RTC members hired in 3 years
%
Increase in Palantir Path applicants from RTC members
Being able to engage with RTC’s intersectional communities has a huge amount of value. And even outside of our diversity hiring goals, they’re having a huge impact on our pipelines generally.
Amy Jordan, Recruiting Programs Manager, Palantir
Palantir builds category-leading software that empowers organizations to create and govern artificial intelligence across public and private networks.
Challenges
HIGHLIGHTS
- Increasing the diversity of Palantir’s tech talent pipeline
- Extending reach to more universities and colleges
- Tapping into new channels to engage diverse talent
- Finding a strategic partner that would provide guidance and feedback
Increasing the diversity of their tech talent pipeline
Palantir offers intern, new grad, and scholarship programs to keep its tech talent pipeline full, but wanted to encourage more diverse talent to apply to those programs.
The company already has a strong presence at many top universities, but its recruitment team wanted to amplify and expand their reach. RTC members come from over 900 colleges and universities globally, providing a cost-effective avenue for Palantir to build and deepen relationships with those students.
The team also wanted to tap into new channels—such as virtual events—to engage diverse talent.
Amy Jordan, Recruiting Programs Manager at Palantir describes the goal:
Making sure that Palantir has an equitable and diverse workforce is at the forefront of our mindset.
Amy Jordan
The recruiting team realized they needed a strategic partner, one that would work with them collaboratively, offer a customized approach, and provide guidance and feedback.
Palantir prioritized finding a partner that encourages diverse talent communities to choose their career path, rather than steering members to a narrow base of companies or roles.
“We wanted our partner to facilitate their members to find their best match as opposed to gatekeeping opportunities based on their personal perspectives,” says Amy.
Solution
HIGHLIGHTS
- Reach new talent through RTC virtual and custom affinity events
- Send targeted invites to RTC members for on-campus events
- Promote Palantir events, programs, and job openings to the RTC community
- Leverage global partnership spanning US and UK
- Collaborate on strategy and get new insights
Partnering with Rewriting the Code
Rewriting the Code (RTC) immediately stood out as a partner for Palantir’s talent-led approach.
“Their mission to provide all students with access to companies, and allow them to make the decision of where they do/do not want to be recruited, really stood out to us,” explains Elizabeth Watts, Global Lead of Recruitment Programs and Marketing.
Palantir proceeded to engage RTC in almost all of its program offerings, focusing on recruiting from racially diverse communities.
Reach new talent through RTC virtual events
RTC hosts many recruitment, career, and information events throughout the year, the largest of which is the Virtual Career Summit. In 2023, over 1,900 students attended the event, and over 450 colleges were represented.
Palantir has a strong presence at these summits. In 2023, 763 RTC members attended Palantir’s information session (the highest attendance of all sessions), and 1,148 RTC members attended its booth (a 168% increase YOY).
The Palantir recruitment team also participated in RTC’s InclYOUsion Day at the Virtual Career Summit. InclYOUsion Day amplifies RTC’s Black Wings, Latinas de RTC, and Tech Natives communities. Palantir team members spoke at several InclYOUsion Day panels, including the Tech for Social Good panel, the second-highest attended panel of the entire event.
The team uses virtual events like these—and RTC’s network more broadly—to reach new talent they couldn’t reach before.
Elizabeth explains:
“RTC is a virtual network whose members aren’t just at the top computer science programs but are scattered around the country. We have limited resources on our recruiting team, so the virtual/in-person hybrid model works well for us.”
Participate in custom affinity group events
As part of its commitment to diversity, Palantir offers internal affinity groups, including a Palamigos group for employees with Latinx heritage, WiT for self-identifying women in technology (the largest affinity group), and PalNoir for employees who identify as Black. The Palamigos group hosted a four-part workshop series for Latinas de RTC, RTC’s affinity group for Latinx and Hispanic women, to establish and grow strong connections between the two.
