“Hi guys. I have a job opening”
I recently saw this passing on LinkedIn from a cousin of mine. “Hi guys?!” So he only targets male candidates? This is really hard for me to believe! The little feminist in me is getting a little nervous. So… I respond. And very soon I get a response back.
That “Hi guys” is internationally recognised as a gender-neutral way of addressing people. That a survey has even been made with no less than ... 990 respondents. Sorry no, I'm not convinced.
Maybe it's because I'm not belonging to the target group of this vacancy (banking sector, Singapore, junior, ...). So maybe I should try to put myself in the mind of a young, ambitious economist, searching for an international career, someone who knows the English language. Only the latter works well for me. My professional working language has been English for almost 20 years. But still... no, those 'hi guys' isn't working for me. Why not just say 'hi all (too general?)'; hi folks (too informal?); hi people (too impersonal); hi everyone (too generalist?)...
It just still sounds very 'masculine'. I also can't imagine that 'men' would be OK with being addressed as 'Hi ladies'?
Maybe I should also do a survey? What do you think? Do you find 'Hi guys' gender neutral? Let me then also know your age, gender and nationality. Because maybe me being over 45 (see blog) is affecting my point of view here more than I would like. I'm curious!
Vind jij 'hi guys' gender-neutraal?
Ja
Nee
I mostly remember :
that I'm proud being a woman!
Surprisingly a lot to find on this topic :
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