The right (wo)man for the job

A few years ago I was in a meeting with a senior member of staff who was hiring a key new staff member. He was briefing me on the potential recruits he was interviewing when I interrupted him.

“Hang on,” I said. “Why are all the people you are interviewing for the role men?”

He looked offended. He is an open-minded, fair sort of bloke who would never regard himself as sexist.

“I am interviewing the best people for the role,” he said stiffly, “regardless of what gender they are.”

“So,” I replied, “The best people for the role all happen to be men.”

“Well, yes,” he said. “They are the ones with the experience and skills we need.”

“Well I don’t believe you,” I told him. “There are loads of women who would be excellent for this job. I think you are just interviewing people in your own image.”

He looked so stunned, hurt and outraged all at once that I did silently lecture myself (very briefly) that I really must learn some more acceptable office-speak as per The Office).

“It’s alright,” I said to him magnanimously. “If you’re not aware of it, then you are doing it subconsciously. Make sure you include an equal amount of women as men in the interviewing process.”

Off he went, in a great sulk. Yet he reported back after a month that yes, he had deliberately included women in the pool and yes, reader, you guessed it. He ended up hiring a woman for the role and she is shaping up to be a great success.

In my experience this gender bias happens a lot. And it often happens at the start of the interview process. Women don’t even get to the interview stage because of the preconceptions – either conscious or unconscious – of the men setting up and running the process.

I was intrigued the other day to read a report by corporate governance specialists RiskMetrics that explored the “experience and skills” explanation often given as to why corporate Australia’s top positions are filled almost exclusively by men.

An analysis of the 100 companies in Australia found that 79 new directors had been hired that financial year, but 40 of them had no experience on similar boards.

So much for skills and experience. In fact the skills and experience of aging men who run our boardrooms should be put under the microscope. What do they know about changing demographics, selling to women, social networks, internet strategies and search engine marketing? Do they really understand how fast the world is moving and what it takes to keep up? Of course some do, but you can’t tell me their boards would not be improved with women – and young women at that – on side.

Here is what all bosses should be doing. Question your own employment techniques. When you set out to interview, do you chose applicants who look, sound and think like you? Do men usually outnumber the women in your pool of possible applicants?

If the answer is yes – and you are not interviewing for male models – then try this: make sure you always put half men and half women into that interview pool. Tell your employees when they are interviewing to do the same. So what if it makes the process a bit longer. You just might find the perfect candidate where you least expected it.