A world without bias, where everyone is judged the same, that is the dream founders Fleur and Charlotte Melkert are realising with their company Equalture. Charlotte and Fleur are twins and are on the Forbes 30 under 30 list. They have raised beautiful investments and have shown impressive growth.
Entrepreneur Charlotte Melkert and her twin sister have founded an HR start-up called Equalture. With Equalture they want to ensure that candidates are selected without prejudice. An objective selection, in other words. In the midst of the diversity discussion the sisters hope to make a difference. We offer the option of covering personal data, so that the client focuses solely on a person's qualities rather than on issues such as gender and socio-cultural background'.
Prejudices
What we know from many years of research is that our CV does not at all predict how well we will do in a role. In addition, and perhaps more importantly according to Charlotte, there are also many preconceived notions about a CV. "We can't do anything about that, it's in our brain. But it does mean that very good people are often rejected and people are hired who are not necessarily the best people for the job".
It's true that a CV contains factual information, but the way we interpret this type of information is subject to bias. Charlotte: "Off the top of my head, there are over 170 different biases that enter the recruitment process. Think for example of someone's hobbies or demographic characteristics. We all don't want to think anything of it, but it does happen. If a name is difficult to pronounce, the CV is pushed aside. Or there are people who see that applicants have worked at Uber. They think: 'This is a super cool company, I want to work for it'. But that says nothing about how that person has performed".
Eigenwijs
With business expert André de Waal, we recorded a podcast about the five success factors for companies. Charlotte and Wendy zoom in on the first success factor 'quality of management'.
Together with twin sister Fleur and Jaap (CTO), Charlotte is in management. According to Charlotte, this is a fairly junior team. "Jaap already had some experience, but Fleur and I were completely pale when we started. I dare say that we are not the textbook example of how a management team should be. I think you have to be open to learn from the people around you. I remember very well when we started this company that I thought we could do everything ourselves. Super stubborn! But in the course of time, you realise what I'm good at and what I'm not. I think the quality of our management team really lies in the drive to always want to learn and to take an example from others and not just stubbornly follow your own vision".
Curious what Charlotte has to say about her own company? And especially what you can learn from her? Listen to the new episode of the Work Professor!
Links
More about Charlotte Melkert
Podcast André de Waal
More about the Working Professor
Do you have questions or input? Please contact Wendy van Ierschot at wendy@viepeople.com.
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Build best-performing teams based on objective HR data
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