How To Write a Job Description That Attracts Female Applicants
Although men and women tend to view and consider the same number of job postings, women tend to be more selective with the jobs they choose to apply to. On average women apply to 16% fewer jobs and primarily to jobs where they satisfy nearly 100% of the criteria. For this reason, women are also more likely than men to be hired for jobs they apply to, as they tend to be top candidates.
However, recruiters in most male-dominated fields will attest that a diverse pool of applicants is hard to achieve. Despite wanting to find and hire women team members, hiring managers often find themselves filtering through candidate lists dominated by men.
So what contributes to this trend and how can we attract more women job applicants?
Be cautious of over-relying on your network
Hiring from within your network is a great way to find vetted candidates, however it can also result in homophily bias: the human tendency to be drawn to those who are similar to oneself. As a result of this bias, individuals are more likely to have a network of individuals of shared race, gender, religious background, educational background, etc. Therefore, to ensure a diversified pool of job applicants, try asking a range of folks for their referral recommendations.
Use the right language
Studies repeatedly show that job descriptions for traditionally male-dominated roles tend to use more masculine language (e.g., competitive, dominant, rockstar, etc.) whereas job descriptions for traditionally female-dominated roles tend to use more feminine language (understanding, supportive, interpersonal, etc.). Research shows women are significantly less likely to apply to roles with more masculine language, and a comprehensive study of thousands of job postings found that jobs that went to a male candidate had on average twice the number of masculine words than jobs that ultimately went to a female candidate.
Be clear in the job description
Women tend to also choose whether to apply to jobs based on the clarity of the job description, whereas this has shown to have no impact on men’s likelihood to apply. Reducing the number of qualifications by removing nice-to-have’s is one extremely effective way to make job descriptions more clear and concise and to significantly increase women applicants. Another method of making job descriptions more clear is to avoid hyperbolizing requirements (e.g., swap “excellent coding skills” with simply “coding skills”).
Consider highlighting aspects of the role that might be of particular interest to women, who tend to take on more domestic responsibility than men. As such, they are likely to be attracted to roles that offer flexible working hours, hybrid or remote working options, family-friendly benefits, etc. and tend to be drawn to organizations who place an importance on diversity, equity, and inclusion. A 2022 study by McKinsey found just 10% of women want to work mostly on-site — the top-rated reason was due to increased perceived safety, or being at lesser risk of micro-aggressions (Burns, Huang, Krivkovich, Rambachan, Trkulja, Yee, 2021).
Although it is critical for organizations to become cognizant of who their job postings tend to attract and work to eliminate biases, women must have the courage to apply to more “stretch” opportunities, ask questions to vet employers, and negotiate their salary upon hire. In combination with efforts made by employers, each of these changes will culminate to produce significant changes in the diversity of an organization.
Stay tuned for an upcoming article: How to Retain Women Talent
For more information on how to write gender-neutral job descriptions with examples, visit this link created by the Government of Canada.
SOURCES
Ammerman, C., Colleen, & Groysberg, B., (2021). Glass Half-Broken : Shattering the Barriers That Still Hold Women Back at Work, Harvard Business Review Press.
Burns, T., Huang, J., Krivkovich, A., Rambachan, I., Trkulja, T., & Yee, L. (2021). Women In The Workplace 2021. McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/women-in-the-workplace