Together with TalentFlood
By Debra Giunta
We’ve recently joined the Together Campaign, as platform for refugees and immigrants to get matched to jobs in Chicago. We value all people at our company, no matter who they are or where they’ve come from. To us, what’s most important are values and ethics. Those can be found in all populations. We wanted to join this campaign to encourage finding employees that often have a hard time finding jobs, but who nonetheless may have great work ethic and experience. And there are many other employers in Chicago that feel the same say, as we have found.
So this month, TalentFlood, a new smart hiring software that uses a sophisticated algorithm to match employers to job seekers, has launched a new Together Campaign. Their goal is to bring employers together with refugees and immigrants in Chicago to encourage job matches. They are partnering with outstanding refugee and immigrant organizations in Chicago, as well as with employers like us that stand in solidarity with hiring from this population. TalentFlood is simply the platform for the matches to be made.
As a Chicago local and co-founder of TalentFlood, Angela Jackson shares about the idea and passion behind the campaign. “Let’s be honest -- the refugee and immigration topic is tense right now. Everyone has varying views, but for the most part there is no unity. So we wanted a space where everyone could unify in the business sector and have a practical outlet for solidarity.” She continues to explain the details of the job matching. “The best part of the campaign is the way the software works. It’s statistical matching, so it truly will only choose matches based off the employer’s job description and needs. So while it doesn’t ‘prefer’ a refugee over other candidates, it does give them a better shot because numbers and rates don’t have emotional connections to names, countries, university names, or timing of jobs. It adds up the total ‘score’ of the candidate in comparison to the employer score.”
“This is important because refugees specifically have difficulty getting jobs. Not because they’re uneducated or disqualified. But because sometimes they’ll have time gaps in their resume when they were at a refugee camp, or because their university name isn’t recognized, or because they simply are from another country. Not all employers have explicit bias and realize they are doing this. But we all have implicit bias. So if we can eliminate that, it will not just help refugees, but also everyone!”
Since the idea was in genesis 2 months ago, they have been able to meet one-on-one with refugees, walking them through the profile and making sure that they understand each part of it. Sometimes a team member will need to help translate a job title -- what was called an Office Worker may be officially called Administrative Assistant in America. At the end of the day, TalentFlood wants to do whatever it takes to give them the same access to opportunity that everyone else has.
We’re super excited to get on board! Read more about the campaign here: http://chicago.thetogethercampaign.org/about/
