I hope this isn’t contentious because it certainly isn’t designed to be, but I didn’t write a post saying, “Happy International Women’s Day”. Why? Because me doing so doesn’t help anyone in practical terms.
Of course, we should celebrate the achievements of the amazing women spearheading the technology industry and beyond (including in half of my team), not least in STEM week where my plethora of nieces are hopefully giving the boys a run for their money, and, of course, we should highlight the inequality that has gone before and that continues, because as a society we should do better, we should indeed be better. But me writing the word ‘happy’ followed by a hashtag and three letters from my position of privilege is perhaps patronising and definitely not of value to anyone.
So no, instead I am going to share five simple things that I think all under-represented candidates fall into the trap of not doing enough of, in the hope that they help. For me this is indeed most commonly women, and something we encounter almost daily, but in a market as competitive as this, it is now about marginal gains for everyone.
1 – Sell yourself. Managed a team? How many. Held a budget? How big. Saved money? How much. Improved performance? How do you know. What awards did you receive, what recognition did you get, which stakeholders did you work with and just how important and challenging were they? Let’s be honest, how difficult is (or was) your job and just how good at it are you? Think about your past roles and consider how someone else would summarise your delivery, the outcomes, the achievements. Be proud of what you have achieved, there’s no shame in it, you know you’re good at your job and you know you can do this one otherwise you wouldn’t have applied, but whoever you are, you owe it to yourself to give the best account of your career and skills. Ask yourself this, “how do I walk away from this interview or process knowing that I’ve given the best possible account of myself?”. I once asked a female candidate “what would a man say?” as a deliberate and perhaps slightly frustrated provocation when we were discussing her preparation for an interview. Once she had stopped being initially furious with me, she started describing her skills and experience in the manner that they deserved. Skills and experience that secured her a huge Director role that she utterly deserved and one that I knew she could get before I asked the question. Sorry not sorry.
2 – Use the recruiter. Differentiate yourself by contacting the recruiter handling the role to discuss your suitability. You would be amazed as to how few candidates do this. I can immediately give you two examples of candidates that we have placed who, on paper, should never have got the job, but in the reality uncovered by an actual conversation, were incredible. And guess what, they were both women. Ask the recruiter what their client is looking for, what did the in person brief talk about, what are the non-negotiables and nice to haves, and then structure your application accordingly.
3 – Use the pack. Find the person specification and use both this and the advert to tailor your CV. Mirror the bullet points and language that the customer is using into your documents, make it bespoke. Highlight the relevant skills and experiences, you can bullet them and even put them in bold but just make it so easy to spot the relevance that anyone could see the match, especially if they’re not a specialist recruiter in your space.
4 – Keep your profile up to date. Diarise 30 minutes once per month to update your CV, work on your LinkedIn, share some content, and summarise your achievements. Think about the challenges that you overcame this month, the stakeholders you engaged with, the money you spent or saved, the team you managed and the customers that they or you engaged with. Whilst we are on the subject, yes. LinkedIn matters, yes. we look at it and no, please don’t put looking for work on your picture because yes, it does make you look desperate. Our search functionality also relies on the algorithm that finds the key words that you have on your profile, so state them explicitly and repeatedly so that we can find you. LinkedIn is your brand, a window into your career and personality and it’s a vital tool for recruiters like us. Think of it as your digital CV and use it as a way to market yourself as a brilliant proposition to prospective employers. Please now re-read point 1…
5 – Chance your arm. Do you like the look of the role? Then go for it. I’m not going to start stating the statistics around men and women applying for roles, but I’d chance my own arm that they’re true. Imposter syndrome is a huge barrier for so many people and something we have to consistently battle against. Very few things are as frustrating as knowing that a candidate is a brilliant fit for the role but knowing that they don’t agree with you. Speak to the recruiter, analyse the fit against the essential criteria and use an objective basis for considering whether to apply. If you’ve got that far then the role was obviously interesting to you, so don’t hold back, go for it. And if you don’t get the job…do you know what? It doesn’t matter. Over the years I have seen so many people fail to get a role only to secure something perfect further down the line. I’m not suggesting that you leave it entirely to fate, in fact this post is hoping to support doing exactly the opposite, but the right role will come. Have faith. At the end of an unsuccessful process make sure you push for feedback, improve the CV, ask someone you know who is brilliant for some coaching and make sure you know where you need it, because every process should either be a success, or a learning exercise, and nothing else.
Hopefully some of that is useful. I know it doesn’t solve the wider systemic problem, but perhaps if we can get to the point where everyone is giving the best representation of themselves possible, then we can start confidently choosing the right candidate based on capability. Maybe then, hopefully, we will see things and the workplace, start to change.
Aside from that, let’s keep talking about the problem and welcoming a solution on an equally inclusive basis. We know that diverse teams means more innovation, better working environments, better delivery, better customer centricity – and that should ultimately be what all organisations want.
Personally, I think the continued and additional communication of this fact will help to solve the problem. Eradicating bias and discrimination in all of its forms, including the potentially patronising notion of positive selection, will be supported by selling the benefits of doing so both ethically and operationally. And that might mean bringing more heavily represented groups and demographics into the fold to do so, because speaking from experience and having attended lots of events, being an ambassador can feel like a lonely place at times. Whilst the fact that both the problem itself and the groups advocating for change exist isn’t a secret, the virtues of a different and better path can often seem to be discussed behind closed doors. Perhaps it’s not just about preaching to the choir, or even to the congregation, perhaps it’s about appealing to the ones who didn’t turn up to church at all.
I just hope for my nieces that by the time they enter the job market things are indeed better, and for my younger son, that he knows nothing other than a diverse and inclusive workplace.
Rob Johnson
Managing Partner – Global Resourcing: Talent Consulting, Executive Search & EDI champion (security cleared)