A little job posting has inspired me, as a woman and mother, to write down some of my thoughts.
I only recently joined this vibrant company that does amazing things in amazing ways. As part of my marketing role, I work hard to create content that accurately communicates the genuine nature of Gizra, its owners, and culture. My private worry (not so private now) is that marketing speak will diminish the true nature of the company - that Gizra will sound run of the mill when it is not.
I just completed updating our marketing plan, specifically the section explaining “The Gizra Way” that in my opinion is the essence of this company, and right when my usual marketing concerns started to creep in, Amitai, owner and CTO, does something so fabulous that perfectly demonstrates everything I have been working hard to communicate.
Pragmatic Amitai, just being himself, put out a Facebook post from his personal page in the hopes to attract great talent in an unjustifiably overlooked pool of applicants - women and more specifically mothers. In his own way he essentially says: “Hey - we are a family friendly company. If you are talented, we want you because you make us better.” Very quickly this post became viral spreading in various women and mother Facebook groups generating discussion around women in tech.
This may be a marketing person’s dream but to me it is so much more. What Amitai has done is argue what many women have been arguing for a long time. The issue isn’t that we need more women in tech, the issue is that tech company work environments are less inviting to women and therefore are ignoring a valuable talent pool.
To me, Amitai’s job posting is The Gizra Way, and I am so proud.
The only advice I would have given Amitai is to not publish it on April 1st (some women thought it was too good to be true.)
Here is the original post (Hebrew), and here is the translation:
I don’t have access to Facebook groups like Mamazone and even if I did, I am not sure it’s appropriate to post a job opening there. In any case, I am an owner of an internet development company called Gizra. We are 20 plus people. They are all great. However, we are mostly men.
I usually leave work a little before 5:00 pm to get home in time to see my children. A week ago I had a meeting that ran over and I left the office at 5:35 pm.
I was the last one out.
I thought to myself how nice that we are not like most other tech companies, where it seems natural to leave work after your children are already asleep.
For every ten guys we interview, there is usually only one woman. This seems so strange to me because the way I see it, if you are good, most companies - not just us - should be willing to offer flexible work hours to ensure you work for them.
I attended a lecture in the US that spoke about diversity. I dislike that word, especially when Americans use it - they have the ability to overuse a word until you are fed up with it. But it was a good lecture. It spoke to the finding that successful companies were more diverse. You know, like a similar number of men and women.
I want my company to succeed, like those successful companies in America.
And also because, to me, it makes sense that we have more women employees. Mothers too.
Job Opportunity Details: https://www.gizra.com/jobs/candidates-info/
