They have been a pain in the ass and fascinating at the same time. A pain since they require care and attention. If you try to shortcut any part of the process and you can see the repercussions fairly quickly. Fascinating for the same reason, very rarely do we run processes where the timelines are short enough to see outcomes so quickly. In the non-profit and government sectors it is also connected to personal networks in the sense we often rely upon people we know to help share the job postings and refer candidates or encourage people to apply.
Job descriptions are a staple of a hiring process. The description is a chance for the organization to get clear about what they are looking for, what the job details, the process for applying, etc. When focused on equity and inclusion, this document says a lot about the organization. Our friend Vu who blogs at NonprofitAF , has been on a campaign to have all job descriptions disclose a salary range. Salary ranges are important for transparency and benefit people of color when they negotiate a salary.
There is very little defendable reasoning for not listing a salary range. Carrie, a frequent guest blogger on Fakequity, has schooled me on the ways ableism shows up in job descriptions.
Samples of ableist phrases that show up in job descriptions include:. For many of these requirements, there are reasonable accommodations. Are you hiring someone to move lunches or are you hiring an administrative assistant to organize a board meeting? Providing lunches is part of the job, but there are many ways to accomplish that part of the job. Requiring a drivers license is another ableist and classist requirement. Unless the job they are being hired for is a driver, such as a bus or van driver, the job can probably be accomplished without them needing to drive as a core function.
This is low hanging fruits for ways to be more inclusive. As a human resources person once told me, your job description should be as bias free as possible. These processes was steeped in protocol. I appreciated some of the guardrails on the process, since this was for a position where everyone wanted a piece of the decision making and it could have stretched on forever.
