Gender bias in recruitment is a real problem. Across all industries, gender bias plays a role in hiring decisions. Often, recruiters don’t even know they are biased. This makes the issue even more difficult to solve. Because how do you prevent something from happening if you don’t know that it happens? What you need is for all recruiters to know what gender bias is. And how it can be prevented. This is especially important if you have set yourself ambitious diversity and inclusion goals. They can only be reached when there is no more gender bias in the recruitment process.
What is gender bias in the recruitment process?
Gender bias in recruitment refers to the discriminatory treatment of candidates based on their gender. For example, recruiters might choose a male candidate over a female candidate. This because of some characteristics they think are typical among males. Does the ideal candidate need to be an analytical thinker and emotionally thorough? Then recruiters will often select the male candidate. Even though the women who applied may be equally suitable for the job.
Ways to remove gender bias from the recruitment process
Gender bias has a negative effect on diversity within your company. And it is unfair to deny candidates the chance of getting a job based on their gender. Therefore, you should do everything you possibly can to remove gender bias from the recruitment process. Below, you can learn how to do this:
- Use AI in the recruitment process
AI is a technology you can use to screen, rank and grade candidates in the recruitment process. And since it is software, it can be programmed to ignore demographics like gender when analyzing candidates.
- Be honest with yourself
When you’re recruiting new talent, you need to be 100% honest with yourself. Is the person you’re selecting really the best candidate? Often, recruiters only realize there is a bias in their recruitment process when they really look for it.
- Have a look at your job descriptions
Gender bias can often be spotted in the job descriptions recruiters write. This is where the recruitment process starts. So, don’t forget to have a look at these. They might contain gendered nouns and pronouns that put women (or men) off applying for certain jobs.
Textmetrics and gender bias
Using the Textmetrics platform, you can easily remove gender bias from the recruitment process. As explained above, the recruitment process starts with job descriptions. Our platform uses AI algorithms. You can use it to write job descriptions with a more gender-neutral tone of voice. These appeal to both men and women alike. Both have an equal chance to apply. And it becomes a lot easier to have a recruitment process that is free from bias.
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