4 Ways to Attract More Women to Your Job Postings

By Alicia Geigel on June 1, 2020

In a work environment, it is important to have a group of employees reflect that of the greater society, i.e. diversified in different characteristic aspects such as race, ethnicity, and gender. Having an unvaried group of employees does nothing but hold your company back and close off your company to greater perspectives, ideas, and outlooks from all different kinds of people. Gender is a particularly important element to consider when hiring, as you want to keep your company and greater work environment as balanced as possible, giving both men and women an equal chance to highlight their skills and perform specific work tasks.

Despite large leaps in the percentage of women in the workforce and women holding senior positions within their company, gender inequality continues to remain a significant issue, one that starts at the bottom before a woman even reaches the “glass ceiling”, according to author Jess Huang (and others) of McKinsey and Company. Regarding women securing higher positions in the workforce, they write, “In reality, the biggest obstacle that women face is much earlier in the pipeline, at the first step up to manager. Fixing this “broken rung” is the key to achieving parity.”

This obstacle starts at the very start, the core beginnings: the hiring process. If your company does not have an environment that is appealing to women, if your job position has language that doesn’t support women, it is no surprise that women will not consider the position as they can’t see themselves fitting within the company.

Are you an employer looking to create a more balanced, diversified work environment? Unsure of how to appeal to potential female employees in your job postings? Here are four tips to not only transform your company environment but also reach successful peaks through securing the right hires!

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Start with Language: In an abstract scale, communication is key to our human nature and how we navigate life. As an employer/recruiter, language and communication is the glue that can hold your company together, keep your employees happy, and secure new prospect ones. Granted, a job posting is not the most glamorous or interesting writing to come up with, but if you are looking to hire more women within your company, you want to use language that can not only get their attention but make them feel like an appropriate fit within your company. In a blog post by Linkedin, Bruce Anderson notes that research indicates that words with a masculine connotation tend to turn women away from a job posting, such as “nouns like rock starninja, and black belt may divert some women, just as adjectives like assertivedecisiveanalyticalindependent, and self-reliant can.”

Reevaluate the Desired Qualifications: Plenty of people, myself included, often get discouraged by the number of qualifications or level of experience required on a job posting. Of course, this is necessary, but embellishments and skills that might just seem nice in an employee can make the job application process overwhelming and deter women who think another candidate (a man) would be more qualified. Reduce the excess requirements and qualifications, and instead cut your posting down to the essentials. This can give prospective female candidates a sense that they have a chance, rather than trying to match every trait on the listing.

Give Reward and Recognition: More often times than not, women feel undervalued and unappreciated in their company for a number of reasons: wage gaps, lack of promotions, etc. For example, data collected by the National Center for Education Statistics show that “women often have to work three years longer in a teaching position to be promoted to a principal than their male counterparts.” Some attribute this to differences in management strategies, but most agree that gender biases play a large roll in this decision making. To help attract women to a job posting, and particularly to work for your company, consider how you often you give reward and recognition to your employees. Not only can rewards and recognition create an energetic atmosphere at work, but it can also foster better relationships and restore confidence in workers, making them happier and more enthusiastic to work.

Highlight Work Benefits: Certain perks and benefits mean a great deal to employees, particularly female employees who often are balancing being a mother and other significant life responsibilities. In your job posting, include specific work flexibility/benefits and encourage applicants to ask about these perks in an interview. Rita Trehan of The Washington Post writes, “Flexible work schedules, remote working days, cloud-based teams, proper support when women are shouldering “second-shift” issues such as childcare, elder care, and the like, will make you an employer of choice.”

woman, women, work, job, computer, laptop

Image via Pexels

As an employer, it is important to create a comfortable and productive work environment for employees, both men and women. Even more so, a balanced group of employees can contribute to greater productivity and overall success growth of your company. Appealing to women in your job postings may seem foreign or slightly intimidating, but a few simple changes can make all the difference.

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