Application processes—whether for jobs, funding, or other opportunities—are full of potential moments for bias to occur. In launching our venture studio, Ventures for Shared Prosperity, we knew that recruiting the right people to join our cohort as entrepreneurs was going to be crucial, and we saw a responsibility to create and conduct our application process in a way that encouraged people of all backgrounds—across race, age, ability, gender, and many other dimensions—to apply and feel welcome.

In our recruiting and outreach efforts, this started with expanding the very definition of who thinks of themselves as an entrepreneur. When we began recruiting in September 2020, we wanted to ensure that the application was open and accessible, with an emphasis on individuals with lived experience of our venture studio’s initial area of focus, reducing the costs of living in poverty. Why this emphasis on lived experience? Because we know that the context of poverty is complex, requiring intricate and challenging decisions and tradeoffs. We think those who have lived this reality are the real experts and will be the right leaders to identify and develop effective solutions, as they understand the nuance of poverty better than someone without that experience. It was crucial that people with direct experience with our focus area felt comfortable applying, even if they didn’t necessarily think of themselves as entrepreneurs yet.

We shared strategies for setting up our recruitment and application processes in an earlier post about this work. Now that we’ve successfully run the process and had time to take stock of what we’ve learned, we’re sharing more practical tips and insights gained from having used our behaviorally-informed recruitment practices to onboard a slate of extremely talented entrepreneurs. These insights can be put to work by any organization seeking to revamp recruitment processes with an eye toward reducing bias and recruiting for lived experience.

Read the full article about inclusion in entrepreneurship recruitment by Blessing Ogunyemi and Harrison Neuert at ideas42.