Women in Rail

Women in Rail Anna-Jane Hunter

Are you going to advertise this role?

I’ve been involved with Women in Rail since around 2015. Over the past five years, I have spent three as Chair of the North West group committee. One of my greatest pleasures is seeing someone in my network, especially a woman or someone from an under-represented group, secure a great opportunity or promotion in the industry. The landscape is slowly changing, and more opportunities are being created, but it is not nearly enough, although it has improved in the years since I joined the industry in 2006.

However, a quick scan of the trade press, or LinkedIn continues to provide a regular, jarring wakeup call in two key areas where I think the industry needs to improve: advertisement of senior roles in rail and flexible working options.

How many times have you seen a senior appointment announced and thought ‘That’s interesting, I don’t recall seeing that advertised anywhere?’. This either means the role was not advertised, and the recruitment was internal, or the role was not advertised from a wide enough platform to reach a larger group of potential candidates. In both cases, this begs the questions of ‘how do businesses know they’ve got the best candidate for the position if the role is not advertised at all or publicly enough?’ and ‘how can we improve diversity in senior roles if the role is not advertised well enough?’.

The other area for improvement is openly advertising that the role can be undertaken remotely or part remotely, part on site or in-office. I suspect if a position is explicitly advertised as having flexible conditions, rather than merely stating ‘flexible working arrangements will be considered’, many more women, disabled people and people with specific needs or circumstances would apply. How many times have you looked at a role and refrained from applying because of its location or working hours?

The world is changing in the post pandemic era where location is a more fluid concept and working hours have moulded around our new-found flexibility. This opens up a wealth of opportunities for both employers and employees to find the right fit. This needs to start with opening up opportunities to everyone. If you think your internal candidate is the best, then have the confidence to back them. If they’re that good, they’ll dismiss the competition easily, and be left with a far greater confidence in their own ability because they know they’ve won the role fair and square. And make all job roles explicitly flexible rather than on some small print at the bottom of the vacancy.

At Women in Rail, we’re leading these challenging conversations. It’s not about favouring women (or any other minority groups) but about making our wonderful industry genuinely diverse by creating opportunities for all. No doubt other industries have issues in this area too, but wouldn’t it be great if rail could lead the way and stand out as a truly inclusive industry, blazing a trail in the post pandemic employment market?

Anna-Jane Hunter FCILT, Partner at Winder Phillips Associates, Chair of Women in Rail North West regional group looks at how senior roles are advertised