{"id":20202,"date":"2023-11-07T22:28:03","date_gmt":"2023-11-07T22:28:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/leadership\/how-talent-company-toast-eliminates-gender-bias-in-tech-hiring\/"},"modified":"2023-11-07T22:28:05","modified_gmt":"2023-11-07T22:28:05","slug":"how-talent-company-toast-eliminates-gender-bias-in-tech-hiring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=20202","title":{"rendered":"How Talent Company Toast Eliminates Gender Bias In Tech Hiring"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

According to a 2023 report from MIT, women occupy only 28% of jobs in STEM fields. Not only that, but they\u2019ve been quiet quitting and leaning out for several years now. Despite a recent tech boom in Canada, women still face a gender pay gap of $20,000 per year in the industry.<\/p>\n

These grim statistics are what inspired April Hicke and Marissa McNeelands to cofound Toast, Canada\u2019s first female-focused talent partner aimed at placing women in tech companies. Toast is backed by the federal government to help organizations who have tagged gender diversity to their ESG reporting for 2024. Although they only launched in 2022, Toast already boasts over 6,000 women and 70 partner organizations in Calgary, Vancouver and Toronto. They will launch U.S. operations in 2024.<\/p>\n

What sets them apart is how Toast partners with companies keen to diversify their tech teams, providing a unique AI-driven recruitment tool free from gender and socioeconomic biases. When Toast presents candidates, they remove the names of the individuals (eliminating gender and racial bias), the companies previously worked for (since for people with foreign work experience, this introduces bias), and the schools attended (as this introduces socioeconomic bias). Toast has received serious press attention for their efforts, with coverage in The Globe and Mail<\/em>, BNN Bloomberg, and The Financial Post<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur algorithms are meticulously trained on diverse datasets, challenging the status quo of male-dominated tech industries and fostering a more inclusive workforce,\u201d said McNeelands, Toast\u2019s cofounder and CEO, in an exclusive interview with me. She holds a master\u2019s degree in AI, and built the algorithms used by Toast herself.<\/p>\n

<\/fbs-ad><\/p>\n

Furthermore, Toast runs a membership collective aimed at eliminating the \u201clonely only\u201d syndrome, helping women in tech find mentorship, support, and growth opportunities. \u201cToast is more than a career platform\u2014it is a movement towards gender equity in tech,\u201d says Hicke. \u201cIt was born out of a genuine need to diversify technical teams. Really, we are trying to level the playing field for women and change the way people look at hiring. We are not just helping women land tech jobs; we are ensuring they rise and thrive in them.\u201d<\/p>\n

McNeelands adds, \u201cToast help women in tech get the jobs they want, the pay they deserve, and a community that supports them. We do this by creating a safe online space for women to transparently discuss salary, refer each other, and lean on each other while navigating the career journey. Ultimately, we give voice to the cognitive dissonance that women experience working in a field so vastly dominated by men.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hicke says adversity gave her the mantra that she now lives by: \u201cWe were given this baggage to show others how it can be unpacked.\u201d She grew up without much support or mentorship. When she took on her first leadership role at work in her late twenties, she decided that she wanted women never to feel as unsupported as she did. \u201cI use my own experience, strength and hope to support and elevate other women,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

The biggest challenges they face, McNeelands says, are encouraging more girls to pursue STEM in school and creating a workforce environment where women\u2019s skills are valued at the same level as their male peers. \u201cSometimes the slow pace of progress can be frustrating,\u201d she explains. \u201cWhen you do something that you are so passionate about, the stakes are very high. A bad day at Toast doesn\u2019t just impact me or my team, but it feels like it impacts all the women in tech looking to us to make a change.\u201d<\/p>\n

That said, both cofounders find their work extremely rewarding. \u201cLiving into exactly who I was meant to be every day is the greatest feeling,\u201d says Hicke. \u201cThis is my dream job. Not only do we get to make a difference in the lives of women, but we are actually driving systemic change in an industry that is ripe with bias and stigmas.\u201d<\/p>\n

To women looking to make it in STEM jobs, McNeelands offers this advice. \u201cIf you can\u2019t find the right opportunity, create it. If you aren\u2019t feeling fulfilled, dig into why and seek out others. By giving voice to how you are feeling, you will probably find that there are others in the same spot. We can\u2019t sit back and wait for the systems to change for us. We have to change them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnything is possible,\u201d adds Hicke. \u201cIt is completely possible to take small steps every day to create the dream life you\u2019ve always wanted. And then when you\u2019re living in your dream life, dream even more.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read the full article here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

According to a 2023 report from MIT, women occupy only 28% of jobs in STEM fields. Not only that, but they\u2019ve been quiet quitting and leaning out for several years now. Despite a recent tech boom in Canada, women still face a gender pay gap of $20,000 per year in the industry. These grim statistics […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20203,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-20202","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leadership"},"yoast_head":"\nHow Talent Company Toast Eliminates Gender Bias In Tech Hiring | Brandiary<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"According to a 2023 report from MIT, women occupy only 28% of jobs in STEM fields. 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