
"Truth Teller"
How VP of Talent Acquisition at Amperity, Sean Celli, used Included as a “truth teller” to build inclusive hiring processes, track metrics, and diversify talent pipelines.
Meet Amperity
Amperity is the leading customer data platform (CDP) provider that helps companies put data to work to improve marketing performance, build long-term customer loyalty and drive revenue. Amperity is used by many of the world’s most beloved brands, such as Alaska Airlines, Endeavour Drinks, Kendra Scott, Lucky Brand, Planet Fitness, Seattle Sounders FC, Under Armour, and Wyndham Hotels & Resorts.
The Challenge
Sean is leading talent acquisition for a fast-growing startup that is going international. Amperity is deeply committed to DEI and has a great sense of responsibility to grow teams with diverse backgrounds, experiences & thoughts and build a robust platform that reflects the customer base.
Amperity was looking for people analytics insights to:
- Cultivate a diverse hiring funnel
- Create the most equitable hiring processes
- Find new talent pools to support high growth
As an athlete and marathon runner, Sean is familiar with the challenges of balancing the need for speed with sustainable practices to get desired outcomes:
If you're a hiring manager, you want to sprint to the finish line. But the truth is, you need to build repeatability and credibility. There is absolutely a friction that exists between moving fast and using best practices, and there's muscle memory that you have to work hard to avoid. Like a marathon, there are times when you get really tired, and you can fall into bad behaviors. Same with recruiting and high growth—when you're tired and moving fast, you might bypass the process to fast-track somebody. Even if there is a good outcome, we need to remain intentional and commit to the most equitable process.
Sean Celli, VP of Talent Acquisition
A Solution With Included
DEI Data Transparency Shows the Truth About the Hiring Funnel
Sean can better understand where candidates are coming to the organization or dropping off in the hiring funnel. Access to these insights enables TA to be a strategic partner for business leaders. Sean says that “it is incumbent upon me to sit down with the business and say, let’s understand where our drop-offs are so that we can understand why. We can look at the funnel and see the trend lines… I look at that often, and we bake that into our broader recruiting analytics so we understand the ecosystem. We look holistically at people data and see where we are winning and where we have opportunities. Tracking metrics like time to hire or offers made to candidates from under-represented groups keeps us honest. The insights have been really helpful to provide since point-in-time data is less meaningful; it’s just a snapshot.”
We've been using Included for end-to-end people analytics; it's a truth-teller for us. We can examine, 'this is what you say, but this is actually what you're doing and why that matters.' We ensure we're consistent with the data going into the system and have accountability about following the process. Then we can share and confidently say, 'this is our consideration set,' and assess if we're comfortable or need to pause and change. That's a big way for us to leverage the platform.
Sean Celli, VP of Talent Acquisition
Intention + Action For An Equitable & Inclusive Employee Experience
Sean and the team went beyond compliance and committed to excellence. They used research-backed tactics like diverse interview slates and interview panels to improve the candidate experience. Easy-to-access DEI metrics helped Sean ensure the review rates were equal for candidates since the top of the funnel tends to have majority identity candidates, and underrepresented talent can get skipped because of the sheer volume of applicants. Deeply invested in DEIB, Sean says, “We want to be a diverse organization because we want to represent the world. And we make commitments to our people that they can come work and belong here.”
"We're working hard to ensure we provide equitable experiences for our candidates. We can confidently say we've explored the market, we know who we should be considering, and we have brought the right talent for consideration with a DEI lens. We might not move forward until we have two to three candidates that we are really comfortable moving forward with. We have the highest integrity with hiring decisions and can show how the funnel looks and share the outcomes. To say that we've gone the extra mile to our entire staff is incredibly rewarding."
Sean Celli, VP of Talent Acquisition
Never Miss the Opportunity To Hire Top Talent
Sean and the team believe that Amperity can build not just a better product with diverse backgrounds, experiences & thoughts, but better marketing, customer success, sales motions and a better workplace. They’ve been leveraging Included to ensure they’re getting the most out of all the talent that has applied to work there.
We have hired people in recent months that we would not have identified without the [Included] platform. We can find great talent from our existing applicants [using Included's equity sort function]. For example, we're hiring for a really senior role at the company, and Included highlighted a candidate from an underrepresented minority that was in the pipeline who would have gone unnoticed. She's our top candidate right now, and whether she gets the job or not, we would not have known she was in the pipeline without it being highlighted [by Included's equity sort].
Sean Celli, VP of Talent Acquisition
Guidance To Keep DEI Top of Mind Every Day
Included’s Slack integration has helped Sean’s team stay focused on representation goals and find creative ways to use the platform.
Favorite feature

“We’re heavy Slack users, so the nudges [from the DEI helper bot on Slack] have helped. I carry a few reqs myself, and I always tap through the nudges sent to us with messages like, ‘to increase the likelihood of increasing representation of women in Sales, here’s what you need to do now.'”
Explore IncludedWhat’s Next?
Sean and Amperity are continuing to hire a workforce that reflects their customer base and are going global:
We have a diverse customer base from all around the world, and we want our team to reflect that. We've recently hired a leader in APAC for Sales. Diversity means something different there. Equity might mean something different there, but we all want to be treated well as humans, right? As you grow internationally, it gets a little more complex as you think about Europe and regulations like GDPR, and so forth. I'm really looking forward to how we expand and launch these new geos in a way that is highly reflective of these countries. You only get a chance to launch once, so launching properly really matters. This is a really big opportunity for us.
Sean Celli, VP of Talent Acquisition
To learn more about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Amperity, visit their website. Interested in seeing how technology can accelerate your transition to a more diverse workforce? Connect with Included to get data, insights, and DEI guidance to create a people-first culture.