Does gender play a role in choosing better internal communicators?

 Happy New Year to all my readers and friends!

 

I was amused by a strange call today from a consultant. The consultant hired by a global multinational bank to select an internal communication professional was looking for a ‘male’ candidate and asked me if I was interested!

 

What took me even more by surprise was the inability of the consultant to provide a rational reason why a man was preferred over a woman apart from a very weak ‘the client wants it so’.

 

When I tried to probe further the consultant wasn’t able to defend the case and asked me to help her find a suitable candidate if I was not keen!

 

This episode highlights three clear gaps in India when it comes to identifying potential candidates for such a critical role within an organization.

 

One, the understanding of the domain and what internal communicators are capable of.

 

The second – a more serious issue of following a rigid methodology for selecting suitable candidates for such roles.  The current practice is to randomly call those who have uploaded their profiles on job sites or seek candidates via referrals. It reflects poorly of the state of recruitment marketing by firms looking for internal communication professionals.

 

The third – the most offending – a misconception that men can do a better job in this role than women.

 

Recruitment agencies should work as consultants in guiding organizations on potential skills sets for such roles, benchmark against how multinationals select candidates, coach potential candidates on the job’s expectations.

 

I also believe that human resources professionals and internal communicators have a role to play in educating consultants and providing guidance on selection. It is no wonder that there are mismatches when it comes to professionals joining the industry.

 

I am interested in your take. Post your thoughts here.