rockstars, wizards, ninjas, gurus and geniuses
Titles in job descriptions that are coded to attract men.
These terms often appear in job descriptions for technical roles. E.g., "we are looking for a rockstar developer" or "apply if you are a coding ninja".
Diversity advocates have called out these "weird titles" as coded to attract white men. Studies have shown that women, underrepresented minorities, and people over 40 are less likely to apply for a job that uses these terms. The AI startup Textio even has a product that suggests ways to make the language in job descriptions more inclusive.
Some tech companies have recently moved to rewrite their job descriptions with more gender-neutral language, but the problem still persists. For example, Google refers to the participants in their internal machine learning training program as "machine learning ninjas".
Sources
- Your Weird Job Titles Are Making You Miss The Best Candidates, Fast Company
- Evidence That Gendered Wording in Job Advertisements Exists and Sustains Gender Inequality, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
- Simple Ways to Take Gender Bias out of your Jobs, Harvard Business School
