Job Description of the Week
The first in a series in which we poke gentle fun at job descriptions as a means of uncovering what looks a lot like bias in our industry.
Today’s job description came across a friend’s desk. It’s for a head of finance and strategy via a recruiting firm called Michael Page. After the usual blurb about the unique start-up culture and incredible perks (does anyone apply for the incredible perks these days?), it sternly and a bit condescendingly advises the following:
“My client and I cannot stress this enough: only highly motivated and talented individuals need apply. Please consider other opportunities if you have a history of temping, consulting work, or gaps in your resume.”
So. Let’s break that down a bit more. They are seeking an individual who has really rocked every single step in his career ladder, with nary a rung missed. Climbing a ladder can be tough, especially in heels — who hasn’t missed a rung or two? This company wants straight upward projection, as detailed in this requirement: “Have 8–15 years of relevant experience, with a smooth upward trajectory in your resume.” Cool, I get it. They want someone who makes his career a priority, and would never allow any other priority to get in the way. Like, for instance, having a kid (or God forbid, two). Or consulting for flexibility while taking on a caregiving role. Or facing a serious illness (your own or a loved one’s) that required a leave of absence.
These life events, especially caregiving, commonly fall upon women more than men — which means this job description may be unintentionally biased. Even if that weren’t the case, this company is inviting all those individuals that bravely stepped up to the plate and took on challenges to “look elsewhere”. Kinda shortsighted, don’t you think? Especially in the technology start-up environment, where big risk can lead to big reward — but also to failure, more often than not. If someone is ambitious enough to take a chance on an early stage startup, but funding dries up — that person better have their next career rung within sights lest they have that dreaded gap in their resume. Or perhaps this company doesn’t want people who take risks of any kind. That might make sense for a finance job, but I doubt that’s what they intended.
Okay, maybe I’m taking this a little personally, which I shouldn’t, as this isn’t a job for me — I’m no finance head. However, it does seem to me that this type of request is a way of signaling that they are seeking a driven (probably male) employee who has always put his career first, will not consider doing otherwise, and has never taken a gamble that didn’t pay off.
Maybe that’s okay — but I wonder. How good can that corporate culture be when the company only wants talented and motivated candidates — and defines them as those who don’t have gaps in their resume or a history of consulting? They’re demanding that a candidate’s past circumstances fit a homogeneous and typically male archetype. This is a pretty clear indication of the company culture.
Job descriptions are marketing collateral. This one is marketing a product that smells a bit funny to me.
Please think carefully when putting out job descriptions — are you signaling a certain preference that you should examine a bit more carefully? Diversity of all kinds (of experience, of backgrounds, of priorities) is still diversity. And a more diverse workforce leads to better outcomes.
