Twitter recruits new VP of Diversity & Inclusion from Apple

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Twitter has officially appointed a new VP of Diversity & Inclusion, Jeffrey Siminoff, hiring him away from an identical role he held at Apple.




Siminoff was Apple's director of worldwide inclusion and diversity from Sept. 2013 until this week, according to his LinkedIn profile. The changeover was announced on Twitter by the social network's human resources lead, Brian Schipper.

TechCrunch noted that he previously served similar functions at Morgan Stanley, and was one of the founders of the LGBT organization Out Leadership.

In 2015 Twitter dealt with serious problems with the way it was managing diversity -- particularly with Leslie Miley, who was the company's only black engineer in a lead role until he was laid off during October's round of job cuts, even after already planning to leave on his own at the end of the month. Miley said that he clashed on how to handle diversity issues with Twitter's senior VP of Engineering, Alex Roetter, and also observed that with his departure there were "no longer has any managers, directors, or VP's of color in engineering or product management."

Indeed, in an official report released in August, just 1 percent of Twitter's U.S. workforce was listed as African-American, while 3 percent were identified as Hispanic. Worldwide only 13 percent of its workers were women.

By comparison, Apple data released around the same time counted blacks and Hispanics as representing 8 and 11 percent of the company's U.S. workforce, respectively. Women accounted for 30 percent of Apple's global labor.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 21
    That's a position Tim doesn't need to fill. 
    razorpit
  • Reply 2 of 21
    Good. It should be 100% about someone's qualifications, not their skin color, gender, sexual orientation, hair color or anything else. If you have to hire someone to run 'diversity & inclusion' at your company you're doing it wrong. 
    thewhitefalconewtheckmanxamaxrazorpit
  • Reply 3 of 21
    It doesn't look too good for the head of diversity being a white-bread male. I'm sure out there somewhere is a half-black, half Native American, handicapped transgender lesbian woman veteran that needs a job doing what Jeffrey Siminoff was doing.
    coolfactorthewhitefalconhkikxamax
  • Reply 4 of 21
    Good. It should be 100% about someone's qualifications, not their skin color, gender, sexual orientation, hair color or anything else. If you have to hire someone to run 'diversity & inclusion' at your company you're doing it wrong. 

    This is true, but quite often those of other ethics or gender are removed from consideration at an early stage, without even evaluating their skills and qualifications. For example, when I'm hiring a personal assistant, I would prefer a female over a male, yet a guy that submits an application may be even more qualified than the gal. It's this lopsided mindset that has been under the microscope in the corporate world lately, and that's what this whole effort to have better diversity is all about... to ensure that such early disqualifications are not part of the hiring culture at a company.
    nolamacguyiosenthusiast
  • Reply 5 of 21
    It doesn't look too good for the head of diversity being a white-bread male. I'm sure out there somewhere is a half-black, half Native American, handicapped transgender lesbian woman veteran that needs a job doing what Jeffrey Siminoff was doing.
    Ah but it appears he is gay so...
  • Reply 6 of 21
    Whenever I see stories about technology diversity issues, why is it that I never see any accompanying data about how many women and minorities are in the coding workforce and how many women and minorities are graduating with computer science degrees?

    It's really impossible to know how poorly a company is doing with diversity without knowing this corresponding information.
    xamaxrazorpit
  • Reply 7 of 21
    flaneurflaneur Posts: 4,526member
    You beneficiaries of cultural privilege are hilarious. The very next story in AI's lineup is about how Apple's sales are up 133% in the Middle East and Africa.

