Men apply for jobs on Mars, women on Venus

Does this old adage still apply when it comes to online behaviour? With International Women’s Day in mind, I thought it would be interesting to research whether there really are any fundamental differences between male and female online behaviour.

As we know from our own behaviour, device usage has changed dramatically over the past few years with more and more of our daily lives taking place via our smartphones – whether watching TV, talking and communicating with friends and family or keeping up-to-date with news, sport and social media.

But what is the impact on our job seeking and online application activities, and are there any specific differences between men and women in this arena?

The impact of Internet access around the world

It’s easy to take Internet access for granted, but there are still vast differences in access, speed and reliability of the Internet in different countries around the world. The World Bank Group undertook some interesting research showing where in the world Internet use is higher among women than men. Shockingly, in only 13 of the 195 countries globally, women access the Internet at a higher rate than men; these 13 include Denmark, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Ireland and the USA.

How do men and women’s behaviour online differ?

Focusing in somewhat from this macro view, the topic of online shopping has heralded quite a lot of research over the years. A really interesting article from August 2017 by Catalin Zorzini at Ecommerce news analysed online shopping habits of men and women.

Overlooking the blue and pink colours used in the infographic (!) some of the high level analysis is interesting, namely:

• Both women and men tend to do most of the shopping from their laptops
• Men are more likely to use their smartphones for a purchase (45% vs. 34%)
• Women are much more likely to buy something if it is on sale (74% vs. 54%)
• Male shoppers tend to stop shopping after they find the first workable product
• Female shoppers are more likely to plan out their shopping strategies and make their purchases based on future needs

In terms of our own experience of online shopping, we often reach for a mobile phone or tablet device, as they can be much closer to hand and more convenient. The same piece of research breaks down the mobile purchasing into various categories, showing:

• 27% of men have bought electronics on their mobile phone vs only 8% of women
• Mobile food and drinks purchases are again 8% of women vs 13% of men
• 11% of women have bought film or event tickets via their mobile, vs 23% of men
• 30% of men have purchased digital content (i.e. apps) vs 20% of women

However, with every piece of research, there’s always a counter argument and while it would be easy to draw conclusions that men are typically more goal-oriented while online shopping, whereas women explore and browse between products, it’s important to understand and appreciate that this can differ greatly across different countries and age groups. And, in fact, males between the ages of 18-24 years often show behaviour in contrast to hard-wired male online behaviour, as they tend to browse more – both in store and online – and rival women in terms of impulse purchases.

How do men and women differ when applying for jobs online?

But what does all this mean when it comes to job seeking and the online job application process?  There is anecdotal evidence suggesting differences between how men and women, (and I am talking in generic terms here), approach reading a job description and applying for a role.

A LinkedIn article proposed that women can be discouraged from applying for jobs if the language in the job description includes “male-sounding” words. I’m not sure how much I agree with the article here – particularly given how I would often perceive words such as decisive, autonomous, lead, independent and objective as being very positive – and totally non-gender specific. Also, some of the words suggested in the article to be used alongside the male-sounding words in job descriptions, include responsible, polite, commit, trust – all of which strike me as being excellent qualities in a work colleague! And again, not necessarily gender specific.

One piece of research I was very interested in conducting, however, was whether there are differences in mind set when it comes to the likelihood of applying for a new job. The hypothesis is that if a woman doesn’t feel that she has ALL of the experience and skills that an employer is looking for, then she won’t bother applying. While this is less of a concern for some men, who have the confidence to apply, in the knowledge that they have some of what the employer is seeking in a new employee.

There are various pieces of research available around this, suggesting that there is a gender specific workplace confidence gap and that, therefore this hypothesis might ring true. So I thought it would be good to hear from our Hays audience on the subject of job applications.

So, we have a quick poll live on this blog now (it should appear in the form of a pop up on your screen), to gather some insight into this, with questions around whether you would apply for a job if you thought your skills and experience were an 80% or even 50% match. Do please add your thoughts by completing the poll, and once we have sufficient responses we’ll take a look at the results and provide an update.

In the meantime enjoy pressing for progress wherever you are, and apply for a job on whichever planet you choose.

• To #PressForProgress, we must thaw the frozen middle
• Leaders, to really #PressForProgress, let’s think beyond gender
• Four ways women can be braver, bolder and more successful
• The one trait that female leaders need to remember

Author

Alison Crowe

Director of Digital and Data, England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB)

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Alison joined Hays in April 2015 in the newly created Head of Web Products role, before becoming Online and Marketing Product Director in July 2017. She brought vast digital and product experience from Channel4 and Credit Suisse to shape the Hays customer facing candidate experience, enhance the digital product suite, represent the voice of the customer and ensure a rigorous Test & Learn and data-led customer approach to product development.

She left Hays at the end of 2019 to take up her new role as Director of Digital and Data for the ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board).