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Making Job Descriptions Gender Neutral

Making Job Descriptions Gender Neutral

Are you a recruiter? Have you, at some point of your career, wondered why is it that most applicants applying to the jobs you put out are male? One of the most obvious answers is how your job descriptions are worded. Is it calling out to male candidates? While you may not have been gender exclusive on purpose, you haven’t been gender inclusive either. In order to defeat the ever-growing glass ceiling when it comes to women at work, every stakeholder needs to plays a more active role. It is important to approach recruitment with sensitivity and to ensure that you are gender inclusive in your call for applications.

In this post, we are going to share some very powerful words from powerful women that Undercover Recruiter put together, in their article How Can Job Descriptions Be More Gender Neutral?

To understand the dynamics of what we are trying to explain, can be best done through knowing how and why gender exclusive job descriptions affect women. Here are their voices –

Angela Bortolussi, Partner at Recruiting Social

A few years ago I sat with my hiring manager, a Director of Engineering, and he said “Angela, I asked my wife to review the job description for our Front End Engineering role – she is also a Front End Engineer, and she told me ‘I wouldn’t apply for this role.’”

He of course asked her “Why?” She mentioned the job description had so many hard stops in terms of qualifications. For example, you must have 8+ years of experience, React experience is a must, and a Computer Science Degree is a must. She felt that she was somewhat qualified but didn’t have the exact qualifications needed for the role, and ultimately wouldn’t attempt applying.

He decided to take this into consideration and re-write the job description to become more gender neutral to hopefully increase the attention of women applying. (Guess what? It worked!)

Keep in mind though it’s a tough to really understand the thought-process when it comes to candidates applying for roles. Whatever the reason is, I think we (women) respond to job ads/posts differently.

Rebecca Fraser, National Executive Committee, Career Development Association of Australia

It is quite interesting how some words can be perceived as being more attractive depending on your gender. Removing gender specific words, an example may be he or she and Chairman or Chairwoman. This is challenging in some languages where they have grammatical gender and this may require job adverts and job titles to specifically confirm that they are being offered to all genders. Other language could be seen as more attractive to the male gender, such as describing the work environment as fast paced and challenging, or dominant and determined. Although many females will be attracted to this environment, research has shown that these words can be perceived as being about a male dominated work environment.

Lysha Holmes, Owner and Recruiter, Qui Recruitment R2R

It is essential that a job description is written as a narrative to the potential employee regardless of gender. Avoid assumptions, focus on skills and attitude, potential and opportunity rather than a “person” per se and therefore stereotypes can be avoided. This should include imagery used to promote any post on social media.

Poonam Mawani, Director, Azuki Accounts

Job descriptions are so important. They are the first impression of a company’s culture. There is software available now that can remove and replace gendered descriptions and words. There are certain phrases that can either attract more men or women. These should be identified and replaced to attract a more balanced candidate pool. How a firm describes itself in a job description is also important.

Amanda Bell, Director of Recruiting, Lever

Luckily, this can be pretty easy. Review your job descriptions with the lens of “Who is the audience here?” If your answer is “any qualified candidate, regardless of gender,” you’ve done a good job! It’s not just about the presence of gender-specific pronouns – it’s also about using language that is inclusive of all genders. Stay away from phrases like “kick ass,” “ninja,” and, believe it or not, “brah.” You can also ask a few employees of various genders to read the descriptions and solicit feedback.

Making sure that job descriptions are crafted in a neutral manner is in fact one of the primary steps towards implementing gender equality at the work place. Have you read our post on implementation of gender equality at the work place? You can read it here. You can also read more posts from our gender series by clicking on the following links:

Gender Equity Before Gender Equality: Why Women Need More
The Importance of Gender Diversity in The World of Work
5 Unconventional Career Tracks Women are Making it Big In

Giving Negative Feedback – 5 Methods that Will Help You

Giving Negative Feedback – 5 Methods that Will Help You

It is always difficult to have a conversation about something someone is not doing well enough, at work. However, without these conversations, and appropriate avenues to facilitate these conversations, getting better would never be an option. Giving Negative Feedback is something that can get uncomfortable for either of the two reasons: 1. not being sensitive enough, 2. for being too sensitive and not putting across your point clearly. However, if you are in the shoes of someone who is expected to help your co-workers grow – by providing them with timely and accurate feedback, you will have to familiarize yourself with the process of delivering feedback. And it won’t always be positive feedback.

