The fact that more women are being appointed to leadership positions in companies and increasing the female workforce representation is not an accidental trend. It’s part of a Global Acceleration plan adopted at the UN-sponsored Generation Equality Forum hosted in Paris, in 2021.

According to a study in 2021, 47% of the labour force in the USA were women. They are making slow but steady progress in creating a gender-balanced environment in the workplace. However, the numbers are much lower when one looks at female representation in US big tech companies, with women taking up fewer than 1 in 4 tech roles.

Recruitment specialists, who are an essential part of the hiring process for many companies, play a crucial role in supporting women in tech. At E-Frontiers, a recruitment agency sourcing candidates across Ireland, UK, USA and Spain, we strive to support the advancement of women in key positions, particularly leadership appointments. This support includes initiatives such as applying gender-neutral language in candidate information, emphasising capabilities and not just experience, and allowing time for passive candidates to consider.

Here are some of the strategies that we have developed and applied to support the advancement of women in tech.

1. Appointing women to important positions

The E-Frontiers team is always looking for potential candidates for jobs, this very much includes the passive candidate. We encourage women applicants to grow out of their limits by challenging themselves at higher or new positions. They are booked for a call or meeting to discuss their background and skills and will receive professional advice from our recruitment specialists to enhance their career path. Our consultants truly become their allies in finding and connecting women in tech to exciting opportunities.

2. Supporting women applicants through the hiring process

Our recruitment specialists will support the candidates by working with them on acknowledging their achievements, polishing their portfolio and practicing skills that will serve to represent themselves in the best way possible. Besides helping our candidates prepare the responses and necessary skills for interviews, our consultants also help women applicants emphasise and own their successes in tech and build confidence in order to highlight their strengths.

The visibility of women in the labour force in general or in a company is important not only for fairness, but also because it contributes to good decision-making, innovation, better organisational results, and more effectively run institutions.

3. Being aware of the bias during the hiring process

When preparing panel members beforehand, and while debriefing on candidates’ performance afterward, we encourage interview panels to adopt a behavioural approach of a focus on capability, and not just experience. Our recruitment specialists focus on the link between the candidates’ strengths and the requirements of the role.  This moves the focus to the candidates’capacity.  We can also expand on a candidate’s strengths if they have been reluctant to highlight them in an interview.

Finally, we can explain some of the unintended biases that occur in the selection and thus help to focus the discussion on the key attributes of the job and away from the historical characteristics of past incumbents. We encourage conversations with clients to review internal policies and processes and foster a diverse and inclusive organisational culture.

We believe that recruitment agencies like E-Frontiers have an important part to play to create a more level playing field for women in tech by providing critical support and guidance throughout the hiring process.

Are you a woman looking for a job in tech?

Do you know a woman that needs to be supported to develop her career in tech?

Are you looking for a partner to represent your brand in the market and ensure a diversity of candidate options?

Don’t hesitate to contact our recruitment specialists for their support.