For those of you who have read The Confidence Code or Lean In, you might recall this often-cited statistic from a Hewlett-Packard survey:
“Women apply for jobs only when they believed they met 100 percent of the qualifications listed for the position. Men apply for the same jobs when they feel they meet only 60 percent of the job requirements.”
Why? A Forbes article says it has to do with confidence. Men feel they can accomplish a job with 60% of the necessary qualifications, while women are less sure. However, a separate article by the Harvard Business Review disagreed that it was a confidence issue. Instead, it hypothesized that women felt they were unlikely to be hired for a job for which they weren’t 100% qualified, and therefore they did not make an assumed futile attempt to apply.
From personal experience, at Alexander Jackson, we monitor ad responses to all positions, which is very low but getting better. So, the latter argument is more likely. But whatever the cause, the fact remains: Women respond to job advertisements differently.
That’s something to keep in mind when you write your next vacancy. Unfortunately, we cannot write ‘WOMEN PLEASE APPLY!’ at the top of the advert. However, you can encourage more women with broader skill sets to apply.
Within the technology sector, it’s easy to create a niche job description that requests experience with specific coding languages and platforms. These descriptions will narrow your applicant pool, specifically deterring women who may not have experience with each of those technologies. Yet, Geek Feminism points out that a highly skilled professional–well-educated, dedicated, quick learner, and adaptable–will be able to pick up new technology quickly. Therefore, focus on those skills in your job description to ensure you continue to attract high-calibre candidates without deterring women.
Showcasing learning opportunities, like formal training and mentorship programs, achieves two goals. First, it implies that you are willing to hire candidates who only meet some of the job qualifications, so it shows a
commitment to helping employees accrue skills on the job. Both messages can help alleviate concerns of under-qualification.
Asking for “experts,” candidates who are “off the charts,” or “ninjas,” implies that you are looking for someone at the very top of their field. However, using these phrases may deter applicants who recognize that they are advanced in their skills–even the best among their peers–but not necessarily the most experienced in their field. Instead, phrases such as “must be highly competent” are more likely to attract diverse candidates.
It’s easy to write this line without thinking: “The qualified candidate will be dedicated. He will be willing to work extended hours…” But for every reference to your qualified male candidate, make sure you use a feminine pronoun elsewhere. Women are more likely to respond to gender-neutral or gender-balanced job advertisements rather than those that assume the successful applicant will be a “he.”
A study of 4,000 job descriptions and potential applicants found that only using masculine-themed words such as active, competitive, dominate, decisive, and objectively made job descriptions less appealing to women, compared to descriptions that also used feminine-themed words such as community, dependable, responsible, and committed. Many of these words are synonyms and can be interchanged. Using a mixture of both creates an image of a balanced culture open to both genders.
Of course, being upfront about the time commitment you expect from your employees is important. But some phrases imply greater expectations, particularly of social events, than others. One example from the CEO of Women Who Code is the line, “We work hard and play hard.” This phrase is often thrown in to highlight fun company culture, but it also implies that employees are expected to spend time outside of working hours with their co-workers. This can be a deterrent to applying for women who are primary caregivers. Be clear about the time commitment you expect and what additional demands on employees’ time might be.
Employers want to hire the best available candidates. That’s a given. However, employers must also be conscious of how women and men respond to job advertisements. This can leave your company trying to fill many different types of positions with one set of applicants.
To ensure you get the best possible recruitment results, it’s important to do more than just write a great job description. You need to consider how potential female applicants perceive your job advert.
As the process of recruiting and hiring employees continues to evolve and improve, it is becoming increasingly important for employers to be aware of their potential biases and conscious of how their ads may be perceived differently by female applicants.
