ESD’s Sanyu Tushabe honored at statewide awards for women leaders

For Women’s History Month (WHM) this year, I need look no further than my own agency — the Employment Security Department — to find many women worthy of honor. But I’d like to tell you about one very special employee: Sanyu Tushabe.

Sanyu works in the human resources division of our agency. Her work toward eradicating bias from ESD’s recruiting process has started to transform our systems. How appropriate to honor her this year, when the national theme of WHM is “Women Who Advocate for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.”

I hope you enjoy this story about Sanyu as much as I enjoy working with this talented, strong, inspirational woman.

~ Commissioner Cami Feek

ESD’s Sanyu Tushabe honored at statewide awards for women leaders

By ESD’s Communications Office

Sanyu Tushabe has a superpower: She’s a “maximizer.”

According to CliftonStrengths, that means she can identify the skills and strengths of her team members and maximize those skills — for their own benefit and their customers’.

“My team is amazing,” said Sanyu, interim manager for the Talent, Classification & Compensation unit in the Human Resources Division. “They’re the reason why we’ve accomplished so much in the last six to eight months.”

And those accomplishments are the reasons why Sanyu was honored at the annual Women at the Capitol event on March 1. The celebration was hosted by the Center for Women & Democracy, the Washington State Women’s Commission, the Interagency Committee of State Employed Women and the KD Hall Foundation.

At the state capitol, Sanyu joined other women leaders honored for their work empowering women and girls. She was able to speak with elected officials, Supreme Court justices, state employees, and civic leaders working on issues most important to women in Washington.

Sanyu and her team have made many improvements to the process of recruiting and hiring ESD employees — advancements that go beyond helping women. For instance:

Applicant tracking

Sanyu’s team implemented a more comprehensive use of the applicant tracking system. They moved away from a shadow system, ensuring that NeoGov is the system used from start to finish in the recruitment process. “We can track each recruitment in a timely fashion,” she said.

The new system also allows Sanyu’s recruiting team to give hiring managers and division directors actionable data about their applicants. “We have demographic and other data, and that results in informed decisions,” she said.

Demographic data analysis

Another improvement allows Sanyu’s team to analyze demographic data and understand how applicants move through the recruiting pipelines. “This helps us understand where bias could be, broken down by division,” Sanyu said. “EDI [equity, diversity & inclusion] work in recruitment becomes tangible and unambiguous.”

Collaboration with other ESD units

Sanyu’s team also regularly has collaborative meetings with ESD’s Office of Equity, Diversity & Inclusion.

“I love the partnership we have,” she said. “We have honest communication. We’re thinking of creating a pool of employees trained to participate on interview panels and a bank of preapproved interview questions. That’s a starting point.”

Finally, Sanyu’s team and the Employment Connections Division have created “Talent Tuesdays” to help any current ESD employees with their job search and career building.

These quarterly sessions give ESD staff a way to take advantage of the career counseling experts right here at ESD. They get guidance on interviewing and on writing applications and resumes.

“Sanyu is a leader, a professional and a public servant who enriches the lives of others through her work and service,” the nomination for Sanyu stated. “She supports the well-being and resilience of those around her by providing resources, guidance and recognition. Daily, she shows compassion, courage and creativity in dealing with challenges and opportunities.”

In Sanyu’s nomination, one specific word was used to exemplify Sanyu: community. And that suits Sanyu just fine.

“That’s where service delivery is. That’s where the answers are,” Sanyu said. Community is my heartbeat.”

Employment Security Department Commissioner Cami Feek joins Sanyu Tushabe and Office of Financial Management Chief Human Resources Officer, Michaela Doelman during the annual Women at the Capitol event held on March 1, 2024.

Visit our Employment Security Flickr webpage for more photos from the event.