Op/ed: To Recruit More Women, Businesses Should Just Ask for More Names

Women continue to be underrepresented in numerous occupations and in the highest echelons of many organizations, occupying just 8% of S&P 500 CEO positions in 2023. One reason, suggests a new study co-led by a University of Maryland researcher, is the disadvantages they face in referral-based hiring and promotion processes: Women are less inclined to ask for referrals and less likely to be referred than men for male-dominated jobs. 

Aneesh Rai, associate professor of management and organization in UMD’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, and Erika Kirgios of the University of Chicago penned a new essay for Psychology Today about their research with colleagues at Cornell and the University of Pennsylvania that found that simply asking for more referrals increases the number of women recommended for jobs.

Companies routinely hire based on informal recruitment through word-of-mouth, managers often consult their mental Rolodexes when filling internal positions, and employees are frequently encouraged to refer people from their networks for openings. 

The problem is, while it’s commonplace to ask for referrals, we rarely think about how many referrals to request. 

When people provide a small number of names, they often gravitate toward the most familiar and easily accessible ones. In a company or industry that skews male, that means the first names to come to mind are particularly likely to be men. 

Read the rest in Psychology Today.