TarynEwens

Recently I attended a webinar by Work180 titled. “Hiring for a gender balance – job advert training”. Here’s a recap of the rough notes I too.

Tips for job advertisements

• Do not require every skill under the sun. Have a maximum of 5 requirements (in dot point form). It should be a job advertisement, not a description. Market out to that talent.
• Share how your flexible working policy and parental leave works
• Use gender neutral language. A great free tool for this is Gender Decoder. Masculine words include things like independent, lead, competitive, assertive, determined, analytical and feminine words include things like responsible, connect, dedicated, support, sociable, collaborative.
• Need to replace some of the masculine words with more feminine words. Have a balance of both. It’s recommend to use more feminine words if you’re in a male typical industry such as engineering.
• Describe the impact your company has instead of what you do in the ‘who we are’ section, as well as including the impact that person will have. Give them a reason to get passionate about the organisation.
• Share about career development programs, flexible work and leave if it’s better than others.
• Be more explicit about diversity at your company.
• Include employee testimonials but make sure it’s by someone in that particular role, not an HR person.
• Use ‘continue the conversation’ instead of apply now, to show that it’s a two way discussion, not a one way application.
• Set expectations – tell them when the application process closes, or if applications will be reviewed immediately, or steps in the application process.
• Use a combination of paragraphs & dot points.
• If using videos or photos, make sure you show different types of people. People need to see representation.
• Use real employee stories.

Tips specifically for hiring women in male dominated industries

• Ask the women in your team what they think of your job ads, descriptions, etc.
• Female endorsement will encourage female applications.
• Need to be sharing on social media about the amazing women in your company and the opportunities they have.
• Have a strong employer brand – make sure people know why you’re a good place for women to work
• Women want to join companies that have a positive impact.
• Women want to know that they’ll be provided equal opportunity. You need to show that you’re a great place to work and show that they’ll have an impact.