Why do businesses need to hire more females in tech? It’s not just about complying with equal opportunity regulations. It is also about diversifying your talent pool. Businesses with tech females don’t just tick the right box on their compliance report; they broaden the depth and potential of their overall tech workforce. A diversified workforce is typically a far more desirable situation than a homogenous one, in many cases.
If your business hasn’t already broadened its intake to include hiring tech females, it may be facing a serious handicap. Read on to find out why it is so important to include more female candidates in your tech hiring and a few tips to get started.
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Why and How to Hire More Tech Females
There are several benefits that an increased focus on hiring tech females can provide to any business. First and foremost, females invariably broaden the experience of a talent pool. They add unique perspectives. They also add greater innovative potential to the workforce. Most recruiters aim to prevent gender bias from impacting objective talent acquisition and recruitment strategies.
Sadly, hiring bias does exist in many parts of the world. That is often why, even with unconscious bias, tech females contribute a smaller portion of most tech workforces.
However, the concept of male-dominated work roles is slowly losing traction. Moreover, because businesses are learning to adapt to a changing world, there is less hesitation to hire a female technician or a full-stack developer.
Of course, certain workplaces may not have any gender bias impairing their recruiting, but they still may not be deriving the desired results from their hiring efforts. If you feel your business could be one of these, the following tips may prove helpful:
Use Specialized Recruiters
Female candidates often have different needs or circumstances from most male candidates. However, for tech roles, technical expertise matters far more than gender. In-house recruiters, therefore, may not always be equipped to deal with a female tech candidate. For specialized technical hiring, such as for cybersecurity consulting, it is always a good idea to partner with an experienced staffing agency. These recruiters typically have far more experience sourcing the right type of talent. They should be able to supplement your existing hiring efforts, if not become a core part themselves.
Involve More Females in Recruiting and Onboarding
In addition to specialized recruiters, you may need to involve more female HR and recruitment workers in hiring and onboarding. Female candidates may find the onboarding process a lot easier with other women involved.
It can help them appreciate your workspace as a fair, objective, and unbiased employer. Especially when your own female workers can attest to it. This will also help a new female techie to feel safer and more motivated to work for you.
Consider Bolstering Your Employer Brand
Employer brands are what attract the best talent to you. Talent is by no means restricted to a specific gender. With a strong employer brand in place, you may be able to attract female talent with the right mix of skills you need. Assess your brand as it stands today.
Examine the number of females you have staffing key leadership or strategic roles. Likewise, examine the overall male-to-female proportion of your overall workforce. Make note of every instance where your business can demonstrate its commitment to female tech workers, even contract-to-hire or temp ones. All of this can play in significantly in terms of demonstrating a female-friendly tech brand.
Create a Safe and Empowering Work Culture
Work culture is closely related to your employer brand. It should become a significant part of any employee value proposition. In the digital age, consumers are quick to distance themselves from problematic brands. That includes instances of harassment, abuse, or bias as a part of work culture. And the same goes for employees. Even third-party partners like IT staffing agencies could have a tough job trying to convince female workers (tech or otherwise) to work for you.
This could derail your entire hiring mechanism. Look for any loopholes in workplace policies that could foster such a culture. Address any instances of harassment immediately and on priority.
At the same time, work on creating skill enrichment and expansion opportunities to empower female tech workers. These will help present you as a far more desirable employer than many of your competitors. And that way, you will also increase your chances to attract the best talent.
