5-Step Guide To Gender-Fluid Tech Job Descriptions

If you are a recruiter or a hiring manager in the technical recruitment space and are wondering why most men (or women) are applying for your organization’s open positions, here’s a hint for you. Look at the language in your tech job descriptions. Chances are, the wording is more biased toward one gender than you realize.

Whether you believe it or not, language matters, and words have an impact on both genders in the workplace. According to the Language Matters report by LinkedIn:

• If a role or workplace was described as aggressive in a job description, 44% of women and 33% of men would be discouraged from applying
• Both men and women reacted equally positively to being described by definitive language such as ‘powerful’, ‘strong-willed’, and ‘confident’
• Women tend to favor subjective, ‘open’ words when being described at work. They are most likely to use terms such as ‘likable’ and ‘supportive’ to describe themselves in an interview

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits recruiters from overtly soliciting a preferred gender in their job descriptions. However, research shows gender wording in tech job ads exists, which leads to gender inequality in the workplace.

Here’s how you create gender-inclusive job descriptions

There you have it — our 5-step guide to creating gender-fluid or gender-inclusive tech job descriptions. Read more in detail here.

Originally published at www.hackerearth.com on March 18th, 2020.