How Can Our Job Listings Reflect Our Values and Build Connections?
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Searching for jobs can be a frustrating and dehumanizing experience for applicants. But it doesn’t need to be. | Image: Pixabay.
Here’s a special blog entry from the BC Alliance’s own Joyce Wan. Joyce administrates our job board, so she sees a lot of job listings every day. Here’s the story of one that stood out.
Having managed the Alliance’s job board for the past 4 years (how time flies!), it’s rare that a job posting submission surprises me these days. But a while ago, I received a submission for Associate Director of Development & Production at re:Naissance Opera, that stood out in a way that I felt compelled to share.
The post began, before any discussion of the responsibilities and qualifications, with a personal message from artistic director Debi Wong. As a female-identifying person of colour who had disqualified herself from applying for many jobs based on the posted description, Debi encouraged candidates not to edit themselves out: “If working for re:Naissance and supporting our mission and present stage of growth excites you, then we want to hear from you regardless of whether or not you fit the job description […] if it feels like the right fit then we will find the best ways to collaborate even if that means changing the job description.”
I emailed Debi to express my appreciation for that short message in her post, how it instantly made the application process feel more welcoming and humanizing. She informed me that the position had received an overwhelming amount of applicants – nearly all female-identifying and non-binary-identifying, and over half people of colour. In her email, excerpted with permission, she wrote: “in my own advocacy for JEDI [justice, equity, diversity and inclusion] within our sector and our organizations, I often come up against the narrative of ‘we want to find the people but there is a pipeline issue’. This has never been the case for us and continues to not be the case. In my experience, it is a leadership and representation issue.”
The response that this job posting received has me thinking about the typical language and structure of job ads, and how they might welcome or dissuade certain applications. By and large, the way that job postings are written is standardized across industries, and we don’t often deviate from that. But as non-profits, arts organizations, and artists, what could we all do to lead the way in decolonizing job postings? Can we inject the soul of what we do even into job ads – to foster genuine connection?
I invite those who submit job postings to consider how we might intentionally word job ads to break down barriers in the hiring process, not only to encourage diverse or non-traditional applicants to apply, but to prove how they will be kept safe and respected throughout the hiring process and once they are brought into the organization, if hired. Please also reach out to me at joyce@allianceforarts.com with any feedback about what the Alliance can do to create a more accessible and equitable job board. Although it may be a place to browse the job “market”, know that your heart and artistry are welcome here too.
