Creating the Ultimate Candidate Experience with Lessons from Gen Z

Diana Forster is a Director of Qualitative Research at Seramount. She is a survey researcher, statistician, and writer with experience delivering actionable research to government, corporate, and academic clients.

In this role, she has helped lead several of Seramount’s recent projects: “Keeping DEI Strong in Volatile Times,” “Gen Z Decoded: New Data on How Your Youngest Employees Want to Experience Work,” “Understanding Global DEI Success: Corporate and Local Implications,” and “DEI Backlash: What Employees Really Think.” She joined Seramount in 2022 as an Associate Director on the Consulting team.

Previously, Diana was a researcher with the American Institutes for Research (AIR). There, she worked with the Department of Education on projects related to K-12 education. Diana was also a founder and vice-chair of Women in Support of Equity (WISE), AIR’s first employee resource group for women.

 Prior to her time at AIR, Diana worked for eight years with the Center for Talent Innovation (now Coqual). 

Diana holds a BA in political science and history from the College of Charleston, an MA in political science from the University of Arizona, and a PhD in political science from the University of Florida, where she used cutting-edge survey research techniques to study the intersections of religion and political behavior in the United States. A lifelong learner, she is currently pursuing her MBA at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business as a Forté fellow. Diana lives in Bethesda, Maryland, and in her spare time, she enjoys reading and writing fiction, riding her Peloton, and going to the movies. She also volunteers as a dramaturg with local theatres.

Thomas Brunskill is co-founder and GM of Forage, part of Seramount. In this role, Tom is responsible for driving Forage’s vision and growth.

Before moving to San Francisco in 2018, Tom was a corporate lawyer at a multinational law firm in Australia. It was during his own career journey that Tom discovered that an education and a degree doesn’t necessarily translate to career success or knowing how to do a specific job. After observing the unfair advantage those with access to connections or educational opportunities had, Tom co-founded Forage to provide anyone the ability to gain real-world skills, visibility and confidence through virtual job simulations produced by the world’s top companies.

Today, almost five million students have used Forage to prepare for interviews and land internships at some of the most prestigious and recognizable employers, such as Red Bull, Accenture, BCG, GE Aerospace, and Citi. Forage students are 3.3x more likely to land a job after participating in a job simulation and make up nearly 20% of employers’ early talent hires. By breaking down barriers to gaining workplace-specific skills, Tom hopes to level the opportunity playing field and empower anyone to pursue their dream career.

Tom holds a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws from The Australian National University. He is based in San Francisco with his young family and is an avid runner.