Things are changing fast in the job market. And having a diverse team is super important nowadays. Today, we’re not just talking about hiring. We’re also talking about creating a workplace where everyone feels included and valued.

So, we’re on a mission to discover some awesome tools that can make your hiring process better and more inclusive. Imagine finding the perfect fit for your team while embracing different talents as well as perspectives. That’s what we’re all about!

Get ready to explore the coolest tools that can help your business grow.

Excited? We sure are!

Here are 5 of the best tools to write more inclusive job descriptions to attract a more diverse team.

1. Text Analyzer by Ongig

Ongig’s Text Analyzer software takes out bias and makes ad copy better. When you’re writing job descriptions, best practices to make them diverse include replacing gender-coded words and other types of bias (e.g., race, age, disability, etc.)

So, we created Text Analyzer after rewriting thousands of job descriptions for some of the largest brands in the world. Ongig’s software has improved branding and engagement (video, pictures, maps, chat, etc.) for job descriptions since 2011.

Text Analyzer has a super-easy interface that acts as a bias decoder. Some have even called it:

“a diversity job ad proofing tool.”

How Text Analyzer works

First, you get a dashboard of Total Score and Gender Bias Scores. This is filterable by team, location, recruiter, and hiring manager. So, you even see how you compare to your top competitors. Then, you dive into each piece of job description language with easy recommendations on how to easily improve your scores.

Text Analyzer’s early focus in 2017 was being a gender bias tool. So, the main focus was to flag gender coding in job descriptions:

gender_job_description_tool___Ongig

But we quickly found that employers wanted to write more inclusive job descriptions. And that goes far beyond gender and “manly terms”. To have diverse friendly job descriptions, you also need to get rid of bias re:

  • race
  • country of birth
  • age
  • disability
  • sexual preference
  • neurodiversity
  • former felons
  • veterans

What is gender coding? 

“Gender Coding are the signals that individuals manifest externally and that indicate their sexuality or relative masculinity or femininity.”

source: Springer Link

Fast forward to today: Here’s a more recent Text Analyzer screenshot showing an example of the phrase “Brown Bag sessions”. The image also show that might offend people of color:

job_description_bias_tool___Ongig

At Ongig, we want to ensure that we are setting you up for success. So, we go out into the field to speak with employers we speak with who’ve compared Ongig vs. Textio. And they tell us that Ongig goes much deeper as a job description bias tool. Whereas Textio focuses more of its features on augmented writing. There are hundreds of terms on the software’s biased words list with inclusive replacements. So, we don’t just tell you what’s wrong and leave it at that. We also give you what you need to make it better right away.

Beyond bias, Text Analyzer makes your content more readable. This includes proper length of sentences, paragraphs, and the entire job description. Check out below to see how the tool flags an unnecessarily complex phrase. You will also notice the punchier suggestion provided to swap right in:

job_description_writing_tool_complex_words___Ongig

Text Analyzer also scans your job descriptions using AI to find missing sections candidates care about. These include, for example, salary, benefits, mission statement, diversity statement, and more. So, here’s a snapshot of the “Section Finder” in action:

inclusive_job_descriptions_tool___Ongig

2. Textio

Another such tool is Textio (aka “text io”). It’s an online writing platform made by job posting outcomes from recent job openings. These outcomes allow Textio to analyze your job description language and provide a score of how it stacks up in terms of diversity, neutrality, and overall success. Feedback is given in the way of color-coded words with suggestions for improvement.

Textio also uses gender writing analysis to flag and offer replacements for “manly terms”. You can see the scale in the bottom right below showing “masculine tone”:

Note: Here’s a list of 7 Textio Competitors

3. Gender Decoder

Gender Decoder is a simple (and free) job description tool for gender writing analysis. It was created by Kat Matfield based on a study that looked at the psychology of how different words attracted males and females to certain jobs (aka gender coding in JDs). The tool compares your text to feminine and masculine word listings created from the study using a list of gender words.

For small businesses, Gender Decoder is a good free alternative to Textio and Ongig if you care just about flagging gender-biased words. Here’s an example of its gender checker results:

Ongig and Gender Decoder are Textio alternatives

4. Clovers

Another alternative is Clovers (formerly Talvista). Clovers is an online platform created to guide hiring
teams through a more efficient and more inclusive hiring process. Its interface follows a step-by-step progression. And it’s also very user-friendly.

In particular, the integrated job description builder lets you type new or paste existing job description content into predetermined sections. The tool also reviews text for word choice, and positive or negative language. In addition, it has a gender decoder feature, giving alternative options to the user. We haven’t heard anything about how this product compares to Textio or Ongig. But, you notice below the tool uses text gender analysis by flagging feminine words in green and masculine words in red (similar to the other tools).

Here’s a screenshot of Clovers’ job description optimizer in action:

talvista_genderchecker_for_job_ads

5. The Polite Type

A top goal for heads of recruiting is diversity and inclusion. So, job description software is an easy place to start. The PolIte Type is not exactly made for JDs, but it’s good at “disarming bullies one word at a time.” The Polite Type is a free open source tool that auto-rewrites hurtful words (e.g., “kike” or “negro”) and replaces them with more inclusive words (e.g., “jewish person” or “Black person”). This software is not a gender analyzer, but more focuses on other types of bias and words used in bullying.

Here’s another example of the tool in action:

diversity and inclusion job description

The terms for this tool are co-created with high-school-aged teenagers and kids from diverse backgrounds in Finland. And this is also done in partnership with The Children and Youth Foundation.

I hope the above tools for writing more inclusive job descriptions are helpful to you! For more tips on writing job descriptions, check out How to Write a Job Description — Best Practices & Examples.

Why I wrote this?

Ongig is on a mission to help you create the most attractive, engaging, and effective job descriptions in your industry (if not the world!). Ongig’s Text Analyzer software transforms job descriptions to free you up your recruiters and hiring managers.  And if you don’t want to rewrite your job descriptions yourself, one alternative for you is to hand the task over to Ongig’s pro copywriting. And we will get them done for you. Click the demo request button above if you’d like to learn more about Text Analyzer.

by in Writing Job Descriptions