Thoughts on more inclusive entry-level hiring in VC

VC as an apprenticeship business. While VCs have the same business model, every firm has different processes, approaches, and cultures. As a young talent aspiring to a career in VC, your first job is formative to your career trajectory. At best, you will find a team large and experienced enough to help you learn the craft from many different colleagues, a team that gives you time and mentoring to find your footing and signature as an investor.

Analyst hires are "diamonds in the rough"—we don't expect them to be VC insiders already, but they must have a passion for tech, sharpness, analytical skills, and a craving for learning. We usually hire from three career paths: consulting, startups, or the investment space. These all equip talent equally to pursue a career as an early-stage investor. However, we also appreciate other paths to take to break into VC.

Our scorecard combines three elements: raw intelligence (you gotta love analysis!), "winning others over" (much of venture investment is building bonds with people—fast!), and an independent work ethos (we work in swim lanes by ourselves more than in collaborative settings).

Our company is committed to diversity - of personalities, genders, experiences and thoughts. The richer the breadth of the team, the better the outcomes (and the more fun we have at the office).

Our key focus has been ensuring gender balance within our entry-level hires, particularly interns, analysts, and associates. While we have made significant strides (6 women are already part of our investment team), we are still expanding and will hire 2 more analysts this winter.

However, while we have upgraded our hiring processes to be more inclusive, we still see room for improvement. Because jobs in VC are scarce, we want to use every hiring opportunity to attract talents who enrich our team's perspectives.

So, as we open these two new entry roles, we have taken time to analyze our process, build in candidate feedback, and challenge ourselves to make it even more inviting to specifically female talents. While our selection process is optimized for inclusion, our inbound funnel is far from perfect from a gender balance lens: women make up 20% of our funnel if we only rely on inbound leads. This is far from our target of 50%. To address this, we actively reach out to job seekers, post job openings with WVC:E, included.vc, and use the various WhatsApp channels where female investors mingle. We also use alums and university networks to spread the word and ask fellow VCs for leads, e.g. former interns.

And here's what else we do:

Evaluating Talent Beyond the CV

We don't want to rely too heavily on CVs but give all applicants a fair chance to show their talents. This is why applicants are asked to answer screening questions designed to assess their reasoning and argumentation skills, which are crucial in our field. For instance, we might ask, "Describe a widely accepted viewpoint that you disagree with and explain your reasons for dissenting." This allows us to evaluate a candidate's depth and reasoning. And not only be influenced by the education or jobs they could land.

Moreover, we encourage candidates to share personal or passion projects that demonstrate their growth and interests outside their academic or professional pursuits. We want to learn a bit about the person behind the CV.

Balancing Cognitive Assessments

VC analysis requires sharp numerical reasoning skills, so we use TestGorilla's assessments to evaluate cognitive abilities. However, we are aware of the limitations of these tests, including the impact of test preparation and test-day anxiety. To mitigate these issues, we group candidates into three tiers based on their scores, with a minimum threshold of 50% correctness to progress. We don't share individual scores with candidates to prevent undue pressure or competition. Importantly, performing well on the test alone does not guarantee an interview, as it is just one of three key data points we consider.

Blind Review Process

Whoever from our team gets involved in the interview stage conducts a "blind evaluation" of candidates. This means everyone has to come to their assessment of the talent based on our scorecard and will not be primed by other interviewer's opinions. This approach helps reduce bias, ensures that candidates are evaluated solely on their merits, and helps weed out unnecessary bias in our selection process.

Inclusive Communication

We utilize tools to ensure our job ads and candidate communications are inclusive and accessible from biased language. This helps us attract a broader range of applicants and signals our commitment to supporting non-traditional talents.

The Road Ahead

Despite our efforts, we acknowledge that we are still not where we want to be. We would love any feedback or additional ideas on making this industry accessible for a more diverse range of talent who aspire to break into VC.

Let me know what we might overlook or do differently in the comments and which communities and talent pools we should tap into!