Leveraging the entire talent pool for the energy geoscience workforce of the future – and speaking only for myself

I had the honor of participating in a panel discussion on December 1, 2020, hosted by the Committee on Earth Resources titled “Pathways Toward the Future J.E.D.I. Energy Workforce” (https://www.nationalacademies.org/event/12-01-2020/committee-on-earth-resources-fall-2020-meeting). The title refers to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI). After sharing my thoughts about the panel, a colleague asked me whether JEDI means that hiring managers must ensure that they always identify the best person for the job based solely on merit and be cognizant of any biases towards weighting based on extraneous factors. This question challenged me (in a good way!) to think about my hiring and interviewing experiences.

My sense is that there are a lot of people who have great credentials and look similar on paper, and usually more than one of them could be the best person for almost any given job. In case of a tie, I think the candidate who adds more diversity to the organization should be selected because the business literature documents the superior results of diverse teams. I am not sure I could rank candidates from 1 to n because of the intangibles of human characteristics.

I find interviews to be revealing because most candidates communicate a lot about themselves, their intelligence, their abilities, their work ethic, and so on, through storytelling and personal narratives. Sometimes this is magnetic and sometimes this can be really off-putting. I have come to appreciate that the less-quantifiable aspects of people’s skills and characteristics play strong roles in their success within an organization. For example, work ethic has a huge value. In my current role, tact and adherence to protocols are important. I try to make sure that the teams I help build incorporate a variety of skills and personal characteristics, including communication, creativity, initiative, leadership, lived experiences, persistence, and so on.

Awareness of one’s bias is important. I used to gravitate toward people I perceived as the most intelligent, but I have come to appreciate that work ethic and team spirit often are better predictors of success.

I think my most important points in the panel discussion were these:

1. Approachable role models are valuable, especially early in one’s career. I cited the moderator, Dr. Sherilyn Williams-Stroud, as an example because several of my colleagues praised her mentoring and advice.
2. I take inspiration from the #femalegeologist profiles developed by the AAPG Women’s Network. You will see a red lipstick for scale in my next field photographs.
3. We have an ethical and professional obligation to promote JEDI in the geoscience workforce.

Let me close by saying that advocating for a diverse workforce NEVER means advocating for anyone who is unqualified. It means advocating for a level playing field and fair evaluation of candidates.

Gretchen Gillis

January 2, 2021