W
e have long advocated to state governments that they should use our service to find suitable female applicants, rather than build expensive registers into which people are supposed to place their information to be searched by Ministers' offices and Departments when they are looking for candidates. Fortunately many do use our service, particularly in the gender progressive state of Victoria, however other states could do a better job with regards to moving away from the 'picking winners' approach to better transparency.
At the Federal level a promising 2012 initiative titled "Boardlinks" has been partly reactivitated, however is currently undergoing review. At the moment you still need to 'know someone' in order to get onto the list, rather than the government posting the opportunities on its website and others.
See the critique my colleague, Claire Braund, wrote last year.
WOB offers a free service to post board and committee positions and then verifies these roles and pushes them out to its database. It's a tried and tested model and one that has delivered over the years. Just to be sure we surveyed those who have posted a position with us in recent times.
What our position posters have told us?
We recently surveyed the 800 or so members who post positions with WOB. Overall the news is good as per previous surveys. But there are opportunities for improvement for both those posting and those applying.
If you are posting a position with WOB and having problems or not getting the number of applicants you had hoped for, then get in touch with myself or the WOB office and we will be happy to support you.
If you are looking at a position then we recommend you look at the Subscriber area of Resources for tips about making an application.
The Survey
Question 1: How many board or committee roles have you posted with WOB in the past 12 months?
- One role - 60%
- More than one role - 32%
- Unsure - 8%
Question 2: How easy was the Post a Position form to complete?
- Very easy - 56%
- Somewhat easy - 42%
- Not easy- 2%
Question 3: How many applications did you get?
- More than 30 - 11%
- 11 to 30 - 11%
- 10 or less - 51%
- None - 20%
- Don't know - 7%
Question 4: Did you appoint at least one person to your board or committee?
- Who came from WOB posting - 18%
- Who came from another source - 51%
- We did not appoint anyone - 15%
- Unsure - 16%
Question 5: Did you get in touch with WOB to discuss your board posting?
- Yes - 23%
- No - 61%
- Not aware I could do so - 11%
- Unsure - 5%
Question 6: How satisfied were you with the service you got from WOB?
- Extremely satisfied - 28%
- Satisfied - 61%
- Could have been better - 15%
Question 7: Would you use the Women on Boards post a position service again?
Question 8: Are you aware that WOB offers an email alert service that matches your board or committee position with potential applicants?
Many thanks to all those who completed the survey.
Ruth