OPEN RECRUITINGHow can we make our recruiting pitch more inviting to

women candidates?

■ Women read job descriptions more carefully

■ Men tend to pay less attention to words

Job descriptions

■ Avoid asking for “experts”, “rock stars”, or “ninjas”

■ Show learning opportunities

■ For every reference to a male candidate, use a feminine pronoun elsewhere

Expectations

■ “We work hard and play hard.”

– time outside of work that people are expected to spend at the office

■ “Our clients are all over Texas.”

– require long-distance travel

Gender-themed words

■ Feminine: community, dependable, responsible, and committed

■ Masculine: active, competitive, dominate, decisive, ambitious

How gender-biased is this?

■ https://textio.com/products/

– Textio shows you how your job listings and candidate emails will perform. Will the role be popular among qualified job seekers?

– How gender-biased is it?

■ http://gender-decoder.katmatfield.com/

– Gender decoder for job ads

Company descriptions

■ Feminine: We are a community of engineers who have effective relationships with many satisfied clients. As a company, we are committed to understanding the engineering sector intimately.

■ Masculine: We are a dominant engineering firm that boasts many leading clients. We are determined to stand apart from the competition.

Job requirements

■ Feminine: Proficient oral and written communications skills. Collaborates well in a team environment. Sensitive to clients’ needs, can develop warm client relationships.

■ Masculine: Strong communication and influencing skills. Ability to perform individually in a competitive environment. Superior ability to satisfy customers and manage company’s association with them.

Job descriptions

■ Feminine: Provide general support to project team in a manner complimentary to the company. Help clients with construction activities.

■ Masculine: Direct project groups to manage project progress and ensure accurate task control. Determine compliance with client’s objectives.

• Fact-based approach

• Standard template for all candidates

Unconscious bias

■ The Implicit Association Test measures attitudes and beliefs that people may not be aware of.– https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/

■ The Ambivalent Sexism Inventory – http://www.understandingprejudice.org/asi/

■ IATs on selected business domains – https://businessiats.diverseo.com/en/12/iats– https://iat-contract.diverseo.com/en/169/iats/47/run

Research on gender bias■ Gender bias in academic STEM hiring, Columbia University

– News article http://www8.gsb.columbia.edu/newsroom/newsn/2700/new-research-proves-gender-bias-extraordinarily-prevalent-in-stem-careers

– Full paper http://www.pnas.org/content/112/43/13201.full

■ Gender bias in getting credit for team work, Harvard

– News article

https://hbr.org/2016/02/proof-that-women-get-less-credit-for-teamwork

– Full paper

http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/sarsons/files/gender_groupwork.pdf?m=1449178759

■ Gender bias in teacher evaluations, North Carolina State University

– Gendered language in teacher review visualization■ http://benschmidt.org/profGender/#

– News article http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2014/12/09/gender_bias_in_student_evaluations_professors_of_online_courses_who_present.html