Inclusive Hiring Practices

The ongoing impact on Black Americans from America’s legacy of slavery, segregation and white supremacy is broad and deep, manifesting itself not only in disparities in violence at the hands of police and vigilantes, but in medical outcomes, education, employment opportunities, housing, and wealth.

Of course, this leads to the critical question: “What can we do to make a positive difference?” Vendorful is a startup company with a relatively small team, not a corporate behemoth. But rather than focus on what we can’t do – lobby, make significant financial contributions, etc. – we will focus on what we can do. Vendorful has implemented a version of the NFL’s Rooney Rule: we will not make any new hires at any level of the organization without interviewing at least one Black candidate for the position.

We ask that other businesses, be they startups or giant enterprises, adopt similar practices. Vendorful is just one company. But apply this policy across hundreds of thousands of businesses and the impact could be profound and lasting. If your organization elects to adopt a requirement that underrepresented groups in tech — particularly Black Americans — be interviewed for open positions, please let us know by sharing the name of your company and the URL of your jobs page below.