How To Use Your Recruitment Process To Reduce Gender Bias

by Laura McKenzie

Achieving better performance through diversity is not a recent revelation.

Consider this true story. In 1952, the Boston Symphony Orchestra decided the way to eliminate bias during auditions to achieve greater gender balance in the orchestra was to have musicians play behind a screen (not unlike The Voice). Despite this, the successful candidates were still predominantly male.

They finally worked out why – shoes. The panel unconsciously worked out which musicians were male and which were female by the sound their shoes made as they walked across the stage to take their place.

Musicians were then asked to remove their shoes before auditioning – as a result, almost 50% of the women made it past the first audition.

Overcoming unconscious bias takes effort and consideration, to look at the recruitment process from a different perspective and recognise the unintentional factors that affect who applies for a job.

We have experienced a rise in the number of clients requesting a shortlist that has gender balance, particularly for managerial level roles.

Employers are increasingly committed to achieving gender balance in the workplace so if your organisation is striving to inject greater gender fairness and equity to its recruitment processes here are aspects to consider:

• Use gender neutral language in job descriptions – instead of he/she, use words such as “the applicant” or “candidate” or “they”.
• Consider the emphasis on essential attributes. A frequently quoted statistic is that men apply for jobs if they meet only 60% of the requirements while women apply if they meet 100%. Ensure that the job description is a true reflection of the actual work to be done, eliminate embellishments and identify the skills, qualifications and experiences that truly are “essential” and those that are better described as “preferred”.
• Train recruiters in your organisation to recognise gender unconscious bias during the initial selection process. At the longlist to shortlist stage anonymise CVs by removing name and gender details before sharing them with operational hiring managers.
• Does the job really have to be full-time, what’s the latitude for flexibility or part-time? If you want to do something ground breaking, consider job-sharing as an employment option.
• Your company website and social media may be signalling a lack of commitment to DE&I through the messaging and images. Highlight the benefits of working at your business and share some insights to your culture – show why you are a great place to work. It’s incredibly appealing for women to see other women succeeding - and will impact their decision to apply for your job vacancies.
• During the shortlist process, use a score card listing the core competencies and requirements of the job to determine priorities. This also helps formulate interview questions specific to the role.
• Have a diverse interview panel. It can also be less intimidating for the candidate – imagine being the only woman facing a panel of men or vice versa.
• During the interview keeping small talk to neutral issues such as the weather or industry events. This helps eliminate bias if someone supports the same sports team, shares the same hobbies, knows the same people, etc as the interviewer.

Laura McKenzie is a business manager at TMM Recruitment and specialist in Accountancy & Finance resourcing, T01224 327 020, lmckenzie@tmmrecruitment.com