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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:
WitchOfEndor · 01/02/2015 19:22

Well if you want a woman for a non-crappy well paid job with flexibility, I'm your man woman. When do I start?

Original poster
Blistory · 01/02/2015 19:20

Well, if you read EBear's links, you'll see that there is a link between male wording and the effect it has on women applying. The default in the corporate world is male friendly.

I'd like to redress that. And again, it's not about men, it's about ensuring that there is an equality of opportunity for women from the start. Men are more than welcome to apply. But they're not the ones who need the encouragement, women do.

OP posts:
MorrisZapp · 01/02/2015 19:15

I dunno. I feel vaguely pissed of by your OP but can't quite say why. It's the thought of a job advert having to be women friendly I think? Is it a job exempt from sex discrimination act? I think jobs have be be advertised to all otherwise don't they?

Primadonnagirl · 01/02/2015 19:13

What do you think we'd say if you substituted the word " female" for " male" in your thread title?! Why do you want a woman instead of the best person for the job ( who could be either gender?)

EBearhug · 01/02/2015 19:12

Do you include salaries on your job specs? Ours always say, "Competitive salary" and then you have to negotiate if offered (which usually works against women, or would do if we ever got to recruit any for techy roles these days...)

EBearhug · 01/02/2015 19:10

Job titles can make a difference, too. Unfortunately, can't actually remember an example, just that someone told me that changing the job title really improved the number of women who applied, compared with the previous title, though the spec remained the same - however, people are only going to look at the spec if they think the title is "them". (Must have been something IT/STEM, though, as that's the sort of thing I go to to hear this sort of thing.)

You're right to leave out the words like dynamic, driven and so on - that will put some women off.

www.monster.com/blog/b/job-descriptions-discouraging-women-0714
geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/HOWTO_recruit_and_retain_women_in_tech_workplaces
www.ere.net/2013/03/01/you-dont-know-it-but-women-see-gender-bias-in-your-job-postings/
www.acas.org.uk/media/pdf/j/2/B16_1.pdf (page 8)

Things I would look for if applying:

  • Do they publish stats on the gender split of their workforce?
  • Have they been involved in any sort of diversity events? (Might depend on size of employer, but I mostly look at large companies, because that's the sort of organisation which will have the hardware I have experience with.)
  • If I googled, would I find any news stories about them which are linked to discrimination?

I don't know if you can show anything like that in a job spec, but you might be able to make it more prominent (if it's positive stuff) on the company website.

Original poster
Blistory · 01/02/2015 19:04

Actually, salary may be an issue now that you're raised it, Buffy.

I think the salary is realistic for the role but possibly too high to attract women if that makes sense. It's exactly the level to attract and indeed does attract young ambitious men with completely irrelevant experience but who have the arrogance to think they can take a punt at it. Whereas a woman lacking in confidence could possibly see it as being above her. And yet be perfectly capable of the role.

OP posts:
Original poster
Blistory · 01/02/2015 18:55

It's not about the old style ads putting women off, it's about the generic wording that I think appeals naturally to men rather than women. Hence dynamic, driven, career focused etc as an example - how does that make a woman who needs to balance caring responsibilities feel ? Does it put her off ?

It's the same with ethnicity etc. Theres nothing to suggest that if you're black, disabled, etc then you shouldn't apply but there's also nothing to specifically tell them that I would actually welcome their application.

OP posts:
BuffytheReasonableFeminist · 01/02/2015 18:49

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

SacredHeart · 01/02/2015 18:45

Do you have an example of the "old style" adverts? I can honestly say I have never read a job advert and been put off as I women so I'm wondering what it looks like.