Language transports clichés, also in job advertisements.Facebook

Hand on heart: How do you imagine an engineer?If you think of a man in a caro shirt, you are not alone.How else can it be explained that the American engineer Isis Wenger recently started an avalanche when she posted a photo of herself under the Twitter Hashtag #ilooklikeanengine?Within a very short time, thousands of news and pictures of international professional colleagues appear under the same keyword.Your message: not only white men, but people of every gender and skin color work in technical professions.

Companies underestimate the effect of stereotypes

May stereotypes or prejudices sometimes apply subjectively, they cannot map the actual preferences of different people because they block the view of exceptions.How stubborn they still keep across all social classes shows the sensation around the photo action in mind.

Not only pictures, also language plays a crucial role in stereotypicals.Often a single keyword is sufficient to call a certain picture in mind, create a feeling or to trigger an action.What causes a stir on the Internet can harm companies sustainably.In their efforts to increase the variety and fill more management positions with women, underestimate or overlook companies the effect of stereotypes.For example, job advertisements use images, formulations and words that trace the stereotypical image of the shirt -sleeved manager - and thus also specify.Not only women, but also people who do not come from Germany or differ from other characteristics from the stereotype, it is difficult to identify with the point of being sought.Even a "m/f)” added to the job title does not change this to the job title.This may be sufficient for the provisions of the "General Equal Treatment Act" (AGG)..

"Agent" terms tend to address men

A research team from the Technical University of Munich was able to demonstrate which formulations women better appeal to.The linguistic analysis of job advertisements showed that advertisements for positions with a high proportion of men increasingly tasks, performance and leadership -oriented formulations such as "enforcement" and "ambitious" - so -called agent terms.The male study participants felt addressed, but female hardly.In the tests, they preferred alternatively formulated ad texts that contained more relationship and community -oriented formulations - "municipal" formulations.This included words such as "communicative", "capable of cooperating", "team -building", "diplomatic" and "motivating".Surprising knowledge: The municipal job advertisement also addressed the men and also motivated women to apply more strongly.

These supposed subtleties could make a huge difference for companies.The Munich study comes to the conclusion that the wording of an advertisement already decides whether a woman or a man ultimately occupies a leadership position.Because women did not feel addressed, the conclusion is, they did not report at all."Job advertisements that have many aggical formulations address women less than men on average," says Tanja Hentschel from the TUM research team."Many companies are not aware that they could convince more women from an application to a management position if their advertisements contained municipal terms - just such municipal properties that are actually of central importance for many management positions."

Applicants want their strengths to be estimated

From the psychologist's point of view, the reason for the negative effects of agentic terms is not that women do not trust themselves. „Sie haben vielmehr das Gefühl, mit ihren Fähigkeiten und Stärken nicht zu dem Unternehmen und dem Job zu passen, und bewerben sich deshalb auch nicht", sagt Hentschel.Who wants to work where personal strengths are not valued?

So a language is more effective that dissolves stereotypes and responds to the preferences of your addressee circle.This is time -consuming, because it means to involve characteristics such as gender, age, origin, sexual orientation and religion in the design.So far, schematic solutions have not prevailed. Konstruktionen wie „Student/innen", „Mitarbeiter_innen" oder „ProfessX", die unterschiedliche Geschlechter gleichermaßen ansprechen sollen, gelingt das nicht.They are generally perceived as artificial, cumbersome and not suitable for everyday use.

Kombinierte Strategien, die mit der Nennung beider Geschlechter („Projektleiter und Projektleiterin"), alternativen Wortformen („Mitarbeitende" statt „Mitarbeiter"), Versachlichungen („Kundschaft" statt „Kunde") in der Kombination mit den genannten kommunalen Formulierungen arbeiten, sind dagegen vielversprechend.

All potential candidates should feel addressed

The precise orientation is sometimes tricky, but ultimately promises an optimal search for personnel and selection.She ensures that all potential candidates feel addressed and the best can be selected from them.Companies that are looking for talents and specialists in generations also give the opportunity to use their jobannonce as a business card and to present themselves as an open company that appreciates diversity.And this applies not only to job advertisements, but also to communication with customers, business partners, stakeholders and employees.Because what circles a supposedly small statement can draw, the Twitter haash day of an engineer shows against teasing prejudices.Hans Jablonski is a diversity expert and consultant, Tobias Neuhaus is an editor and PR consultant.This text appeared in the supplement to the Diversity Conference 2015 of the daily mirror.Read more about diversity here.