Guide · Hiring & inclusion
5 tips on writing inclusive job ads
Practical tips for job adverts that attract a wider range of candidates, from dropping unnecessary requirements to advertising the salary.
Advertising can either attract the right talent, or put them off completely.
Here are five tips for making your job adverts inclusive. For the wider hiring process, see Inclusive hiring.
Don’t ask for unnecessary requirements
Are you asking for the world hoping to find that ‘unicorn’ candidate (yep, we hear that term a lot). Well… don’t! Focus on what is important to the role and the core skills needed to be successful.
Advertise the salary
Be transparent with applicants. If you set a salary bracket for the role and base this on experience, people won’t feel like they are being ‘low balled’ based on gender or race. Trust me, it still happens!
Be open to candidates from outside the sector
Think about what is easy to teach. Sector being one of those! I have personally recruited across multiple sectors in the past, having recruitment as my core skill set. The same applies! Yes, sector experience gives an advantage in some cases, but if it’s teachable, open this up to reach a wider audience.
Use anonymous recruitment
Whilst we don’t push on blinding CVs (as it doesn’t really help with unlearning unconscious bias), it can be a positive thing when you’re not in full control of the recruitment process and there are other teams/stakeholders involved.
Be careful with language
There are a lot of platforms that can help you check the language used in job ads or copy. What terms are more masculine, impersonal, and so on. We use Diversely.io but here are some others: Gender Decoder (katmatfield.com), Gender Decoder (yourdandi.co.uk) and Check my job (eploy.co.uk).
Beyond the advert
It’s important to remember that this doesn’t just apply to the adverts you post but can also apply to content/copy you put out to your network, including website copy.
Are you publishing content that lines up with your vision and the support you offer both internally and externally? It’s important to share what you do, not only so it can help others, but so people can see what’s important to a company before they apply.
With more and more candidates putting DE&I at the top of their list when it comes to what’s important when looking for a new role, why wouldn’t you?
Further reading: Balance’s guide to inclusive job advertising.