The Palantir team also hosted in-person events for RTC members at diversity conferences, such as the Richard Tapia Celebration for Diversity in Computing. There, Palantir hosted a networking breakfast that allowed RTC members to interact with Palantir’s talent team.
“Being able to partner more deeply with specific groups of individuals has been really great as well. Many of RTC’s (culturally affirming) affinity groups are very aligned with our own internal affinity groups. Having that like-for-like alignment has been really interesting,” says Amy.
Send targeted invites for on-campus, in-person events
The Palantir recruitment team leveraged targeted outreach strategies to invite RTC members to in-person events whenever Palantir visited campuses that RTC members attend. These events included exclusive coffee chats, personal resume reviews, and other invite-only engagements. These touchpoints proved valuable in expanding Palantir’s pipeline with diverse talent.
“If we were on a certain campus, we would reach out to members and let them know and invite them for a coffee, one-to-one. We’re seeing the domino effect of these events and how they’re impacting our pipeline. It’s been really amazing,” says Amy.
With this outreach method, Palantir is one of the most successful partners on the RTC platform, achieving an impressive 83% email open rate.
Promote Palantir events and programs
Whenever the Palantir team hosts their own recruitment events, they use the RTC platform to promote those events to RTC’s vast talent pool.
“We use the RTC portal to list all the events we’re running as well as job postings, scholarship opportunities, and programs and RTC promotes them within their groups,” says Amy.
Support UK recruitment
When RTC UK launched in the Summer of 2023, Palantir extended its partnership with RTC to support hiring early talent roles and amplify its brand among students in the UK. Alongside offering virtual content tailored to UK members, Palantir welcomed members in person at its London office when the company hosted RTC’s first-ever UK event.
“It’s been great to get involved with RTC’s new UK-based members. It really is an extension of our relationship,” says Amy.
Collaborate on strategy
Amy appreciates the proactive, collaborative way that RTC works. For example, when two RTC leaders were going to be in New York, they suggested that Palantir use that as an opportunity to engage RTC’s Early Career Community.
“We hosted a happy hour in our office and 35 RTC members attended. Being able to share ideas and work together like that has been really beneficial,” says Amy.
Gain recruitment insights and ensure best practices
By partnering with RTC, the Palantir team gets valuable insights into their recruitment practices, learning what they’re doing well and where they can improve.
“They have such a good and close relationship with their members, RTC gives a lot of feedback on how we can best engage them. We’ve been able to pivot and readjust according to their guidance, which has been hugely beneficial for us,” says Amy.
This feedback allows Amy and her team to customize their approach for different affinity groups and schools.
RTC gives a lot of feedback on how we can best engage [their members]. We’ve been able to pivot and readjust according to their guidance, which has been hugely beneficial for us.
Amy Jordan
Results
HIGHLIGHTS
- 66 RTC members hired in 3 years
- 460% increase in Palantir Path applicants from RTC members
66 RTC members hired in 3 years
Thanks to the strong partnership between Palantir and RTC, Palantir hired 66 RTC members from underrepresented communities over the past three years, contributing to the diversity of Palantir’s workforce.
Today, the partnership continues to fill Palantir’s talent pipeline.
“After our first year of partnership, we had a significant increase in the diversity of our early talent pipeline and a YOY increase in hires from under-represented groups,” says Elizabeth.
Growth in diversity program applications and offers
Another measure of the success of the Palantir-RTC partnership is the number of applicants to the Palantir Path intern program from RTC members. The Palantir Path program is for students without early exposure to technical opportunities, especially those from historically marginalized communities.In 2021, 28 RTC members applied to the Path Program. By 2023, that number climbed to 157—an increase of 460% in just three years. Of those 157 applicants, four offers were made and three RTC members accepted those offers.
After our first year of partnership, we had a significant increase in the diversity of our early talent pipeline and a YOY increase in hires from underrepresented groups.
Amy Jordan
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