Job Postings and Gender Neutral Language
What is the purpose of a job posting? To attract candidates with a desirable skill set for a specific position, Right?
So why do so many companies overlook gender coding in their online job postings and job descriptions? The answer is fairly simple: Folks may not realize the impact the words they use have on their audience.
Everyone wants their advertisement to stand out from the rest, which is why we will see a number of ‘buzz’ words or phrases used (does the phrase ‘we are looking for a rock star’ make anyone else roll their eyes a little?). Facts are that some words skew more masculine and some skew more feminine and that impacts who is applying to your job.
So what do we do?
- Educate yourself – What adjectives are more masculine vs. more feminine? What are their gender neutral alternatives?
As a quick example, we can explore one of the more commonly used adjectives – Bubbly – often times we’ll see this word in an advertisement for front desk personnel, administrative roles, or receptionist positions. While we may use this word to attract someone who is outgoing the word itself sits on the more feminine side and may screen out those that don’t identify in that way. Consider replacing the word all together with something more neutral.
- Review, change, re-post
It’s easy to make the right changes in your posts – especially with tools out there like the Gender Decoder for Job Ads. This is my all-time favorite tool and I frequently double check what I’ve written to ensure that the post uses neutral language that will not unknowingly screen out qualified applicants.
- Make it part of your everyday
Last but not least – embrace gender neutral language in your everyday communication. Using the ‘they, them, their’ pro-nouns when referring to someone (either in a written post or in conversation) keeps your language inclusive! While some of these changes can be tricky, you are ultimately ensuring that every individual you interact with feels comfortable.
There is A LOT we as staffing professionals can do to weave this into our everyday (job postings, interviews, etc.). This only scratches the surface, but is certainly a step in the right direction!