Building a Gender-Balanced Shortlist: Do These 4 Things
Enhanced diversity = enhanced performance.
Every business leader should want to achieve gender-balance in their company. Because the benefits of diversity to performance are no longer up for debate.
For instance, McKinsey's 2023 report highlights that companies in the top quartile for board-gender diversity are 27% more likely to outperform financially than those in the bottom quartile.
And as hybrid, flexible, and remote working have become more normalised (at least for now), the barriers facing women could significantly decrease for the next generation of leaders.
A more level gender playing field? Imagine the opportunity that would present over the long-term.
The Importance of Your Shortlist
Building a gender-balanced shortlist is a vital starting point to achieving parity.
Even the most traditional businesses are waking up to this. For example, a third of signatories of the Women in Finance Charter now concentrate on gender-diverse shortlists.
The Charter’s 2024 annual review highlights Societe Generale. The bank stipulates gender-balanced shortlists with a target of 50% female CVs (mandatory 30% minimum) before the interview process can begin. This policy applies across all roles, regardless of seniority or business line, within their UK operations.
Policies like SocGen’s have no doubt been influenced by earlier data. For instance, Lloyds Banking Group saw the proportion of female external hires rise from 28% to 36% between 2014 and 2019, after placing sustained focus on building diverse shortlists.
Signatories of the Tech Talent Charter (TTC) have reported similar results. Among companies with targets for gender-balanced shortlists, 64% exceeded the national average (16.4%) for women in technical roles.
Which is, perhaps, why over 700 TTC signatories now report that “diversity of talent in the recruitment funnel” is among their top five diversity and inclusion KPIs (Diversity in Tech report 2024).
Why ‘Tokenism’ Fails
TTC also warns against tokenism, citing the research from McKinsey quoted in Figure 1, opposite.
One woman on a shortlist of four has statistically zero chance of landing the role. But add just one more, and her odds increase significantly.
Start with These 4 Things to Build a Gender-Balanced Shortlist
When creating a shortlist, break activities down into three groups: activities linked to finding talent, attracting talent, and selecting talent.
Once you have this clear mental delineation, it’s easier to take action.
1) Start by Researching Your Target Market (Finding)
Whether you do this in-house or work with an external partner, this is the foundational step.
How gender-balanced is this role in the candidate market? For example, Marketing Directors might be more balanced than IT Directors. Set expectations and plan according to these findings.
Who are the key bodies and networks focused on gender equality in this candidate market? How can you access them?
Try to understand the world from this target market’s perspective. Where do these candidates work/live/spend their time? What do they read/watch/attend?
2) Communicate the Right Message in the Right Place and at the Right Frequency (Finding/Attracting)
Make sure your messaging - and overall Employer Brand -
a) resonates with the right audience, and
b) reaches them in the places they already are.
The companies that do this best don’t rely on one-off, generic job ads each time they recruit. They tell their story with consistency and frequency. They highlight why diverse candidates should consider working with them.
They use videos, blogs, podcasts, in-person messages (at events) - whatever works for the target audience.
Work on your message and diversify your media and your outreach. For example, how can you work with the ‘gender equality networks’ you identified in point 1?
3) Code Your Message Effectively (Attracting)
Think about the language of the average job advert. ‘Challenging’ this, ‘leadership’ that, ‘driven’ the other. These are all masculine-coded words.
Gaucher, Friesen, and Kay (2011) found that when job adverts included more masculine than feminine words, they were less appealing to women. These findings inspired the widely used (and free) Gender Decoder for Job Ads by Kat Matfield.
Today, there are many similar tools available - some built with more rigour than others - alongside a growing number of prompts for ChatGPT and other AI tools.
4) Diversify Your Interview Panel (Selecting)
“We’re committed to gender diversity. Meet our interviewers: Brian, Phil, and Steve.” That doesn’t quite work, does it?
And, whether we like it or not, unconscious bias affects us all. Curb its impact by diversifying your interview panel.
Many firms are now making diverse interview panels mandatory.
Make This All Habitual
You won't see the full benefit of these actions on a one-off basis. Nor if you ‘dust them off’ for each vacancy. But, if the above becomes standard practice, then you’re on the right track.
Engaging with your target talent market should be continuous.
Network, build relationships with the right industry bodies, invest, sponsor, create opportunities. Build a returners programme or work with a third party like Tech Returners. Inspire the next generation - support local schools and communities. And keep it all up.
As noted in my opening, the barriers for women can fall if we seize the opportunity that more flexible working has presented.
Make the most of this opportunity to enhance gender diversity. And, in doing so, enhance business performance.