When you’re making hiring decisions, all you really want is the best person for the job. You don’t really care about race or gender; you want someone who will consistently do good work. But there may be a reason all of your best candidates “happen” to be male—and dozens more reasons why you should take a second look before signing the employment contract.
Is Hiring Women Good for Your Business? The Three Biggest Benefits of Female Employees
- Leaders in tech. While software engineers are predominantly male, twenty percent of computer science majors are women—and large tech companies are specifically seeking them out. Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Intel all compete to hire female engineers and develop programs to recruit and retain them.
- Sales and marketing benefits. Women make over 80 percent of all buying decisions, so if your sales and marketing team doesn’t have any women, you’re bound to lose profits. All CEOs require a strong team of advisors, and a diverse set of opinions will allow you to build the best company strategy.
- Diversity rules. No matter what business you’re in, a diverse team will always make better decisions. A wide range of demographics provides a keener insight into where you’re going wrong, but also gives you a heads-up into the newest opportunities where your company can grow.
Finding the Right Candidate Takes Work, But It’s Worth It
So why aren’t the ranks of all D.C. companies filled with female employees? For one reason, it takes more legwork to find them. Plenty of qualified female candidates are overlooked simply because males are more likely to hire other males, so companies may have to specifically ask recruiters to look for diverse candidates.
Another reason the best candidates are overlooked is “on paper” disqualifications. Many potential employees are shut out before the interview stage due to lack of specifications that matter little to job performance. Narrowing the requirements for hirees may seem like a way to filter candidates quickly, but that’s not necessarily a good thing—especially since many hard-working candidates need only a small amount of training. And if they get that training from you, they are tailor-made for your company.
