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Therefore DEI Marketplace

· 4 min read · Kapil Gowru
Thereforedesignproduct
The Therefore DEI Marketplace title card next to a grid of job seeker portraits and logos of participating companies.

Skills: Wireframing, Figma prototyping, fit-and-finish

Target persona: Black and Latinx job seekers looking to network with tech companies

Background

At this point of Therefore:

  • We had released a well-received mobile app to the market.
  • We had revamped our brand with a bold direction.
  • We created a networking program based on Harvard Business Review best practices.

So now when a job seeker is logged into Therefore, they are guided through a learning experience teaching the power of networking. From there, they are able to use Therefore's personal CRM to track their connections, proactively reach out, and get introduced to others.

At this point we wanted to level up this experience further for job seekers, we asked ourselves,

How might we give access to a strong tech community for job seekers who might not have access due to their background or demographic?

This led us to build a DEI-focused marketplace. On one end was our diverse community of job seekers who were vetted and eager to meet tech companies. On the other end were paying companies looking to grow their team in diverse and connect these job seekers.

The product

01 — Source candidates & companies

A top-of-the-funnel acquisition component that would source diverse job seekers from the following channels: LinkedIn, Slack, Reddit, DEI communities, and more. Our ops team of Heidi Tirkkonen, Lillie Leone, and Caroline O'Connell led this effort and managed the sourcing and all of the intake forms.

To find companies for our platform, we scoured various monthly and yearly DEI awards and recognitions. Then did additional research to view their blog posts, news articles, and metrics to ensure they match their claims.

02 — Vet job seekers

Job seekers were then vetted based on the following criteria.

  • Requirements on the job postings we received from companies.
  • Capacity to learn and ability for growth. To determine this, our ops team looked for vectors like recent career-growth, educational certificates, and referrals.
  • A completion of our Therefore program. The program explained the benefits of networking, our platform, and how to best present themselves in a short blurb (Therefore Positioning Statement).

03 — Match job seekers with companies

To match job seekers with companies, we used various criteria — the typical (job experience, skillset) and more holistic (in-app program completion, zoom calls, adjacent job backgrounds, leadership). We combined all of these metrics into a singular Retool dashboard. The Retool dashboard was originally built and designed by me, then maintained by our engineering team (Chuck Greb and Christian Yaglenski) who then developed it into a far more intricate and intelligent tool. In its final form, it all but auto-matched job seekers to companies by suggesting which matches to make.

The Therefore Matchmaking Dashboard built in Retool, a step-by-step internal tool for selecting a connector at a company and matching them to a job seeker, with lifecycle filters and weekly match counts.
the Retool matchmaking dashboard

04 — Job seekers are allowed to accept

Every week, a job seekers was given 3 matches in the Therefore app. They can then choose to accept or deny. The job search is noisy and difficult to predict so we allowed our job seekers to deny 1 meeting a week (of the 3 we matched). If they denied more than 1, they would be on a probationary period of 2 weeks with no matches (unless they can provide extraordinary reasons).

The Your Meetings screen in the Therefore web app showing three awaiting info interviews with employees at tech companies, each with Accept and Not-this-week actions and a 48-hour expiry.
weekly matches waiting to be accepted in the Therefore app

05 — Meet!

Before the call, job seekers and employees at companies were just given the basic information of each other (Name & Therefore Positioning Statement) to ensure there were no large biases.

The call was then administered through Google Meet (automated through Google API) which allowed any Therefore member to also join and moderate if there are any difficulties.

A Therefore meeting in progress over video call, with a job seeker and a company employee talking face to face.
a Therefore meeting in progress

06 — Gather feedback & improve

After the completion of a call, both job seekers and employees at companies were served with a research-backed survey. The survey allowed you to reflect on the call and action on what to happen next.

Part of the survey was meant for Therefore while the other shared with the other party. This helped job seekers continuously improve their pitch and employees at companies improve their ability to sell their mission.

An animated walkthrough of the post-call feedback survey, stepping through questions that both parties answer after a Therefore meeting.
the post-call feedback survey

07 — Interview!

The information of the job seeker is shared with the companies and vice versa. If companies believed the convos went well, the job seekers are then put through the interview process.

And if it wasn't a good fit, both parties are still able to connect with each other and leverage each other's networks.

Outcome & reflection

At the peak of Therefore's operations, we had over 1400 Black & Latinx job seekers in our community. We had a weekly cadence of 30 meetings a week where job seekers they met with some of the best tech companies out there.

Skillsets used

  • Full product development — UX research, design, product specs, fit-n-finish and deployment
  • Iterating on design system to meet growing product requirements