Unveiling Gender-Based Career Preferences

While in the previous release, we focused on one trait shared across all nationalities and age ranges, in this edition we focus on gender-based differences in career preferences

Hey, we are? Ramón Rodrigá?ez Riesco and?Andrea Marino, Co-Founders at?Nova, the Global Top Talent Network.

Welcome to our latest release of Talent First, our monthly newsletter where those who believe that talent is the most important resource in the economy get together to learn and discuss attracting, hiring, developing, and retaining talent.

In this edition, we introduce a series of releases focused on diversity where we draw conclusions based on the unique data collected during our annual members survey: Nova Talent Report 2023. This one starts reflecting on how gender affects career preferences when it comes to the ideal role. What do you think will be the main differences and similarities?

Summary

1. ?? How does gender affect career preferences??- We share some valuable insights from the Nova Talent Report 2023 this time focusing on how gender can impact career preferences. You will also be able to download the full report on this issue.
2. ?? Attract the most talented candidates to your vacancies - Now you can apply to post jobs for free through Nova, and receive top-quality applications.?

Unveiling Gender-Based Career Preferences

In the ever-evolving landscape of talent acquisition and HR management, understanding the unique preferences and priorities of diverse individuals is crucial. To shed light on these distinctions, we've conducted a comprehensive survey among 1,000 members of the Nova network across Europe.

While in the previous release, we focused on one trait that is the same across all nationalities and age ranges (if you want to discover it read it here), in this edition we focus on gender-based differences in career preferences. The findings reveal intriguing insights into what matters most to male and female professionals when it comes to their ideal job.

If you have missed our previous edition, let us bring you up to date. In May 2023, we surveyed over 1,000 Novas, asking them to share their preferences in three important areas of their career:

• Current job: what do they value the most about their current employer and role? What could be improved?
• Their ideal job: what would they value the most when looking for their next job and employer?
• Current job status: openness to new opportunities, impact of the current downturn, etc.

This edition will focus on the ideal job, the section where we asked our members what matters the most when considering a new career opportunity breaking the questions into 4 areas:

• Characteristics of the employer:?Should the company have a good reputation? Market success or fast growth? Should it have an inspiring purpose? Should be known for its high moral standards?
• Characteristics of the work environment:?Should the company be highly transparent? Foster meritocracy or diversity? Should the environment be creative and friendly?
• Characteristics of the role:?Does it offer a variety of assignments? Are there any international opportunities? Is it challenging? Is it more individual or team-oriented work?
• Characteristics of the compensation model: Is the?base salary competitive? How is the work-life balance? How fast is career growth? Does it offer a good reference for future careers or high commissions and incentives?

Novas were able to choose only the 3 most important characteristics out of a list of ~8 options across those 4 areas.

In the following lines, we will only focus on some of the key differences while leaving aside more detailed considerations. The entire generic report is downloadable from our website, if you are an employer and would like to access a tailored company-specific version, a specific age range, or nationality you can contact the team.

Company Traits

Starting from the very first one, our members were asked to choose the most important characteristics out of a list of 7 options regarding company traits. It’s interesting to notice some key differences in how males and females differ.

For our male members “Great reputation” came up on top. Working for a company that can be a strong signal on their CV appeared to be important, it was selected by 53% of our respondents. On the other hand, the most important trait for the female group was “Inspiring leadership” chosen by 61% of the respondents followed by “Inspiring purpose”.

What we can take away from this dimension is that women give relatively less importance to the reputation of a potential employer if they find inspiring leadership and purpose.

Work Environment

In this category, we see significant differences which could be the ground for a deeper discussion and investigation. In fact, while males and females agree overall, the relative position and the preferences’ strength leave the ground for some reflections.

73% of our female respondents have included Work-life balance as highly important when describing their ideal work environment. Given the relative score compared to the second, “Leaders who support self-development” and the third “Creativity and dynamism” we can safely say that women place a higher importance on balance between their professional and personal lives compared to men.

Women place a higher importance on balance between their professional and personal lives compared to men.

This might be because women often are more aware of their various responsibilities in both their professional and personal lives. They understand the importance of balancing career aspirations with personal well-being and family commitments.

On the other hand, the male group has a more homogenous distribution in the top 3. A higher relative importance is though assigned to an environment where leaders support self-development and meritocracy.

Download the full report

Role

As we anticipated in the previous edition, across the board, challenging work stands as the most desired role characteristic, indicating a shared passion for engaging and stimulating tasks. Where things differ significantly is in the “High-performance focus”, a trait that for men scores as highly important while for women is the second least trait of a desired role.

Women once again would place higher relative importance than men on the stability and financial safety aspect. This divergence may reflect differing risk appetites and financial priorities.

This contrast once again remarks a different outlook across genders and leaves space for further questioning and interrogation.

Compensation

A competitive base salary is a common expectation among all top talents, regardless of gender. In relative terms and in line with the financial safety aspect, females have scored relatively higher in the base salary component followed closely by a great work-life balance, results that are consistent with the other categories’ findings.

Men aim for rapid advancement while women seek avenues to influence and lead.

Males are also placing work-life balance in their top 3 but behind opportunities for a fast career progression. Interestingly and in relative terms, women give higher priority to those roles and companies where there are clear leadership opportunities. Something that for men is placed slightly lower in rank. This variance hints at distinct career progression goals—men aiming for rapid advancement and women seeking avenues to influence and lead.

In the realm of HR and talent acquisition, recognizing and respecting the unique preferences of individuals is paramount. While it’s always hard to draw universal conclusions, the survey results underscore that while certain career priorities are universal, such as the pursuit of challenging work and competitive compensation, gender-based differences do exist.

An increasing number of companies are putting diversity and inclusion at their core when designing recruitment processes, however, they often make outcome-based decisions rather than thinking through the roles and the processes. As a matter of fact, many employers adopt hiring policies such as 1 man and 1 woman to force their teams to keep a diverse organization. While we acknowledge that each organization knows what’s best, our recommendation would be to fine-tune and design, to the possible extent, company policies and role descriptions to attract both men and women in equal measure.

For HR directors, talent acquisition professionals, and entrepreneurs building their organizations, these insights are invaluable. Tailoring recruitment strategies and company cultures to accommodate these differences can help attract and retain top talent, fostering a diverse and inclusive workforce. By acknowledging and embracing these distinctions, organizations can create environments where both male and female professionals can thrive and contribute their unique perspectives to the success of the company.

Tailoring recruitment strategies and company cultures to accommodate these differences can help attract and retain top talent, fostering a diverse and inclusive workforce.

While generating concrete insights, the shared data also represents a starting point for further investigation on why and when these preferences get shaped and how different role models and societal values influence them. Should we as leaders and employers aim at reducing those differences? Should we instead value them and accept them as they are? Is there really a gender difference or is a society-induced difference that gets reflected in those answers?

We look forward to hearing your reflections. In the meantime, if you are curious to access a tailored data report and find out how your employer scored, you can reach out to us, or download the full report.

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