Networking Like a Professional – Fraîche Design Thinking

Networking Like a Professional

Sector

Economic justice

Offer

Design research

Client

Climb Hire x Common Group

Established in 2019, Climb Hire is a BIPOC-led, equity-focused organization with a mission to prepare working adults for jobs in technology. The nonprofit was founded by Nitzan Pelman after spending a year as LinkedIn's 'Social Capital Entrepreneur In Residence' in 2018. She emerged from that experience with an important insight about the role of relationships in workforce development, especially as it pertains to economic opportunity for overlooked and hidden talent.

Our approach

Design question

In order to scale its high-demand service through technology, Climb Hire sought to parse and better understand the various forms of social capital at play in any professional networking setting. What is the difference between a community and a network—if any?

Design response

Through structured design research, the team worked alongside Climb Hire management to deeply understand the economic impact of each element of its overall service offering—from technical training, to intimate community support, to the development of weak ties outside participants' inner circle. Through an intensive dive into the academic literature, corroborated by qualitative interviews, the research surfaced an important insight: social capital exists in more than one variety. Bonding capital and bridging capital are not the same—and bridging capital is the only form of social capital strongly associated with upward income mobility. After delivering the final report to Climb Hire, the team at Fraîche was invited to accompany the Climb Hire CEO on a 10-stop digital roadshow, presenting the findings to major foundations and investors.

Testimonial

“As a three-time social impact entrepreneur, it's fair to say that for years, I have been consistently immersed in the work of uplifting the overlooked and the underestimated—especially as it pertains to U.S. postsecondary education and workforce development. Climb Hire’s work, in particular, has been special. It grew out of my time as entrepreneur-in-residence at LinkedIn, and it has been a journey, community, and product-design challenge unlike anything I could have imagined at the outset. That's why in 2023, when Climb Hire was facing some serious product decisions about how to scale the impactful work we were doing, we really needed a breakthrough discovery—something that could take us from very good to insanely great. In particular, we knew technology had to be part of the solution, but our decisions needed to be rooted in insights and evidence. Working with Lisa came at the right time for us. She and the team developed a rigorous research protocol and study design that unveiled something crucial to our business and our theory of change. The insights uncovered around bridging and bonding capital were instrumental not only in informing our next few pivots on product, but also in our ability to communicate with funders, deepen relationships, and keep those confidence levels in Climb Hire's work elevated, where they should be. Without that discovery work, I'm not sure our year or our future would've looked the same, and we're better for it.”

Nitzan Pelman

Founder & former CEO of Climb Hire, Founder & CEO of Climb Together