Log in or create a free Rosenverse account to watch this video.
Log in Create free account100s of community videos are available to free members. Conference talks are generally available to Gold members.
Treating Diversity & Inclusion in Hiring as a Design Problem
Summary
There's no silver bullet to building a diverse and inclusive organization at scale. So how do you know what things to try, and what's working and what isn't? Our UX team used our user research chops to look at this problem in a user-centered way. In this session, we'll share how we married data and qualitative research to identify and fix holes in our recruiting, hiring, and retention practices.
Key Insights
-
•
Nearly 60% of HubSpot's UX hires came from employee referrals, which reinforces sameness and reduces diversity.
-
•
Slowing down hiring speed allows for more thoughtful and inclusive candidate sourcing.
-
•
The leadership team used a technique called 'aided recall' to actively seek candidates from underrepresented groups.
-
•
Candidate experience mirrors customer experience; mixed signals and disjointed communication hurt confidence, disproportionately affecting women and people of color.
-
•
Women often only apply if they meet all job requirements, whereas men apply despite partial matches, reflecting a confidence gap.
-
•
HubSpot implemented interview prep guides and standardized interviewer notes to level the playing field for all candidates.
-
•
An associate practitioner rotational program was launched to hire and develop junior talent without prior deep experience.
-
•
Belonging is crucial: it’s more than diversity and inclusion—it impacts retention and individual performance.
-
•
Unseen diversity traits (neurodiversity, mental health, education) significantly affect employees’ sense of belonging.
-
•
Including representatives from employee resource groups on interview panels helps candidates feel welcome and opens conversations about diversity.
Notable Quotes
"Maybe I too had joined another tech company that really wasn’t walking the walk when it came to diversity."
"Referrals encourage sameness because we tend to refer people who look and think like us."
"We treated diversity and inclusion like a sprint instead of the marathon that it truly is."
"For women, they often won’t apply unless they meet all the bullet points in a job description."
"This candidate experience was terrible for everybody but especially disadvantaging folks who started with lower confidence."
"If diversity is being asked to the party, inclusion is being asked to dance, and belonging is actually dancing with everyone else."
"We have to slow down hiring to be more thoughtful and deliberate about who we bring on the team."
"We turned design thinking on ourselves to tackle our own hiring challenges—applying tools meant for customers to our own processes."
"Having an employee resource group member on interview panels creates a safe space for candidates to disclose more about themselves."
"Performance reviews at HubSpot are ongoing conversations, not one big yearly event."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"You can’t know a human honestly from the outside alone; you have to let their reality work on you."
Daniel GloydDesigning From the Inside Out: How Method Acting Can Inspire Design Research
February 12, 2026
"Butter is about consistently showing up and being present so people don’t forget you."
Deirdre Hirschtritt Cesar Paredes Marie PerrotResearch is Only as Good as the Relationships You Build
November 17, 2022
"I believe that maturity models could help define the strategy of the design team."
Benjamin RealMaturity Models: A Core Tool for Creating a DesignOps Strategy
October 1, 2021
"What is your theory of change? How are you actually going to achieve the outcome you’re aiming for?"
Max Gadney Andrea Petrucci Joshua Stehr Hannah WickesAssessing UX jobs for impact in climate
August 14, 2024
"From fast-paced tech worlds, you will appreciate the patience and perseverance it takes to move an old champion."
Lada GorlenkoTheme 1: Intro
January 8, 2024
"If it feels uncomfortable, you’re probably doing something right."
Feyikemi AkinwolemiwaPlay to innovate: How curiosity and experimentation transform UX
March 11, 2026
"If you have a question at the end of a presentation, please put that question in the thread associated with the talk."
Bria AlexanderOpening Remarks
March 29, 2023
"Processing limits and licensing terms currently restrict how much video and audio these AI tools can handle."
Llewyn Paine[Demo] Deploying AI doppelgangers to de-identify user research recordings
June 5, 2024
"OKRs are not one-size-fits-all; you have to shape them based on your organizational context and culture."
Bria Alexander Benson Low Natalya Pemberton Stephanie GoldthorpeOKRs—Helpful or Harmful?
January 20, 2022