Here are 5 methods that will help you deliver negative feedback in a more structured, professional, and hopefully pleasant way:

  1. Take the help of self-assessments

    If you use self-assessments, your job is already half done. Using a pre-made self assessment checklist, and asking your team member to complete it before the feedback meeting helps both of you gain perspective about the current situation. In a lot of ways, it also helps both concerned get on the same page. By taking the help of a self-assessment you help prepare yourself for the meeting, and also give the concerned person an opportunity to rate himself/ herself honestly. During your meeting, this can be used as a yardstick to discuss the feedback you have.

  2. Use their job description as a basis

    Another “tool” apart from the self-assessment checklist that you can use to facilitate the feedback session is the job description of the team member. A job description is an outline of the expected roles and responsibilities of an employee. By using it as a basis of comparison to the actual tasks and objectives being met by the individual, you will have an idea about if he/she is aligned with the job description or has deviated from it. This will also help you point this out to your team member.

  3. Support your feedback with examples

    The basis for your negative feedback would be specific. And it is important to say out loud the specifics of the feedback. In other words, if your feedback comes with an example of a specific situation, bring it up. By doing so, you are able to be clear in your communication and this will also help you tackle the next steps of thinking about a solution to the problem. When you speak in vague terms, finding solutions to problems become difficult. As a result of which the problem may keep occurring.

  4. Speak about strengths

    It is important to support or balance your negative feedback with positive feedback. Remember that the objective of the feedback session is to bring to the notice of the team member what is not working, and to motivate him/ her to do better, and not the contrary. If it were the contrary then this would have been a meeting to discuss the individual’s termination from the organization. Therefore, it is important to also speak about the skills and the strengths of the individual. It is also important to be careful about how you speak. Adopting a tone that is firm, yet kind is the best bet. Do make sure that the session is a dialogue. Listening is as important as speaking!

  5. Remind yourself that this is your job

    No matter how hard it is to carry through this session, you need to because after all, it is your job. Before the session, it is important for you to orient yourself about it so you can be as professional as possible. Remember that it is not a personal reason being discussed, but a professional one. Hence, you must remain objective through out. It is also important to keep in mind that the team member concerned may not view the feedback as objectively as you provide it. In which case, you would have to remind yourself to hold your ground and tell yourself that you are doing your job.

Have you been in a position where you have had to discuss or provide negative feedback to a team member? What worked for you and what didn’t? Hearing from you always motivates us to write better, so do write back!

Measuring Loyalty: Is it Possible? A Guide to Modern Day Loyalty

Measuring Loyalty: Is it Possible? A Guide to Modern Day Loyalty

Do age old scruples such as loyalty to your employer at your workplace even make sense in the highly globalized and ever evolving world of work, today? To ask a much more basic question, what does loyalty even mean? In an age and world where growth is characterized by dynamism, is loyalty a virtue, or a hindrance to success? Most importantly though, can one measure loyalty?

There is no defined way of addressing these questions. Experiences are lived differently, and opinions are as diverse as experiences. In this post, we wish to explore the aspect of loyalty to an employer from a more ‘everyday’ perspective. Or, to put it in a better way – what would “loyalty” to your employer in the modern day comprise of? Loyalty needn’t necessarily mean an undying pledge to be forever rooted in the same organization, against your interests of growth because you believe in and respect your employer. What it comes real close to, in meaning though, is honesty. How you answer the following questions for yourself will help you understand what your feelings are, about loyalty towards your employer at your work place.

  1. Measuring Loyalty: How accountable to your employer do you feel, on an everyday basis?

    To understand this question we need to understand that accountability here does not mean the forced or imposed kind. One of the best examples to understand true accountability is when you have a role that enables you to work from home. True, even work from home roles have their own protocols of surveillance, but unarguably it does present more scope where you could “choose” to slack. But would you? Or would you feel a sense of accountability towards your employer and strive to put in an honest day’s work? You are accountable even if you may not feel particularly loyal towards your organisation/ employer. However, the purpose of juxtaposing these two aspects is to gain an insight about how one would personally analyze his/her reason for feeling accountable without being made to feel accountable.

  2. Measuring Loyalty: From the following words – fear, respect, indifference, – which would come close to describing how you feel towards your employer?

