How we promote inclusivity in our job descriptions

Job descriptions can be tricky. Trying to summarize an entire person’s role, their future team, the company’s culture, and all the responsibilities and opportunities that come along with this on a single page can be a difficult task.

And when starting to think of the ideal candidate before writing a spec, often a hiring manager thinks only of the skills and behaviors needed to do the best possible job. In other words, they’re _not_initially starting out as biased.

But does this always translate when the job spec is written? The answer is... definitely not!

In one study, US jobs site ZipRecruiter found an astonishing stat. Over 90% of job specs in the areas of science, engineering, and technology were found to be using masculine biased language.

Although many companies within tech might prioritize diversity and inclusion in their company culture, this doesn’t necessarily come across within their job descriptions. This could be down to many factors including the writer saving time and quickly churning out a spec, copying requirements they’ve seen before (who hasn’t seen “is a team player”?), or a lack of awareness around biased language and how readers could potentially interpret their words.

Ultimately, this can lead to readers being turned off, great new joiners lost, and all the good initiatives of D&I within an organization getting lost in translation from the get-go. Though it might seem a small step towards promoting D&I within our culture, creating inclusive job descriptions is something Snyk is focused on putting time into, and getting right.

Steps we take to promote inclusivity in our job descriptions:

1. We aim to make sure ‘requirements’ are really necessary

We’ve all been there, staring at a job description’s requirements and feeling like no one can meet these seemingly impossible expectations. As an also not so fun fact, studies have shown men will apply for a job if they feel they meet 60% of the criteria stated, but women will only apply if they meet 100%. To avoid this, at Snyk, we encourage our hiring managers to think about the difference between what is ‘truly ‘necessary’ and what is actually, ‘nice to have’.

2. We steer clear of gender-specific language

So many words or phrases have come to be associated by society over time as being masculine or feminine in meaning. Often ‘masculine’ words in job specs include phrases typically suggesting a person’s ability to reason, interpret, and strategize, with examples such as 'competent', or 'athletic'. "Feminine" words, on the other hand, are usually connected with empathy, and have a relationship-oriented focus, such as 'collaborative', 'compassionate', and 'supportive'. To combat these stereotypes wherever possible we aim to use gender-neutral alternatives within our job specs, and check before posting our balance of masculine/feminine bias.

 3. We've removed intimidating language

More often than not, words and phrases such as“a-players” or “rockstars”are not written with the intention of aiming to appeal to a particular gender. Typically, hiring managers are actually trying to find ways to make a job sound extra exciting. Yet, we recognize that language such as this can actually be damaging. Although to some a “tech guru” or “ninja”, might sound fun and creative, to others it can read as a potential barrier. Data shows us that often women will self-select out when they read words like this. So instead, although it might be “duller”, we describe the job exactly with the title you’ll be receiving.

4. We include a diversity statement

It might sound simple, but it is important to us that on all of our job descriptions we include an open commitment to and a clear statement for diversity. To those traditionally underrepresented in tech, we aim to give a welcoming signal, and make it absolutely certain that we want you to apply.

5. We offer inclusive job spec training

Finally, at Snyk, we train all of our hiring managers on how to write inclusive job descriptions, and discuss why it is important to do so. We challenge our unconscious biases, ask everyone to think on what they can do to improve their job descriptions, and put the time and effort in that is needed to make changes happen.