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Original poster

How to draft a female friendly job advert ?

60 replies

Blistory · 01/02/2015 18:42

So as part of my mission to embark on positive discrimination, I.m having to reexamine how to draft our job adverts.

Women are not under- represented in any of our organisations so I'm on sticky ground in the legal sense but it's occurred to me that whilst I've always ensured that the interview stage is somewhere I can put across a positive message, the actual ad itself may not be attractive to women. I'm absolutely not looking to exclude men but I do want to avoid corporate wankery and terminology that appears to be gender neutral but is really male orientated.

I've thought about specifically referring to our maternity and flexi time policies but have been told by a recruitment company that these are code for crappy jobs rather than careers. One of the roles is ideally suited to someone with life experience, a prior career but just in need of a confidence boost and a bit of on job training. It would suit someone looking to return to work after a break but how do I get this across without it sounding like a waffly non job or scaring people off ?

Keywords like dynamic, ambitious, goal orientated are absolutely not allowed. So, what would attract you to a job ad as a woman and make you think I really, really want to work in that kind of organisation ?

We're also looking to develop a couple of 1 year paid placements for women leaving prison but that's longer term as it needs skilled input from various parties but if any one has any comments on that, feel free to chip in.

OP posts:

SardineQueen · 01/02/2015 20:34

Ability to work from home is a big plus for the parents in my workplace (male and female ).

SardineQueen · 01/02/2015 20:33

I work FT BTW and happy doing so but things that woudl put me off would be things that are code for "we have a long-hours culture".

SardineQueen · 01/02/2015 20:32

I always liked jobs that had something saying:

"X company is an equal opportunities employer" at the bottom.

Also you could look at sites such as women like us and capability jane, and see how the job ads on there are worded.

ThinkIveBeenHacked · 01/02/2015 20:29

What made me apply for a job last week was "There is scope to work additional hours term time in order to work fewer during school holidays". So flexibility and the correct use of "fewer". Fingers crossed I hear back!

museumum · 01/02/2015 20:29

on the job training?
continuing professional development?
opportunity to develop your skills?
flexible, supportive environment?
investors in people award?
healthy workplace award?
other work/life balance recognition?

but my question i guess is whether or not it's true... you can say all that but if the job / workplace is actually full of blagging twats giving it all the ego and the 'apprentice-style' chat then basically you're setting up people attracted by the above phrases up with false hope.

Original poster

Blistory · 01/02/2015 20:27

Term time working is something I'd like to offer but the problem is that this organisation is small in terms of staff numbers. We have an existing member of staff on term time hours but her children are no longer at school. I can't and don't expect her to change an established working pattern but it means that I don't have the option to offer another term time role.

OP posts:

TwoLeftSocks · 01/02/2015 20:26

I'm job hunting. The two phrases that always jump out at me and make me look for longer are flexible and possible job-share.

Rather annoys me when I get to interview and that's blatantly not the case but that's another matter.

Otherwise, in skills required seeing things like 'good time management', 'ability to adapt / react to new situations' and 'mature approach' etc. would be nice as they're the sort of things I put to justify my career break.

Original poster

Blistory · 01/02/2015 20:23

X post with penguins.

OP posts:

Original poster

Blistory · 01/02/2015 20:22

I know. We apply positive action in as much as any disabled applicants automatically get an interview.

It was lazy in my OP to apply the term positive discrimination to an employment situation. What I am trying to do is to increase the number of women who apply. This role tends to attract a 70/30 split of male/female applicants. And none of them are women returning to work so I wondered if the ad itself is a barrier and I think that it is.

The process thereafter will be on merit unless it's a tie break. I'm comfortable with my actions from a legal sense, just a bit more casual about how I post on a forum when merely thinking out loud.

OP posts:

PenguinsandtheTantrumofDoom · 01/02/2015 20:20

It is positive action. Blistory just hasn't used the terminology in its legal sense.

HermioneWeasley · 01/02/2015 20:16

I'm confused, if women aren't under represented why are you using positive discrimination? (Which is unlawful by the way?). Positive action, to level play fields, is fine though.

EBearhug · 01/02/2015 20:14

I think it's terminology you can safely leave out of your job ads.

addictedtosugar · 01/02/2015 20:13

Flexi hours would attract me.

I like MrsTawdry's line.

Part time hours????? Or Term time only???

Original poster

Blistory · 01/02/2015 20:10

Sandpits ? Sandboxes ? What fresh terminology hell is this ?

OP posts:

EBearhug · 01/02/2015 20:07

We have sandboxes at work. They're servers where you can try coding new stuff and generally play around in a non-permanent environment.

BuffytheReasonableFeminist · 01/02/2015 19:57

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

BuffytheReasonableFeminist · 01/02/2015 19:56

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

PetulaGordino · 01/02/2015 19:55

Absolutely ebearhug (I mustsay your name a lot -my phone autocorrected to it!)

Original poster

Blistory · 01/02/2015 19:52

Again, the job will ultimately go to the right candidate. Please credit me with some intelligence.

What I am trying to do is not narrow the pool of candidates before we even start the interview process. Which is what is currently happening.

My male associate who is currently drafting the spec has just had it explained to him that 'hit the ground running' apart from being naff, is likely to put off someone who has been out of the workplace for a while. That is the kind of thing I'd like to avoid hence opening the question up to a wider audience.

OP posts:

EBearhug · 01/02/2015 19:49

A well-formulated job ad is to reduce the bias against women - it's to get more women to apply, rather than fewer men.

I do know a woman at work who admits she will positively discriminate in favour of women - she will makes an effort to mentor women and encourage them to apply for positions which will help them advance. We do not (at least in IT) have a level playing field - she's just trying to make things a bit closer to even chances. Men have been mentoring and sponsoring men for goodness knows how long.

PetulaGordino · 01/02/2015 19:46

How is she intending bias? The intended bias is in the original accepted wording of conventional adverts of the research is anything to go by. The OP is hoping she may be able to redress the balance

Primadonnagirl · 01/02/2015 19:40

You need to get some proper legal advice..you are clearly intending bias . I won't be applying

Original poster

Blistory · 01/02/2015 19:31

The title is about the job ad - not who gets the job in the end. I don't see that it's either unfair or illegal to ensure that women aren't prevented from applying simply because I can't be arsed to put some thought into it and instead fall back on the conventional terminology applied in the professional world, by men, for men.

EBear - thanks for the link. They support a suspicion I had that this was something I've always missed and not given thought to.

OP posts:

MrsTawdry · 01/02/2015 19:28

We value the contribution which those returning to work following a career break may be able to offer.

ProveMeWrong · 01/02/2015 19:23

Life experience and prior career both sound good to me. They would both appeal to me as things I would have even after having had a career break for children. Maybe explicitly mention that career breaks due to child care on the cv would not be a problem as you are an equal opportunities employer and understand this is sometimes a barrier to those who have taken child breaks applying. That may turn off a few men unfortunately but may well attract a few women who felt lacking in confidence. Not sure if that is legal but I know from so many mumsnet threads and my own experience this is a real psychological (and often real) barrier for women who had had good careers in their 20s and 30s.

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