Coded Language That Repels Male Job Applicants

It’s not exactly a preference for female job applicants, but certain words in job postings are perceived as indicating a job, or job situation, that a majority of male job-seekers find off-putting. However, in some respects the phenomenon doesn’t work in reverse. It’s all quite complicated, but plausible and not really that controversial. as reported in this New York Times article. One takeaway is that if employers think this through, they are likely to change some of the wording in their postings for the most self-interested of reasons: According to Textio, a company that specializes in analyzing the results of wording in various scenarios, posts that contain gender-neutral language fill jobs on average days 14 faster than posts with gender bias, and they attract a more diverse mix of people.