    Do you feel afraid of your employer? Is the driving motivation for your work fear?
    Do you respect your employer? Are you motivated to work hard, and give your job the best you can because your employer inspires you and commands respect?
    Or do you feel indifferent? You put in your 8 hours, and go home. Nothing more, nothing less.
    How you would define your opinion of your employer and your relationship with him/ her is an important factor in determining your loyalty towards your employer. One might stay loyal out of fear, but that counts as a toxic workplace attitude. One might be indifferent – in which case, you would indifferent to the aspect of loyalty. However, one might be motivated to do well because of love and respect for the employer – which is a true measure of loyalty.

  3. Measuring Loyalty: How prone would you be to getting poached?

    This would be the ultimate test for loyalty. One of the most important ways of measuring loyalty is to determine how susceptible the employee is, to believing that the grass is greener on the other side. When we talk about modern day loyalty, this becomes a huge factor because increase in attrition rates is a concern that many organisations are facing. Attrition rates are also reflective of how an organization treats its employees. Assuming that your workplace does not have a high attrition rate, and employees are taken care of, where would you place yourself? How prone would you be to getting carried away with a job offer that appears lucrative? Would you ditch your organisation which has invested in you, and an employer who trusts your skills, for some place where the grass seems greener?

Measuring Loyalty: From the Other End of the Spectrum

Now lets take a look at loyalty, from the other end of the spectrum. We put what we want to say in perspective by including excerpts from a superb article on Medium – On Loyalty by Stevie Buckley. You can read the full article here.

You are a transaction. Sure, your employer gives you the impression they care about you but as soon as you start costing the company money or pose a risk to the company’s image or breach any other element of your 300 page contract, then I can absolutely assure you that they will drop you in a heartbeat. You don’t even need to do anything wrong to be at risk. If the company is struggling financially, due to no fault of yours, you and all your colleagues are at risk. Suddenly the corporate line of “we’re all family here” sounds a bit ridiculous.

Your employer pays you to spend more time with them than you spend with your family and/or loved ones. Your employer is one of the biggest influencers on your mental well-being. Your employer can and will replace you in a heartbeat if absolutely necessary.

Let me be explicitly clear, your employer isn’t your family and they are not your friend. They pay you to do a job and your responsibility is to do that job well.

  • Do not sacrifice your relationship with family and friends to appease your employer.
  • Do not sacrifice your mental wellbeing to appease your employer.
  • Do not sacrifice your dignity, values and ethics to appease your employer.
  • Do not buy into the bullshit hype of “hustle” to appease your employer.

Mutual Respect

Get your head down and work hard. If your employer compensates you well, puts effort into ensuring you are healthy in every sense and invests in your personal and/or professional growth then by all means, tell the world how happy you are.

Focus on your own growth. Focus on helping the humans you work with. Focus on being efficient with your time and efforts so that you can spend even more time and effort on the things and people that truly matter.

And that’s the apt note to end this post at, with ample food for thought with what modern day loyalty comprises of, and if and how loyalty can be measured!

5 Basic Technology Skills Every Employee Must Have

5 Basic Technology Skills Every Employee Must Have

Whether you are a journalist, an entrepreneur or an architect, there are certain basic technology skills that every employee needs to be familiar with. Basic technology skills are a hit not just with recruiters, but also a necessity as per industry standards. Also, spending some time to acquire these tech skills can take you a long way in terms of being self-sufficient. What are some of the must have technology skills? Read on to know!

  1. Emailing

    While many of you would think this barely belongs in this list, because it goes without saying for one to be familiar with this skill. However, it is not enough to just know how to email. Knowing basic email etiquette, and how to structure emails is an equally important aspect. Paying attention to the font style, font size, subject line, how you greet and sign off, and even spacing of the paragraphs – these are some of the skills you need to apply while using  email. These little things do go on to make a big impact. Read here for the basics for writing a professional email.

  2. Being familiar with Spreadsheets

    Whoever thought knowing how to work with spreadsheets is just for accounting roles and the likes, could not be more mistaken. Almost every imaginable white collar  job today needs one to have at least basic spreadsheet skills. Familiarizing yourself with tools and techniques of spreadsheets will help you take on tasks with greater efficiency. There are ample courses online to help you learn the basics of Excel. For a crash course however, have a look at these tips and tricks for Excel. 

