6 Tips to Improve Gender Diversity Recruiting

Companies large and small are seeking ways to improve gender diversity in the workplace. According to LinkedIn’s Gender Insights Report, “71% of talent professionals report achieving gender parity at their company is a top priority.” Gender diversity recruiting can help to drive a company’s overall success with this goal.

In a 2017 PwC study, 38% of employers said that “Lack of Sufficient Candidate Pool” was a significant barrier to hiring more women. The challenge for companies is to change how they source female candidates. Here are six inclusive recruitment practices any company can adopt to improve their candidate pool.

1. Reassess Rigid Job Descriptions

Research shows that the content of a job description can significantly influence whether or not a female candidate applies. LinkedIn reported, “Women feel they need to meet 100% of the criteria while men usually apply after meeting about 60%.” Job posts that have a list of rigid requirements may cause women to screen themselves out. This is especially true with conditions for years of experience or previous seniority that female candidates generally may not have. Unless a specification is absolutely necessary, list it as “preferred” and state that individuals should still apply even without 100% of the requirements.

2. Write Gender-Neutral Job Descriptions

Stay away from gender-specific language. Characteristics that are stereotypically male may discourage a female applicant. According to an Forbes, words such as “dominant,” “competitive” or “aggressive” may signal to women that men are preferred because those characteristics are more traditionally used to describe men.

These and other words may be common descriptors in business and not intended to exclude anyone. However, if a company wants to have more inclusive recruitment practices, choosing more inclusive language goes a long way. To get started, apps and tools such as Textio can evaluate posts and provide feedback for better gender neutrality.

3. Create Diverse Interview Panels

The interview process assesses how a candidate fits with the company…and vice versa. The most concrete way for a candidate to see themselves at a company is to interview with employees that they identify with. For a diverse candidate especially, representation in the interview panel matters.

It should be standard to include female employees as interviewers for any job and any candidate. Having women equally involved in hiring informs any interviewee that women have an equal investment in the company’s future. But especially for a female candidate, interviewing with women may tip the scales.

According to the PwC survey, ensuring diversity in interviewers was the number-one tactic companies used in their inclusive recruitment practices. If your company doesn’t already have diverse interview panels, it’s a necessary step to hiring more women.

4. Make Inclusion a Brand Priority

Be aware that female candidates begin evaluating your company long before the interview. In fact, according to LinkedIn, 41% of female candidates research a company even before applying. Are there images of women employees on the website? Are there articles or features about female leaders or by female leaders? These subtle but important messages form an image of what, and who, a company values, and how you prioritize gender diversity in the workplace.

For larger companies, an applicant may have years of consumer-based exposure to the brand prior to ever considering working there. Does the company have fair and unbiased representation in their advertising? Gender inclusivity should be evident across all aspects of a brand. Remember that your customers may be your future job candidates.

5. Set Gender Diversity Metrics

There is a universal truth in business: anything that is measured is more likely to be accomplished. Goal setting and measurement elevates the importance of an organizational initiative. According to hiring managers interviewed by PwC, setting gender diversity recruiting goals and metrics was their most impactful inclusive recruitment practice.

What goals and metrics should be considered? Evaluating the male-to-female hiring ratio is a good start. However, to be most relevant, recruiting goals should be set by department based on the amount of existing representation. For example, in engineering groups where women are traditionally underrepresented, more aggressive goals may be set for hiring women.

As with any measurement system, it’s important to look “upstream” in the process and measure preceding steps, the key drivers to the outcome. According to LinkedIn, looking at gender percentages in outreach rate is one method of ensuring equal engagement with female candidates.

6. Expand Your Candidate Pool with the Right Recruiter

Hiring the right partner can help to expand your recruiting reach. At Marchon Partners, our wide network allows us to bring you a more diverse pool of candidates and help you meet your goals. In our own company, gender diversity is a top priority; our values are aligned with yours. Our recruiting leaders are employment experts, well trained in inclusive recruitment practices. We have experience running diversity organizations in large companies, and we can help you implement important changes to improve your gender diversity in the workplace.

Contact us today and we will create a customized plan to improve your gender diversity recruiting.