Women have been breaking standards, norms, and glass ceilings in the world for the past couple of decades. However, that doesn’t mean that the job is done. There are still male-dominated fields where more breakthroughs are needed, one of which is the tech industry. There’s a massive gender disbalance of 2 to 1 in the tech sector, and more than half of the women that enter the space decide to leave it before they turn 35.
In order to make a lasting change, business leaders need to leverage the high number of young women finishing STEM degrees. Not only that, but they need to devote time and resources to inclusivity training and developing culture.
● Remove gender bias
Are you using gender-specific pronouns and titles when looking for new hires? That could be one of the reasons why you aren’t seeing so many women applicants. Many of us have the unconscious bias to communicate in male or female terms. Even the requirements for a major can be the source of the problem. Trying to hire people from diverse talent pools might bring in the ideal candidate for the job.
● Center mentoring and training programs around women
Adapting to an all-male workplace is challenging if you’re a woman. The same thing is true the other way around. In the tech field, women are massively outnumbered, and hosting training sessions and mentoring them will make them feel recognized.
Encouraging men to become a mentor for their female counterparts is a great way to introduce them to new opportunities. That way, both groups of people will gain new skills and participate in the sessions. Mentorship doesn’t have to be gender exclusive, but it will improve soft skills around the office.
● Look for unintentional biases and exclusion
We’ve all got a few people at work with whom we always get along. That’s the most visible during team-building events. When hosting a sports event or going out for lunch, check whether the men in the office invite the women. High-quality connections always get formed after your shift ends, and if the women get excluded, they won’t be able to connect with the team.
● Include everyone during meetings
Having two managers or leaders during meetings is a great way to immerse women into the industry. One of the managers will be responsible for leading the discussion, and the other can look for any issues they could miss.
Maybe some of your female colleagues get interrupted unintentionally. Perhaps men are the only ones talking, and women are the ones listening. The second manager can strive to give everyone a voice. Of course, this doesn’t need to happen all the time, but giving women a voice balances the gender disparity that already exists.
How can you recruit them?
Recruiting nowadays happens online. However, there are a lot of bad actors in the space trying to impersonate others and make use of the gender inequality that exists in the tech space. You might be trying to network outside your usual associations, schools, or talent boards as a recruiter.
However, hackers are using social engineering attacks to infiltrate your company database and attack it from the inside. There’s a case where a simple PDF file download costs a company close to 600 million dollars. You don’t want that to happen to you. Also, social media platforms don’t have strict ad requirements, so you can easily fall for a phishing scam. Installing an ad blocker is the best way to remove the clutter and the noise so you can focus on genuine applicants and talent sources.
Ensure that your HR teams look into official women’s programs, associations, groups, and schools. Word of mouth is still the best way to hire somebody, and your current employees can recommend someone they deem fit to come for an interview. That way, you’re minimizing the chances of an attack happening.
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