In October of 2023, I interviewed for a role with Basis, a New Zealand-based startup. While I didn't get the role in the end, the process actually left me feeling good at the end of it, which for those who know what my 2023 was like will know was a massive deal. Importantly, they've done remarkably well at making a hiring process that's actually kind to trans people.
Given that I've been quite negative in my blog so far, I thought it might be nice to talk a bit about a company that's actually doing things well. So here we are: this is how things went down for me at Basis.
The start of the process
The application process started with an application form on the Basis website. Now, while there might be things to be said about whether this captures a sufficiently diverse applicant pool, it got me there and it's probably preferable to just posting up on SEEK or relying on recruiters.
The form itself is pretty well-designed: it gives people an opportunity to showcase their skills in a way that a lot of places don't, and the questions are open-ended and clever enough that good candidates can really demonstrate it. The form also asks for pronouns directly, which is a small thing, but it does show a level of care and consideration that does count. Still, it's a web form: there's only so much you can infer from that.
Evidently I filled the form in well enough (despite linking to a one-hour video on defence economics where I was meant to put a gif), and I wound up in a screening call with Steph, one of Basis' talent managers. Steph was remarkably good at putting me at my ease, and was able to directly tackle my questions and apprehension about my trans identity without any apprehension or skirting around the problem, which I very much appreciated. There's not much more to say about the screening call, but it certainly looks as though the early stages of Basis' hiring pipeline is pretty good from an inclusion and diversity perspective.
Standardised testing
The next step in the process was a psychometric test. Now, I'll admit upfront that I'm not a huge fan of these in general. Stephen Gould's The Mismeasure of Man goes into excruciating detail about how IQ tests and similar tools have been used to engage in eugenics, reinforce racist, sexist and queerphobic tropes, and, in the extreme, sterilise and lobotomise people who were deemed mentally subnormal. In short, the history of these tests is not one to inspire confidence, and the way that they're often used in industry bears this out. Personality testing can be especially pernicious, as personality is obviously shaped by history and background. This means that if you're hiring managerial talent using these tools... well, manager material is likely to have a personality profile similar to other managers inasmuch as it skews white, male, cis and heterosexual.
Which is why it's a little odd for me to find myself saying that in this context, I think it actually works well. This is in essence a form of standardised testing. Now, Basis is attempting to hire maybe the top 5% of talent in New Zealand, and while standardised testing is on average biased against minority groups, the top echelons of any given minority group will, thanks to the brutal selection pressures we're exposed to, actually outperform hegemonic groups.
This means that somehow, with some absolutely awful tools, Basis has managed to create an objective metric for scoring their interviewees. And this, for minority groups, is really helpful: whatever other biases might be at play, it's impossible to ignore or discard high scores on the test. Obviously, I don't actually know how predictive the test is of how people do in the job, but it does mean that trans people will actually get consideration that, without the test, just doesn't happen.
I can't speak to the personality aspects of the psychometric test so far except to say that the technical interview indicated that Basis seems to hire for quite a different personality profile to most places I've worked: open, robust discussion is encouraged (and while I know that this can get ugly in places like the Bay Area, New Zealand generally has the opposite problem), deep, focused work is considered vital (Basis had two meeting-free days a week at the time) and there was significantly less pressure to put on a mask at work. These are all things that are going to make life a lot easier for trans people, so even if personality tests are in themselves a bit iffy, they're clearly selecting for the right things.
The take-home project
The take-home task that was the next step in the process was also remarkably well-designed by the standards I'm used to. Firstly, Basis clearly has clear, well-stated criteria for how the project is judged. The interviewers are looking for very specific things, they have clear outcomes that they want from the project and (importantly) they have excellent technical taste. This is important for being trans-friendly for two reasons: firstly, it's another objective data point that is hard to ignore, especially if you're evaluating all of the submissions in a batch. Again, no matter what biases you might have, it's impossible to ignore the fact that trans people might have submitted some of the best projects. Secondly, it's an excellent way of building rapport: if you discuss the project in the interview, it takes focus off the person and puts it on to the technical skills displayed, which benefits trans people (there's often a lot of weirdness about us in interpersonal interactions). I will note that you have to have excellent technical skills yourself to make this work, and that the clear outcomes are vital: otherwise it's way too easy to just run on vibes).
