Bias in job descriptions: When 'going the extra mile' becomes a problem

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Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Republicans are divided over the RNC’s leadership, women-led blockbusters head to streaming, and job descriptions make a difference in the energy industry. Have a motivated Monday.

– ‘Going the extra mile.’ Last week, we covered a new study that found how slightly tweaking job applications to promote “flexible work” attracted more women, especially to senior positions.

A new Fortune story by Katherine Dunn provides us with a real-world example of a similar phenomenon. Katherine, who reports for Fortune out of London, interviewed Helle Østergaard Kristiansen, the CEO of Danish energy trader Danske Commodities. Danske’s parent company Equinor was one of the first legacy oil giants to aim for near net-zero emissions by 2050, and Kristiansen is in her second year leading Danske through trading “a deeply complex, finely balanced power market, with all the fluctuations of wind and solar power that entails, across an entire continent.”

But along with those responsibilities, Kristiansen has worked to evolve her company’s workforce. And the trader found that its job ads, unsurprisingly, had a huge impact on who applied. “Previously, it has very much been in the wordings, like ‘doing what it takes,’ ‘go the extra mile,'” the CEO told Katherine. “Which is not maybe very appealing to a female trader.”

Now, the company instead straightforwardly describes the responsibilities and qualifications needed for a position. That change was implemented as its workforce, which is still 78% men, became younger, with an average age of 33, and more focused on candidates with PhDs in software engineering than traditional traders.

Kristiansen hopes that changes in advertising open positions—and a new parental leave program—will help the company hire more women.

“That’s actually the fantastic part of being part of a trading company. It’s very much about qualification, and you’re measured on your results, nothing else,” she says. “For female candidates, it should be an interesting sector to join: you’re part of the energy sector that is moving so fast, it’s so important for the future of every one of us.”

Read the rest of Katherine’s story, including much more detail on Danske’s work in the energy industry, here.

Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
@_emmahinchliffe

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