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16 Tips for Writing Inclusive Job Postings

Posted on April 7, 2025March 31, 2025 by Angie Weinberger

21 Verses to Find Your Tact as an Inclusive Leader

Job postings are crucial in attracting diverse talent, but subtle discriminatory language can inadvertently exclude certain groups. In Switzerland, where diversity is supposedly valued, discriminatory language must be recognized and eliminated from job advertisements. Creating inclusive job postings in Switzerland fosters diversity and attracts many talents. Organizations can contribute to a more equitable and welcoming job market by carefully crafting language and eliminating unintentional biases.

Why do we need to get better at writing inclusive job postings?

Declining Birth Rates and War for Talent: Swiss HR Managers, Talent Acquisition specialists and Global Mobility Managers discuss the constant issue of the declining birth rates and what it means for the labor market with a lack of qualified talent in many areas of Switzerland. Still, companies seem very specific about the profiles they would like to attract and highly qualified Gen X and other professionals have a challenging time finding a job in 2025.
Diverse Talent Pool: Inclusive language attracts candidates from various backgrounds, promoting a diverse and dynamic workforce. We need more talent, and at the same time, we hold back diverse talent from applying to our jobs because we use exclusive language and portray an image that stops great talent from applying. Women do not want to apply for roles when the profiles suggest that they won’t meet 100% of the criteria. At the same time, companies have committed to hire more women into the boards. There’s a disconnect between diversity ambition and actual candidate pipeline.

Legal Compliance: Discriminatory language can have legal consequences. In Switzerland, adhering to anti-discrimination laws is essential to maintaining a fair hiring process. Still, research by ETH confirms that there is widespread discrimination not only against hiring from abroad but also towards second-generation immigrants in Switzerland. While discrimination is often subconscious, there is also open discrimination based on language requirements and certification requirements. Often, you might not need all those certifications to be successful in the role. However, they are used to filter candidates who are not wanted.

Corporate Reputation: Job postings reflect the company’s values. Inclusivity enhances the organization’s reputation and fosters a positive employer brand. If you would like to attract more diverse candidates, you need to understand inclusion better and also work towards better inclusion in your onboarding process. It is necessary that you request and implement quotas for diverse talent on the short-list.

Innovation and Creativity: Diverse teams bring varied perspectives, fostering innovation and creativity within the workplace.
Employee Morale: Inclusive language signals that the company values all employees, boosting morale and creating a positive work environment.

Our Tips for Writing Better Postings

Mention Host Location: On LinkedIn and in the post, mention the location and say if you are open to candidates from outside your territory. Also, if you are open to hiring fully remote workers for a position, please mention this.

Mention Workation and Work-from-Anywhere Policy: If you allow your employees to work from anywhere or use their home office in another country for a certain period during the calendar year, mention this in your job posting.

Use Gender-Neutral Language: To ensure inclusivity, use gender-neutral titles and pronouns. Follow the UN Guidelines and our templates provided in “The Global Rockstar Album.”

https://www.un.org/en/gender-inclusive-language/guidelines.shtml

https://www.angieweinberger.ch/the-global-rockstar-album/

Focus on Skills and Qualifications: Emphasize the skills and qualifications necessary for the job, avoiding unnecessary criteria that may exclude certain groups.

Explain the necessity of language proficiency and add the European language certificate framework roster. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_European_Language_Certificates

Cultural Sensitivity: Be aware of cultural biases and use language welcoming to candidates from various cultural backgrounds. Learn about white supremacy and privilege to reduce prejudice and stereotypes in your recruiting process.

Disability-Inclusive Language: Frame job requirements around skills, allowing individuals with disabilities to showcase their abilities.

Avoid Age-Related Language: Avoid terms that may imply age preferences. Instead, focus on the skills and experience required.

Incorporate Diversity Statements: Include a diversity statement highlighting the company’s commitment to an inclusive workplace. Encourage women and rainbow talent to apply even if they do not meet the full criteria of the job posting.

Seek Input from Diverse Teams: To ensure inclusivity, consult with employees from diverse backgrounds when crafting job postings.

Regularly Review and Update: Review and update job postings to align with evolving diversity and inclusion best practices.

Change Your Imagery: What do you convey with your recruiting website’s imagery, look, and feel? Ask users of different generations and backgrounds to give feedback on what kind of “vibe” they get from your recruiting website and all your social media channels.

Be approachable as a Recruiter: Ask your recruiters to post roles and be approachable for questions. Ask them to accept candidates’ connection requests and have a qualitative database for direct feedback on your candidate experience. There is so much you could learn from listening to diverse candidates.

Mention a salary range: With international candidates it is helpful that you give them clarity on how you see this role in the salary range and title structure. For fairness reasons and expectation management, I highly recommend adding a salary range to every role, especially as titles can be very misleading.

Build a Candidate Pipeline and Talent Pool: Many companies in Switzerland still hire as if we were in the 1980’s. The post a profile and select candidates on this basis. In a candidate experience driven job market it is important that you open up to a more diverse candidate pool and one of the simplest ways to do this is by building a candidate pipeline and talent pool where companies interested in your brand can apply at any time.

Stop using job profiles that you would use internally, but write an abridged version: If your job advert is more that an A4 Page there is is probably too much detail and expectation in the profile. It is better to have an abridged version where you focus on the main role, the main responsibilities and only the key and critical skills.

By adopting these practices, organizations in Switzerland can create job postings that comply with legal requirements and foster a welcoming and inclusive workplace culture. For expert guidance on creating inclusive job postings and fostering a diverse workplace, contact us at Global People Transitions.