Whilst gender diversity among applicants should be a given, it most certainly isn’t and more companies need to take direct steps to address this and get the gender balance right. After all, getting the gender mix right at the recruitment stage will help ensure that you’ve got the right balance in the workplace too.
If you’re on a mission to attract and retain more women and improve the gender mix in your startup, these tips should help you do just that.
1 Show a united front
If you're serious about improving the gender balance in your startup, it should be evident right across the company - not something that you are simply paying lip service to.
You, your entire team and your interviewers too, all need to be fully on board with recruiting, hiring, and retaining women. It should be viewed as an extremely important goal for your company and something that you are all committed to achieving.
2 Think about your branding
Since many candidates’ first experience of your tech startup and brand will be when they visit your website, it needs to clearly show a commitment to gender balance. Ensure that women are visible on your website and in any marketing literature or campaigns. Showcase the roles that women undertake in your business and how they are a fundamental and an important part of your startup’s story and success to date.
Do make sure though that this is truly representative! If, for example, you are only in the process of making your first female hire, showcasing lots of women on your website or marketing materials will seem both disingenuous and contrived.
3 Check your policies
Talk about your commitment to diversity and equal pay. Ensure that your Diversity and Inclusion policies are easily accessible to potential candidates so they can see how much value you place on this and also your commitment and desire to have a diverse and inclusive workplace. If you’re not quite there yet but are actively addressing it, make that evident too.
Be open about your commitment to equal pay too - whether you have always championed this or are now proactively doing so. Include the salary in job advertisements so there is less uncertainty for potential candidates and also to show that you are addressing any gender pay gap. No ‘competitive salaries’ here - numbers matter.
4 How you design your careers & culture pages matters
Remember that potential candidates will build up an impression of your startup and its culture from everything that they see and read on your website. It’s important therefore to make sure this impression is a positive one. Be clear and open about your company’s family-friendly policies and include them on your careers page and in your job descriptions - discuss them at interviews too.
By highlighting your commitment to family-friendly policies, you’re showing potential candidates that you care about your employees and that you know what matters to them. This won’t just help you improve the gender balance in your recruitment, but will also help you improve your retention.
Also, remember - work/life balance is important. Yes, there should be a passion for the job at hand, but everyone has a life outside of work and you need to show you fully understand and support this.
You should ideally show or refer to a diverse range of social activities too. Listing or showing pics of social activities that are more stereotypically male won’t do anything to encourage more women to apply to join your team.
5 Scrap the ‘Hey Bro, Hey Man’ culture
Your website, your job descriptions and your social channels provide an insight into life inside your startup. Make sure that your team or social activities don’t always revolve around playing sports or drinking - don’t just offer beers and pool tables and remove any perception that employees need to join in or be left behind.
Remember that the language you use matters too. For example, if you refer to your team as having to relieve stress by “playing hard”, all that does is reinforce a toxic masculine culture. Use inclusive language and avoid any words or phrases that are more associated with male stereotypes.
Describe your team environment as “collaborative” or “supportive” rather than “competitive”. Minimise those sports analogies - forget about “dominating the market” or your startup’s “kick-ass performance” and instead refer to your “adaptable” and “committed” team.
Potential employees should look at the descriptions and pics on your website and social channels and see a positive workplace culture that exudes inclusiveness, flexibility and balance!
6 Impact
Many studies indicate that women generally tend to have a more prosocial outlook than men. In order to proactively attract and encourage more women to apply for posts with you, you should highlight any tangible benefits that you are directly bringing to the world via your product and services.
If, however, that's not relevant or feasible, you should instead highlight how you do that via any charitable work that you do or perhaps any secondary positive social impact that your products or services may provide.
7 Word those job descriptions right
Make sure that you carefully consider the words that you use in your job descriptions. Many words and phrases have more masculine connotations and may inadvertently put a woman off from applying.
Avoid words and phrases such as “rock star”, “ninja”, “black belt”, “hacker”, “competitive”, “assertive”, “ambitious”, “crushing it” and “kicking it”.
Instead, you should use words and phrases such as "adaptable", "hard-working", "motivated", "open", "collaborative", "inclusive culture", "creative", "community", "effective relationships" and "learning culture".
There are some brillitant tools you can use to check over your language, help you remove any gender bias and make sure you're getting it right. You could, for example, use a free tool such as Gender Decoder or alternatively use a paid-for service such as Textio, DataPeople or Talvista
8 Is it really ‘Essential’
When you're creating that job description, it's also vital to make sure that those essential elements - the all-important must-haves are just that - essential!
Many women will not apply for a role unless they meet 100% of the criteria; whereas most men will apply for a role, provided they meet about 60% of the job spec criteria.
To help ensure women aren't discouraged from applying, you should therefore only stipulate that a requirement is absolutely essential for the job if that is actually the case!
That way, you will be much more likely to get a fairer gender balance of candidates applying for the role and therefore have a wider pool of candidates to select from.
9 Training and mentoring
Your aim should be to convey to potential candidates that you offer a supportive environment for all your employees. Women are attracted by personal growth and development and supportive environments where they can thrive.
Make sure that your commitment to training is evident - from initial induction through to ongoing personal and professional development. If you provide opportunities for your team to undertake accredited training, make that clear.
If you offer a structured mentoring programme, outline that and emphasise the value you place on ensuring that your employees develop their skills. Alternatively, if you make use of any external mentoring programmes or networks, highlight why this is important to you and the clear benefits it provides. Showing you are fully committed to nurturing and developing your team will go a long way to attracting more female candidates for your roles.
10 Is there bias in your referral networks
Whilst employee referrals can be an excellent source of finding new candidates for your startup, you should be aware that they can often lead to a lack of diversity too. Many employees tend to refer candidates who are “like them”, so you should aim to reduce or remove that unconscious bias.
Consider diversifying how and where you get your referrals from. Don’t just rely on the people and channels you’ve always used. You could, for example, source referrals from your personal networks - from friends and family, or look towards your wider business connections and ask investors or thought leaders in the space. Perhaps reach out for referrals via your social channels too or to any membership bodies or professional organisations you belong to.
By broadening your referral network like this, chances are you’ll have access to a broader group of potential candidates, which will, in turn, go a long way to helping you to improve your startup’s gender diversity.
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Offering personalised, consultative service, at TableCrowd Talent we’re a specialist recruitment agency with our finger on the pulse of the startup and scaleup scene. We are committed to matching graduates, professionals and C-level executives to exciting startup and scaleup jobs across London, the UK and Europe.
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