  3. Presentation Skills

    Once again, regardless of which sector you work in, knowing how to create visually compelling presentations is a skill that will take you a long way. Moreover, all employers look for this skill as an expected pre-requisite in the skill set of potential employees. While pitching an idea or during discussions, you can create compelling presentations with basic tools to get your point across in an impactful and effective manner. Many online platforms offer basic courses that you can master in as little time as 4 weeks! Check platforms like Coursera for courses that might interest you.

  4. Key-board Shortcuts

    Knowing small tech hacks can indeed boost your productivity to a great extent. It is a worthwhile effort to learn the basic shortcuts for actions like copying, pasting, switching tabs, and so on, for the device you use to work on. To learn the short cuts for Apple, click here. To learn the short cuts for Windows, click here.

  5. Social Media Awareness

    Being aware of, and having a presence on social media is a sought after trait by most companies. In fact, many recruiters go through the social media profiles of prospective candidates before shortlisting them for a role. How you use social media can have a profound effect on your career – for the better or for the worse. Knowing how to use platforms like LinkedIn is crucial and can give you leverage in terms of your reach. Just being social media savvy is not enough, it is also important to know the social mistakes you cannot afford to make as a professional. Want to know more? Read here.

Many competent professionals still may prefer manual functioning to technology, however, without basic tech skills, one might end up missing out on opportunities. Indeed, a lot of times it is also inertia to learn or adapt to what seems difficult at first. But as most of us know from experience, it is simply a bridge that must be crossed and you will realize that acquiring skills is only a way of being more productive and doing more!

Happy life-long learning!

Beginning 2018 Strong with a Simple Exercise

Beginning 2018 Strong with a Simple Exercise

And just like that, in the blink of an eye, another year has come to an end, and a new year has begun. For many of us the past year may not have fulfilled all the hopes we started it with. For many it may have been the ‘fantastic’ year our well wishers wished us to have. And for some it may have been bittersweet – a little bit of the good and a little bit of the not-so-good. But it has been only a few days since this new year has begun and each of us must try to   begin it strong. Maybe you couldn’t achieve all the goals you had in mind for 2017. By Beginning 2018 Strong, you can set yourself   up for a great start to the year!

Wherever you are right now, you can do this simple exercise which will not take you more than fifteen minutes to complete. At the end of this exercise, believe us, you will feel a lot lighter. You will also feel at peace with yourself and with the year that has passed and find yourself looking forward to the new year with renewed enthusiasm. To get started, find yourself a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed, and a pen and a paper. You can also use your phone if you don’t have a pen or a paper.

Here are the ten things that you should proceed to put down –

  1. The goals/ thoughts/ objectives you had in mind when you started 2017
  2. Your achievements for the year/ the best thing that happened to you in 2017
  3. What you wanted to, but couldn’t accomplish for the year
  4. On a scale of 1 to 10, how happy you are with your profession/ professional life (10 being the highest)
  5. On a scale of 1 to 10, how happy you are with your work – life balance (10 being the highest)
  6. Things that you wish hadn’t happened
  7. Things that you wish had happened differently
  8. The single most important thing for 2018
  9. The most important people in your life
  10. Everything   you are grateful for

What now?

When you have put down all of these, you will notice that a lot of the worries or concerns that you had have evaporated. What changed? Nothing. You just took time out to communicate with yourself, to check on yourself. You just indulged in a small act of immense self-love. When you put all of this down, you will have in writing everything that you loved and did not like about the year. You will also find answers to a lot of questions that you may have had for yourself. Notice that these answers did not come from reading a blog post on the internet or from a trusted friend, but from yourself.

Feeling the power of gratitude, of knowing that there are things and people you are grateful for, is in itself an answer to many problems we may have faced. Knowing who the most important people are in our lives, and making them priorities is not something all of us do at a conscious level. Making these small changes in your life lend you immense strength. Asking yourself how happy you are with your professional and your personal life are both questions all of us mostly evade, when we know we aren’t too happy. However, it is only acknowledgement of how we feel that will lead us to change our circumstances for the better.

New years   and birthdays are milestones in time. These two occasions are typically the times when we tend to look back and retrospect. Accepting how you feel, affirming your sense of self, and feeling strong from within about what’s coming up is the only way that one should focus on treating these milestones. True, not everything, or maybe hardly anything may have gone as you planned. When that’s how its been, remember that true strength and power lies in resilience. In getting up with rejuvenated passion, no matter what.

Here is wishing you a very happy and peaceful new year!

P.S. – Let kindness be your motto!