RHETT LINDSEY: BREAKING STEREOTYPES IN THE TECH INDUSTRY

Moving at a rapid pace towards success, quoting his favourite quote “When you are connected to your purpose, comfort is no longer important.”, by Richard Lawson, Rhett Lindsey is the proud founder and CEO of Siimee, and today, is an inspiration as a Black, queer man holding a lot of influence in the tech industry.

In December 2020 Rhett freshly graduated from the University of Kentucky and holds a bachelor’s degree in social work created Siimee- an organization committed to reforming the hiring process in U.S. corporations. Siimee is doing this by increasing awareness of the inherent problems in recruiting and hiring, developing training programs, and creating a non-biased hiring tool that is completely unlike the ATS used by more than 90% of large U.S. corporations.

Prior to launching Siimee, Rhett spent over seven years leading and collaborating with teams at prominent companies including Facebook, Tinder, Microsoft, and The Walt Disney Company, sourcing and hiring talent in the technology and software development sectors.

During his time at Tinder, Rhett established and led the tech conglomerate’s first Black History Month series, collaborating with social impact organizations in Los Angeles and surrounding areas. Throughout his time as a recruiter, Rhett continuously dealt with unjust recruitment technologies such as Applicant Tracking Systems, or ATS, that led to unconscious bias in the hiring process.

Rhett Lindsey also left Facebook in November 2020 after working tremendously hard there for just 11 months. He told Washington Post in an interview published, that the metrics the company has adopted in its hiring system fail to actually recruit diverse talent. Lindsey alleged that some potential candidates have been rejected over vague terms like “cultural fit,” enrooting prolonged discrimination in the system.

 Lindsey and his team at Siimee believe a more holistic approach to inclusive recruiting is the way forward when it comes to goal alignment. Rhett Lindsey’s brand values are equity, compassion, community, and integrity. Rhett’s brand voice is about being progressive, meaningful, impactful, and adaptive. By establishing a social impact company with a mission to eliminate bias in hiring, Lindsey is trying to provide an equitable and fair connection experience between job seekers and employers.

“We’re trying to identify diversity as the inclusion of all people because we’re all diverse in terms of backgrounds, creeds, nationalities, religions, colours, genders, sexualities – everything about people, in general, is diverse.” Quoting a noble cause and a great initiative, Rhett Lindsey is breaking stereotypes and is contributing to making the world a better place. To know more about Rhett Lindsey and Siimee, follow them on:

•           www.siimee.com 

•           https://www.instagram.com/rhett_lindsey/