83: The building blocks of an inclusive organisation with Sushma Uthappa-Schwerdt

Shownotes: Racism/casteism comes in various forms across the world, sometimes it is overt and sometimes it is coded. In either form it negatively impacts the life and life chances of millions of people who move to a different country to seek a better or more stable future. Sometimes it can break people and other times it makes them more resilient and more determined.  Did you know that Sweden is a country where every fourth resident(24.9) has a foreign background and every third (32.3) has at least one parent born abroad. But, does this diversity translate into a more inclusive country or workforce? Sweden’s recent election results are telling. For Sushma, the experience of looking for employment at the start of her stay in Sweden was deeply disheartening. In her own words, “Recruitment bias (unconscious) has worked against me in 99 out of 100 job applications. That gives me 1 interview opportunity in 100+ submitted applications; where I check 100% (more or less) of the job requirements on the ad.” Unfortunately, this is not unique to Sweden, or any one country. My own experiences in the UK, a couple of years back were similar if not worse. I survived but I am still smarting from the experience. In addition to being the Head of Talent Acquisition, Northern Europe at Transcom, Sushma has also been involved in the local parliament in Lund since five years. She is determined to move the needle and contribute to building a fairer society. In this episode we spoke about 👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾👉🏾 Her experiences growing up in different parts of India and the world. The absence of a sense of belonging or affinity to any one culture👉🏾 Her move to Sweden, and challenges she faced seeking work in the country👉🏾 Diversity washing👉🏾 The building blocks of an inclusive organisation👉🏾 The need to dismantle decades old work practices👉🏾 Bias free recruitment and the myth of average human being around which workplaces are designed“But then when I was trying to look for a job again, just recently maybe about a year ago it was the same challenges. This time it was a hundred-odd positions that I'd applied to I only had three companies that reached out. And you're sitting there and you're thinking, is it better to be rejected, interviewed and rejected? Or is it better to not be seen at all? What is the lesser of the two evils, right? And I feel like I'd rather that companies met me and then if they didn't like me, did not continue with me in the process. But I don't get the opportunity to present myself, I wish we could do more. And I usually apply for roles where I know I could at least fit 80 to a 100 percent of what's written on the job ad” Sushma Uthappa-SchwerdtMemorable passages from the podcast:👉🏾 Thank you Sudha, I'm really glad to be a part of this and thanks for reaching out. I'm calling in from Sweden today, this is where I'm based, currently. A little background about myself, I was born in India, lived a little bit all over India. Everything from Chennai to Kashmir, Assam, Delhi, Mumbai. So we've travelled around a lot and also lived abroad quite a lot in my childhood in countries like Kenya and Sri Lanka, I've also lived in the US. The last 10 years I've been in Sweden.👉🏾 So when it comes to my background and culture, that's a hard question, I would say, because, I am a mixture of all these people and all these places that I've been and lived in. So I don't have an association with a single culture or even belonging in that sense. The good and the bad. So yeah, that's a little bit about my background. Very short. 👉🏾 It's been about five months since I joined...