    Looks like they're going to need women from Saudi Arabia, Muslims from Africa, Christians from Syria, secularists from Turkey, every damn style of human being you can imagine, even white guys from the US, what the hell . . . 
    nolamacguyiosenthusiast
  • Reply 8 of 21
    Good Lord. Talk about a worthless, piece-of-dead-wood overhead position.
    thewhitefalconrazorpit
  • Reply 9 of 21
    What i dont understand about this diversity bug is that why is it affecting only software companies ? Has anyone studied other industries ? Diversity should start from schools, how many women study computer science ? how many doctors are woman vs men ? Diversity happens on its own, its not created - it would be unfair for companies to leave out qualified candidates in order to satisfy diversity requirements. Suppose from tomorrow stanford starts diversity, how will it affect people ? Soon you will say its ok, if you are black, you can get in with a very low SAT score ??? At the end its education and scores that matter - not race or religion. Diversity is more or less like a caste system in India , there are reservations close to 75% and general pool is just 25% ... so there are 90% people fighting for the 25% positions. Sad to see how this has taken off. When i am hiring, i dont specifically look for a religion or caste or race , i look for qualified candidates who can pass the same bar as other candidates have to go through.
    razorpit
  • Reply 10 of 21
    How many heads of diversity are white men ???
  • Reply 11 of 21
    bluefire1bluefire1 Posts: 1,301member
    Wow! What an important position. 
    Not.
    How about just hiring the best, the brightest,  and the most creative out-of-the-box thinkers?
    razorpit
  • Reply 12 of 21
    Worst job title ever. 
    razorpit
  • Reply 13 of 21
    hkik said:
    What i dont understand about this diversity bug is that why is it affecting only software companies ? Has anyone studied other industries ? Diversity should start from schools, how many women study computer science ? how many doctors are woman vs men ? Diversity happens on its own, its not created - it would be unfair for companies to leave out qualified candidates in order to satisfy diversity requirements. Suppose from tomorrow stanford starts diversity, how will it affect people ? Soon you will say its ok, if you are black, you can get in with a very low SAT score ??? At the end its education and scores that matter - not race or religion. Diversity is more or less like a caste system in India , there are reservations close to 75% and general pool is just 25% ... so there are 90% people fighting for the 25% positions. Sad to see how this has taken off. When i am hiring, i dont specifically look for a religion or caste or race , i look for qualified candidates who can pass the same bar as other candidates have to go through.
    I'm serious, diversity affects every aspect of business. If you want to provide office furniture to a government entity (especially if federal government money is involved) one of the necessary documents needs to report on the mix of workers you employ or have ownership. If everything else is equal, the contractor with the best diversity wins the business. It is not confined to software companies as you believe.

    If you read the whole story you will find that while Apple and Skype are both technology companies, Apple has found ways to employ a diverse range of people while Skype is a primary employer of white men. One of the ways Apple encourages more minorities to join the company is to bring them in on summer intern programs. This raises the qualification of some candidates without passing over more qualified white males during the hiring process. 

    If you are hiring without looking at the whole candidate's profile then you must do very little business with government entities from the federal level on down to city contracts. Better have a talk with your marketing department and see what it's costing you.
    iosenthusiast
  • Reply 14 of 21
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    So I guess he diversified and got included at Twitter!  ;)
  • Reply 15 of 21
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    bluefire1 said:
    Wow! What an important position. 
    Not.
    How about just hiring the best, the brightest,  and the most creative out-of-the-box thinkers?
    Perhaps that excellent goal is better achieved when people are called in for an interview whatever their name is.
  • Reply 16 of 21
    Hiring a white guy to promote diversity and inclusion where he failed in the same job at his previous employer....the truth is that the tech industry is primarily guys, they don't respect women - hell, they're afraid of women, they don't understand civil rights issues like equal opportunity, desperate treatment/impact...so sad, so blind.
  • Reply 17 of 21
    LOL. I wonder what it's like to work in a position that is completely unnecessary, and then to be a VP in that role, I can only imagine. What a cushy way to earn 6 figures and get stock options!
  • Reply 18 of 21
    hkik said:
    What i dont understand about this diversity bug is that why is it affecting only software companies ? Has anyone studied other industries ? Diversity should start from schools, how many women study computer science ? how many doctors are woman vs men ? Diversity happens on its own, its not created - it would be unfair for companies to leave out qualified candidates in order to satisfy diversity requirements. Suppose from tomorrow stanford starts diversity, how will it affect people ? Soon you will say its ok, if you are black, you can get in with a very low SAT score ??? At the end its education and scores that matter - not race or religion. Diversity is more or less like a caste system in India , there are reservations close to 75% and general pool is just 25% ... so there are 90% people fighting for the 25% positions. Sad to see how this has taken off. When i am hiring, i dont specifically look for a religion or caste or race , i look for qualified candidates who can pass the same bar as other candidates have to go through.
    Apple makes a lot of money, which makes them a prime target for blackmailers, hustlers, charlatans, agenda-pushers, the entitled, the easily offended, the grabbers, the grifters and most importantly...the power-hungry lawmakers and politicians

    Not being led by an owner at heart who is willing to defend the company like it's their own child, Apple would eventually be picked over by vultures.
  • Reply 19 of 21
    bluefire1 said:
    Wow! What an important position. 
    Not.
    How about just hiring the best, the brightest,  and the most creative out-of-the-box thinkers?
    Perhaps that excellent goal is better achieved when people are called in for an interview whatever their name is.
    There is no such thing as perfect "equality" and it's not the responsibility of businesses to address. The purpose of a business is to make a profit for the shareholders...full stop. All of this other noise is pure distraction.
  • Reply 20 of 21
    razorpitrazorpit Posts: 1,796member
    bluefire1 said:
    Wow! What an important position. 
    Not.
    How about just hiring the best, the brightest,  and the most creative out-of-the-box thinkers?
    Perhaps that excellent goal is better achieved when people are called in for an interview whatever their name is.
    Would you want to work for a company that has to have a position that enforces something like that?  Any company worth working for is going to interview and hire the best person available with or without this VP position.  
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