We all want our recruitment practices – advertising, hiring, interviewing, and management – to be fair and equitable. We also want to make sure that our adverts are shown to the right people – but what if our methods of doing so are inherently biased? With Facebook recently being accused of breaking equality laws by allowing discriminatory ad targeting to go unchecked, we wanted to weigh in on the conversation and explain how to avoid these unnecessary mistakes.
First, let’s look at what happened with Facebook.
Although we want to think otherwise, gender bias in the recruitment landscape remains very real – an uncomfortable truth recently highlighted by the campaign group Global Witness and their investigation on Facebook. In an experiment conducted by the group, almost all Facebook users shown job advertisements for mechanics were men, while ads for nursery nurses were targeted almost exclusively to women. While Facebook has noted that their system is intended to showcase adverts its users will show the most interest in, this practice – underpinned by biased algorithms – is not only discriminatory but also unprofitable. By limiting your candidate pool to one gender, you’re almost certainly going to find it more challenging to attract top-quality applications – especially if you’re seen as perpetuating problematic and unfair stereotypes.
So, how can we avoid these pitfalls? At Point 13, we believe in taking a hands-on approach. Rather than administering automated, algorithm-dependent adverts, we’ll personally set up and target your Facebook campaigns with your ideal candidate in mind. There are myriad targeting categories available, including location, demographics, behaviours, interests, relationships, and more – all of which can be combined in infinite ways – so it’s clear that there is very little excuse for biased targeting behaviour.
Unless you specifically request your adverts to be shown to one gender (for instance, if you’re recruiting to an all-girls school or a role that legally requires a particular gender), we’ll set up your campaigns so that they target all genders. What’s more, our tailored approach to social media recruitment will allow you to:
- select relevant geographic locations (country, region, city, and postcode);
- target your ideal candidate: filter by demographics, interests, behaviours, goals, family status, and more;
- reach out to those who would best suit the role;
- create eye-catching ads with carefully constructed copy – all in accordance with your branding;
- reach passive users who may currently be considering a job change but would be open to the opportunity.
In today’s era, there really is no justification for discrimination in the way you advertise your roles. Our personalised, considered approach to social media recruitment ensures that your adverts will reach all the right people, while positioning you as a fair, equitable employer of choice.
We’d love to help you attract the talent you deserve – simply get in touch to discuss your next social media campaign.
