Rebecca Shapiro

Protected: Creating the UX Hiring Anchor program at Indeed

Background

At Indeed, UX is not a single organization, but a federation of several independent UX orgs of various sizes that report into different General Managers. Because of this decentralized structure, we were lacking universal standards around what made a great UX hire. This meant that designers hired into one org didn’t necessarily meet the quality bar for another when it came time to transfer to a new role. It also meant we missed out on some potentially great hires. Furthermore, as we worked to increase diversity in hiring across the company, we observed a lack of practical methodologies for reducing and combating bias in candidate assessments and hiring decisions.

In 2022, in partnership with our Sr. Director of UX Research, I spearheaded creation and implementation of the Indeed UX Hiring Anchor program, a new initiative to ensure consistently strong, fair, and de-biased UX hiring decisions across Indeed.

The working team

I brought in collaborators from across the company, both within UX and external. Key collaborators included partners from Talent Acquisition, Executive Recruiting, Content Design, UX Operations, Business Strategy, and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEI&B).

What is a Hiring Anchor?

• An expert in making consistently strong, successful, fair, and unbiased hiring decisions for UX at Indeed. 
• Someone outside the immediate hiring team who participates in the interview loop and facilitates the interview debrief. 
• Someone who ensures all UX hires demonstrate consistently collaborative, inclusive leadership and behavior.

They are responsible for:

• Upholding a consistent quality of hiring standards across UX teams at Indeed
• Assessing candidates for collaborative, inclusive leadership behaviors that deliver results.
• Ensuring that all hires demonstrate those qualities.
• Leading the interview debrief with an inclusive, data-focused approach. 

Our Principles

01 / Indeed UX hires for a collaborative, inclusive culture of owners.
Our goal is for every hire to demonstrate these qualities.

02 / Indeed does not subscribe to the philosophy that new hires should be better than the existing workforce, as we believe that approach dampens collaboration and breeds unhealthy competitive pressure.

03 / All interview assessments should be based on observable data from candidate responses and work shared, not gut feelings, assumptions, or hunches.

04 / All interview assessments should be specific to each interviewer’s assigned area of focus, as set forward by the hiring manager in the interview guide they send out ahead of the interview.

05 / We recognize that bias is often subconscious and unintentional. When potential bias occurs, we acknowledge it, address it, and learn from it.

Our deliverables

• Defined Hiring Anchor roles and responsibilities, including eligibility and training requirements and process for becoming a UX Hiring Anchor
• Evaluation rubrics for each of our 3 key leadership dimensions for each UX role and level (Associate through Director):
  • Collaboration – Does the candidate seek to partner with other UXers and cross functional peers? 
  • Inclusivity – Does the candidate seek to include others at all levels and roles, regardless of background?
  • Ownership – Does the candidate balance collaboration and inclusivity with timely, customer-centric, data-based results?
• Hiring Anchor Interview question bank

Outcome

In Q3 2022, we piloted the UX Hiring Anchor program in interviews for a UX Director role in the Employer UX org. After gathering feedback from participants and partners, we improved the program and then expanded it to additional roles and levels. In March 2023, I presented the UX Hiring Anchor program to all of the senior UX leaders across Indeed as well as our head of Executive Recruiting and received sign off for expansion across all organizations. Additionally, we received a pledge that our program would also be incorporated into new forthcoming executive recruiting processes outside of UX.