This story is centred around Chandra Balani from our Supporter community, who is the Head of Global Enterprise at AWS.
Over at AWS, they are always looking for people who will raise the bar – and who knows if someone embodies the Amazon Leadership Principles better than employees? Hence employee referrals are a crucial part of AWS’ hiring process.
Inclusion, diversity and equity (ID&E) is a key strategic priority for the company because they know that when employees reflect the diversity of customers and communities, they connect and innovate better with them. With that, the India team was keen on improving diversity and ensuring better representation. The Talent Acquisition team was exploring new ideas to engage with more talent and Chandra Balani was one of the leaders who stepped up to help meet this goal.
He worked with the Talent Acquisition team and went on to drive a new recruitment program. Here are a few things they did:
- They gamified the campaign by forming teams, with designated team captains .
- Each team was given the challenge of recommending referrals, with different rewards systems.
- They introduced time-bound mini challenges like “Jaldi 10” on the day of the event to keep the momentum going.
- They continued building excitement through the day with frequent reports and leaderboards.
The result? By the end of these 24 hours campaign, they received women in tech referrals influencing successful hires that helped the organization achieved their goals in game-changing ways.
Chandra’s initiative proves that innovation and creativity can make a world of difference in bridging the diversity gap. It requires leaders to be more intentional in their efforts to improve diversity, inclusion and equity.