招聘启事的秘密

招聘启事上的用语将会影响应征者的性别？经济学家和语言学家最近的研究让这个惊人的事实浮出水面。当企业拟定招聘广告时，一些不经意的用词倾向将决定男性和女性愿意应征这个职位的比例。

测试中可能遇到的词汇和知识：

prosaic平凡的，乏味的；散文体的[prə(ʊ)'zeɪɪk]

inadvertently非故意地，无心地[,ɪnəd'vɜːt(ə)ntlɪ]

c-suite最高管理层

randomise使随机化['rændəmaiz]

assertive肯定的；独断的；坚定而自信的[ə'sɜːtɪv]

dearth缺乏；饥馑；粮食不足[dɜːθ]

notoriou声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的[nə(ʊ)'tɔːrɪəs]

referral参照；提及；被推举的人；转诊病人[rɪ'fɜːr(ə)l]

linguistics语言学 [lɪŋ'gwɪstɪks]

conundrum难题；谜语[kə'nʌndrəm]

Wanted — a way with words in recruitment ads（699 words）

By Jane Wild

Type “ninja” into popular job search sites and the term is likely to produce pages of listings that are nothing to do with Japanese martial art, referring instead to more prosaic roles such as manager, programmer and strategist. Like “rock star”, a term that is similarly common in job postings, “ninja” is a description that experts say discourages women from applying.

How employers describe a vacant role matters, because they can inadvertently deprive their company of talented workers at all levels. In the US, 75 per cent of big employers list diversity as a priority, yet women are consistently under-represented, from entry level to C-suite, according to a report by McKinsey, the management consultancy, and Lean In, which was set up to help women with their careers.

Iris Bohnet, a behavioural economist at Harvard University and author of What Works: Gender Equality by Design, is working on experiments that explore how job adverts can be designed to attract interest from both sexes. Using randomised control trials examining government and private sector job advertisements, Professor Bohnet will measure numbers of men and women applying in relation to the use of words that tend to appeal to different genders.

“Words such as ‘leader’, ‘assertive’, and ‘competitive’ are adjectives coded in our heads as typically male,” she says, in contrast to words seen as “typically female, such as ‘co-operative’, and ‘compassionate’.” She adds: “Based on a limited number of studies we know women are less likely to apply when there are more male-coded words … we have to do more with field experiments and get employers to try different strategies.”

The area has also attracted the attention of entrepreneurs, who want to apply science to the job ads board.

Kieran Snyder, an expert in linguistics, founded Textio, which provides software analysis of recruitment ads. Its database references millions of previous recruitment ads, including details of who was appointed to the role so the software can make suggestions on how HR managers can phrase descriptions to attract more candidates, including using more gender-neutral language.

Textio has worked with large companies including Credit Suisse, Vodafone and Swiss Re, Ms Snyder says. She claims that using the software will result in a 17 per cent faster time to hire a candidate, with 12 per cent more candidates from under-represented groups.

“People's intuition about what constitutes bias is not very good. The important component to Textio is the real world,” she says, referring to its database of documents.

Tweaking the words used to describe roles is only part of ensuring a balanced slate of candidates. Where companies hunt for recruits is equally important.

“Employers assume if they post the ad on LinkedIn that is fair. But that's not the case,” says Joelle Emerson of Paradigm, a diversity consultancy that has worked with companies, including in the technology sector where the dearth of women is notorious. “The way you target your job search affects who applies.” She advises seeking out places or events, such as conferences, that are attractive to groups of people who are under-represented in the company, in order to bring employers into contact with a fresh pool of candidates.

Think twice too before turning to informal networks of existing staff. “Our own networks can be homogenous,” she cautions. “Most referrals don't represent diversity.” The solution can be as simple as reminding contacts that you want to hire a diverse workforce when prompting them to ask around their own networks.

Once potential candidates are found, employers should ensure that communication continues to be unbiased, which includes making sure their workplace looks representative.

Pictures on the corporate website might be unthinkingly selected by website designers, but there is a conundrum here: in industries, such as engineering, where most workers are men, the pictures might accurately reflect the lack of women, but images of women are necessary to encourage them to apply, research shows.

Ms Emerson says one large organisation she recently worked with had a careers website where more than 70 per cent of the images were of white men, and the women tended to be carrying out administrative roles. Even icons were masculine: a symbol for the company gym was a man's muscled arm.

1.What does Iris Bohnet's experiment mainly about?

A.How to make job advertisements attractive to both men and women

B.What kind of jobs are more suitable for females

C.How female executives work

D.Why some jobs are more attractive to men than women

答案(1)

2.Which word we will probably link it with woman?

A.Leader

B.Assertive

C.Co-operative

D.Competitive

答案(2)

3.How much faster the software will make if it is used during hiring?

A.12%

B.13%

C.15%

D.17%

答案(3)

4.What is another thing that will affect job seekers?

A.Pictures on the company website

B.Company images

C.public activities

D.website designing style

答案(4)

(1)答案：A.How to make job advertisements attractive to both men and women

解释：Iris Bohnet正在进行的实验是研究招聘广告的用语会如何影响求职者的性别，也就是不同的词语的选用可能会吸引不同性别的求职者。

(2)答案：C.Co-operative

解释：当职位描述中出现“合作”“富有同情心”等词语时，人们常常会联想到女性的形象，而与此相反“领导力”“有进取心”等词语则会让人想到男性。

(3)答案：A.12%

解释：根据Ms Snyder，如果企业在招聘时使用他们研发的这一款分析软件，将会把招聘效率提高12%。

(4)答案：A.Pictures on the company website

解释：一个企业网站图片的选择也可能会影响求职者的意愿，如果一个企业网站上有大量白人男性的图片，那么很可能女性求职者就不会选择这家企业。