5 WAYS TO ATTRACT FEMALE TALENT

5 ways to attract female talent

Female candidate: I don’t have all the qualifications listed on the job profile. I don’t think iam the right fit. Naike, do you think I should go back to school or take more courses to fit the required qualifications?

Naike: Just apply.

Male candidate: I have all the qualifications for this job, I have accepted many job offers and board member opportunities before without meeting all the requirements. I am applying right away.

We are at CVPeople Tanzania, analyze data, create stunning data visualizations, and discover hidden insights in minutes through our talent analytics services. As we are approaching our 2nd quarter, we have seen gaps of female candidates applying for positions, from junior level up to executive-level roles. Of course, we have seen this gap before and we are making progress to close the gender gap via our WIMA Initiative but the journey continues.

Here is one of the insights on an internal position that was advertised to different channels. The position was a coordinator role.

Source: cvpeople Tanzania 

A total of 142 applications were received and about 110 were males and 32 were females. As you can see from these insights, the number of female candidates applying for different positions is quite low.

Source: Linkedin talent solutions

Research done by LinkedIn talent solutions shows that to apply for a job women feel they need to meet 100% of the criteria while men usually apply after meeting about 60%. This research data was also observed by Hewlett Packard's internal report.Making your recruitment processes more female-friendly can help to create a better gender balance in your team – something that’s widely seen as beneficial for business.

If you’re looking to attract more women to apply for your open roles, there are a handful of steps you can take. Here are 6 of them.

1. Limit the number of requirements

Employers or human resource professionals should only put the minimum required qualifications that are crucial for the job. 

2. Provide benefits relevant to women

When selling/sharing an opportunity to applicants, share exciting benefits that your company offers such as lactation rooms, daycare facilities, salary transparency, flexible work arrangements, health care, work-life balance, maybe a spa treatment, etc. Additionally, be flexible when arranging interviews with female candidates, provide ample time for them to get ready as they might be tied up to other activities such as picking up kids, feeding the children, etc.

3. Share stories of women in your organization

Promote women profiles and share their career stories through different platforms such as print media, social media, etc. put more women in the spotlight Women tend to relate and see themselves in those roles, when they see other women then they will likely apply for the positions. You can’t be what you can’t see.

4. Showcase your company’s commitment to gender parity throughout the year and improve your employer branding

If you have initiatives, that support women in your organization, share and publish them not only during the women’s month but make it a long-term strategy.

- Career development plans for women- Set up a budget to train women leaders and other coaching and mentorship programs. Sponsor females to attend board membership training etc. 

- Introduce external networking and mentoring- it is so important for companies to promote networking with peers outside the organizations, female-driven events such as WIMA awards, quarterly breakfast meetings. Women need a network of champions like WIMA that they can learn, have a safe space to share challenges and opportunities.

- Create a gender-inclusive strategy and make a plan to implement it.

5. Talent analytics 

Make it intentional to recruit female candidates and use internal workforce data to understand your gender mix by department, job function, and seniority level. From the data that you already have, you can set up goals to improve the gender balance in your organization. Let the numbers make business decisions for your organization.

What other tips can you share that can attract female talent? If you are interested in crafting a gender-inclusive strategy for your business, get in touch with Naike or visit www.wima.co.tz to see how we can help you.