How To Recruit For Diversity
How Can You Recruit For Diversity?
The tech industry is notorious for not being diverse enough. When asked why they don’t have enough women (or people of colour etc) on their teams, tech founders would often say things like: women don’t apply for their roles, there are not enough women in tech, etc. While it’s indeed easier to recruit white men into tech companies, those aren’t valid excuses.
I experienced this challenge first hand while scaling GrantTree and yet we arrived at a place where more than 60% of our staff are women. Here are a few tips about what to do to make your recruitment process female-friendly and increase your chances of hiring women.
Be sure to make your job specs appealing towards women (and other underrepresented groups you are looking to target). Be mindful of the language you use, particularly gender-themed words. For example masculine-themed words such as active, competitive, dominate, decisive, and objective generally make job descriptions less appealing to women, compared to descriptions that also used feminine-themed words such as community, dependable, responsible, and committed. You can use tools such as Textio or Gender Decoder to ensure the right balance of words. Don’t forget to check pronouns. When describing the tasks of the ideal candidate, use "S/he" or "you."
Advertise your commitment to equality and diversity. Make it super clear whenever you have the opportunity to that women are welcome to apply.
State your family-friendly benefits such as parental leave, flextime, and child care subsidies. I don’t want to imply that all women are family-oriented but many will choose to balance their career with obligations towards their loved ones.
When advertising your roles use networks that bring together women in the tech space such as Women Founders Unite, Women Who Tech or Ada’s List.
Ask your existing female employees for help with spreading the word about your vacancies. Incentivize them financially to promote the roles to their networks - if they bring a candidate who ends up working for you, you’ll save on recruitment fees anyway.
Implement a gender-neutral recruitment process. For example, you can use blind hiring techniques. These can consist of blind candidate screening, pre-employment testing and genderless CVs. Train your HR representatives and managers on gender bias (which is often unconscious).
Work towards your culture being more inclusive, featuring equal pay and equal promotions. You may want to bring about training programmes and opportunities particularly for your female employees. Once implemented, advertise these benefits to your job candidates.
Studies show that gender-diverse companies are 15 percent more likely to outperform those that are not. It’s definitely worth the effort to make your recruitment process female-friendly and if you apply the tips above you are likely to notice results quickly in terms of more women being interested in your job vacancies and progressing through your candidate funnel.