Basis also set clear expectations for how much time should be spent on the project, and what appropriate outcomes look like. This is invaluable for minority candidates, because it's otherwise very easy for us to not understand what's expected and spend way too much time and effort on these kinds of project. Now, not only is that an excessive amount of effort to put into a task, in many places putting in excessive effort will actively count against you (I understand why, but I don't think that it's a good reason). Being able to avoid that makes it much easier for minority candidates in general and trans people in particular to actually succeed.
Finally (and I'll admit that I'm probably a little biased in favour of this), Basis seems to rate writing skills quite highly. Trans people often come across as quite nervous and withdrawn in interviews, and given how we're often treated, who could blame us? Unfortunately, most people tend to judge communication skills on the basis of impromptu spoken communication and vibes, which isn't ideal. Strong writing skills being admissible as communication skills really helps even the playing field a lot.
The technical interview
The technical and behavioural interview that came after this was also good. It was a panel interview with Jin and Dan from the engineering staff and Steph from the People and Culture wing of the business. Now, I'll admit that I'm wary of the idea of panel interviews on the whole: it's easy for one bigoted person to talk around an entire panel because they don't like a trans person's vibes, and it can be quite intimidating to face down three people at once, especially if you're a member of a minority group. This one, however, worked pretty well.
Jin and Dan both made an immediate effort to break the ice and help me feel at home in the situation, which is a pretty massive thing. It's remarkably easy to feel that interview situations are quite stilted and artificial, so getting permission to take the mask off to an extent was invaluable: letting trans people know that they can drop the facade a bit does a lot of good. They also made a deliberate effort to shift the focus from areas of difference to areas of commonality: Dan, for example, pointed out that I'd formatted my project submission in LaTeX, which was apparently unexpected but appreciated. I'll admit that this was probably easier for me than for some other candidates, as Jin and I are both alumni of the weird maths cult that is the Engineering Science department at Auckland Uni, but making an effort to find common ground rather than just not seeing anything and giving up (the default at 95% of places I've worked at) is a massive thing.
There's not a huge amount to speak to about the technical aspects of the interview: we got on well enough and I managed to demonstrate sufficient technical competence. One thing that I did appreciate was that our discussion around mentoring junior staff went pretty well: people described my approach as "humane", which I don't think I've ever heard before and speaks to Basis' strong interpersonal values and competence. I cannot stress enough how important this is: just saying that one sentence basically immediately implies that the workplace is a lot safer for trans people than any others I've seen.
Outcomes
Now, as mentioned before, I didn't wind up landing the position. However, the way the team handled this meant that I came out of the process actually feeling good about it, which is a first for me.
First off, it was eminently obvious why they went with a different candidate: they needed someone with lots of experience in streaming data, and I'd learned Kafka the night before the interview. Now, I will say that I did remarkably well with the technology given that, but like... fair's fair. Serious experience was needed. I do think that if you're rejecting a candidate, giving them a clear, solid reason like that helps a lot.
Secondly, the team mentioned that they really liked me and would like the opportunity to work with me in future. Given that Basis was far and away the most technically competent place that I'd interviewed for during the 2023 hell-year, this was high praise and a pretty massive boost to my ego at a time when I badly needed it. Part of me wants to half-suggest that Basis should issue certificates to candidates in that position, as I'm pretty sure that "Basis interviewed me and thought I was really good" would have quite a bit of weight with a lot of start-ups in New Zealand, but one way or another, it really helped.
While unfortunately my experiences in the job market through 2023 (I've documented them, and while I don't intend to share the article publicly, I will make it available on request) have kinda pushed me out of the job market and towards trying to make my own way in the world, I'm fairly sure that the Basis interview prevented the situation from being much worse. If you're looking to build a hiring process that will be friendly to trans people and other minority groups and that is just generally humane, you could do worse than taking notes from them.