of the internal MetaDocencia team.

Lessons Learned After Two Rounds of Open Job Searches:

We opened two calls, one at the end of April 2022 and another in August 2023. As a result of the first process, we received 142 applications from 11 countries, 10 from Latin America and one from Europe, in less than a month. The second search saw participation from 130 people from 11 Latin American countries in one month.

These are our learned lessons: Improving Tools and Processes. The accumulated experience allowed us to learn from one call to the next. From the first to the second round, we improved the evaluation tools (rubric), the classification of files and materials needed for the call, and even community participation in the selection process..

Considering Diverse Starting Points to Level the Selection Conditions. We also learned the importance of inviting people to share their particular situations to consider them during the selection process.

Being Flexible! It was crucial to offer the option to apply for flexible working hours. Additionally, being open to considering different start dates based on individuals’ needs and prior commitments was important.

Learning in Practice and Gradually. Between the first and second rounds, we added a three-month period of gradual onboarding and mentoring to make the learning curve and adaptation to new tasks and responsibilities more manageable.

Documenting and Reviewing the Process. We learned that documenting and recording the applications received is a significant effort, but it allows us to fill vacancies that may arise without needing to issue a new call.

Additionally, recording implemented actions allows us to recover learnings and identify obstacles, review agreements, and improve the workflow. This strategy promotes transparency and strengthens the work ecosystem and institutional culture.

Acknowledgments

The development of this document was made possible thanks to Grant 80NSSC23K0854 awarded by NASA TOPS. https://zenodo.org/records/8430889 The development of this document was made possible thanks to a grant awarded by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. https://zenodo.org/records/7386373

Did you like this publication? You can freely reuse it under a CC BY 4.0 license, just remember to cite it.

Here is the citation we recommend for reference: Paz Míguez, Nicolás Palopoli, Laura Ación. (2023). “Learnings and Recommendations for More Inclusive Job Calls”. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13327107