Survey of 509 U.S. managers and executives by a top executive recruiting company indicates doors are open, but other factors discourage women; summary of results published in free 9 page ebook; 300+ raw responses published at the Executive Recruiting Blog
South Glastonbury, CT (PRWEB) August 17, 2010
Executive recruiting firm The Executive Search Group LLC has released survey results suggesting that while most companies fill executive and management positions based on talent, not gender, other factors may be keeping women from moving up. The results are summed up in the new 9 page report named “What Women Want: Straight Talk About Gender In Executive Recruiting,” available now at bit.ly/equity-ii.
“We sent the survey to HR leaders, directors, vice presidents and other executives across the financial, insurance and high tech industries. More than 500 people responded,” said CEO Tim McIntyre, “and more than half of them were women in executive or other management roles.
"The 'What Women Want' ebook conveys what we heard about how they view corporate practices in recruiting, nurturing and retaining women for leadership.”
The report covers:
- How respondents rate their own companies as gender-diverse places to work
- Why some women have considered leaving their companies
- What they see as the primary obstacles for further improvement
More than 80 percent rated their current employer as “good” or “excellent” as a gender diverse place to work, compared to places they’ve worked in the past. Nearly the same amount (79 percent) said management views a gender-diverse talent pool as an advantage. Whereas nearly 20% fell into the “needs improvement” category. Two percent rated their companies as “poor.”
"We asked one open-ended question about obstacles in recruiting, attracting and retaining female leaders and managers: 'What obstacles exist in recruiting, attracting and retaining female leaders and managers in your company or organization?' The people answering “none” were about double those who said their companies suffered from an antiquated mindset, whether it was called a 'good ol’ boys network,' 'glass ceiling issues' or simply 'old,'" said McIntyre.
"While there are still corporate leftovers from the 'Mad Men' era, where males in the top slots are only comfortable hiring and promoting other males, some companies can’t seem to get it right with either women or men," adds McIntyre. "As one responder put it, 'My organization is ineffective in selecting good managers in general.'"
But that seems to be the minority. Half of the responders said their companies recruit women at the mid-management level and groom high-potential candidates, and 40 percent said their companies had established mentoring or leadership affinity groups to support or reach out to women leaders or managers.
To recruit, hire and promote qualified women, companies need to find them. In some fields, that’s easy. Healthcare was cited by several responders to the survey as an area where women dominate.
In other fields, such as information technology, construction and forestry, the perception is that the talent pool isn’t very deep.
When it comes to high-level positions, companies want executives with experience. It becomes a Catch-22. Some fields attract fewer women to start with, so there are fewer to promote into leadership roles, so the field continues to look unwelcoming to women.
One female chief information officer told us: “I have a few leadership roles open, would welcome the opportunities to hire women in leadership roles. Unfortunately, recruiting (using exec recruiting firms and internal HR recruiting) has yielded very few female candidates.”
A new generation is entering the work force, with women showing more interest in engineering and other fields overwhelmingly dominated by men.
Said one respondent: "Women leave for better opportunity. If they felt truly valued, I suppose they would not be picking up the phone to listen to another offer.”
That’s one place for companies to focus their attention. Nearly 30 percent of the women executives responding to the survey said they felt their contributions were not being recognized or valued.
“It’s more important than ever to bring a gender diverse slate of candidates to the table,” adds McIntyre, “and to ensure that the best candidate wins.”
The survey results can be downloaded for free at
theexecutivesearchgroup.com/recruitment-equity-ii
In addition, over 300 answers to an open ended question are published at the Executive Recruiting Blog, found at
theexecutivesearchgroup.com/executiverecruiting/blog/
About The Executive Search Group LLC
Since 1988, The Executive Search Group (formerly Infonet) has helped executives at Apple, Bank of America, Dow Jones, Fox, GE, IBM, ING, Johnson & Johnson, Prudential, and dozens of other firms build their leadership teams.
We are the only retained search firm to combine the Hire with CertaintySM guarantee; the option to start with contingency search services; a consistent methodology developed over 25 years; numerous executive recruiting case studies; and direct access to the search firm principal, CEO Tim McIntyre.
Learn more at theexecutivesearchgroup.com or call 860-652-8000.
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