5 Minute Read

Brushing Up On Neurological Science in the Recruiting Business

You probably didn’t know there is a science to recruiting new members onto a team, did you? In fact, neuroscience proves recruiters need to reach out and collaborate with women differently than they would with men. Women are more emotionally involved in conversations and have a higher success rate with multi-tasking. This is a result of the difference in neurological structure in men and women. Were you aware of the significant differences and similarities men and women have and how recruiters should cater to those needs?

Communication is not a one-way street and certainly not one-dimensional. In order to fully reach all audiences, employers must be mindful of the ways they are communicating to their teams. There are a few tricks to keep in the back of your pocket when considering building a stronger, more communicatively effective team.

Recruiting Men v. Women

Not only is the male and female neurological build different, but the way men and women are found online differs, too. Searching for males and females on the same platforms can be effective, but if you’re looking for a male candidate, you’ll have better luck searching on LinkedIn with 67% of their user base being males.

For female candidates, recruiters have found the most success on Facebook with 58% of Facebook users being females. Twitter is the most balanced social medium when it comes to male and female users.

Bashful or Professional?

Our non-verbal communication is 60-75% more effective than verbal communication. Only 7% of our verbal communication is actually conveyed during an interview compared to the non-verbal cues. Livestrong provided a short decoding of nonverbal cues men and women use differently in their daily communication styles:

    • Proximity: Women tend to be more comfortable with standing or sitting close to the person they are speaking with while men find it threatening or aggressive
    • Eye contact: Women are more likely to hold consistent eye contact and use facial expressions to add dramatic effect or show importance to what they are communicating to the receiver of the information
    • Touch: Men are more likely to associate physical touch with sexual intent while women use touch as a form of communicating sympathy

Proximity, eye contact/facial expressions and physical touch are the main elements to read into when recruiting new hires as they can pick up messages you won’t hear in the conversation.

Are We On the Same Page?

It’s simple for internal employees of a company to work jargon and buzzwords into their daily, casual conversations since they are used to speaking that way, but is this the best way to detect a rightful candidate? The answer is, probably not. 33% of recruiters will know within 90 seconds of a job interview if the candidate is a right fit — deciding factors these recruiters are looking for are: steady eye contact (67%), choice wardrobe (55%) and keen knowledge on the company.

Recruiters want their candidates to be on the same page as the company for whom they’re recruiting for, they also want to hire employees that know what they’re talking about rather just regurgitating what they found among their research five minutes before the interview.

To avoid this, for both men and women, recruiters should reduce the use of jargon and buzzwords with candidates until they are being onboarded as new employees.

 

While the saying “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus” is a favorite riddle from the playground days, don’t let it stand true when recruiting and onboarding new hires. Apply basic needs of communication to whomever you are attempting to onboard. This will create a more comfortable, understanding interview and onboarding process for everyone.