Women in Financial Services
Results are emerging from the E2W Financial Services Gender Recruitment Survey
Mark.Freed / 03 Aug 2017
Some interesting results are emerging from the E2W Financial Services Gender Recruitment Survey.
Recent reports have indicated that improving recruitment practices are key if financial institutions are going to meet their commitments to gender diversity.
So, we have asked our community to reflect on and share their experiences with us. The following is a snap shot of the initial responses.
To track trends (improvements) in the industry the survey will remain open, so please share your experiences with us.
Gender Neutral Job Specs and Adverts
Research has revealed that masculine worded job descriptions significantly deter women from applying to those jobs, even when they were fully qualified for the role.
Well our survey is revealing that the industry has cracked this one:
A whacking 95% of respondents reported the roles they applied for had gender natural job specifications and adverts.
Flexible Working & Women Returners
50% of respondents had taken a career break.
Retaining women in the work place and helping them return after a career break is key to enabling the industry to collect the gender dividend. However only 11% of adverts or job specifications included a reference to either.
“Some banks are really taking this seriously across the board . For example, UBS now have more generic job descriptions designed to encourage women to apply given the differences between men and women when they apply for jobs. They also operate a true working from home policy and agile working which are all good for women. It seems some other banks are very far behind .”
Women still face barriers in returning to careers.
The Interview
While nearly 80% of hiring managers were men and 35% of respondents did not meet another female in the process, 78% felt the process was good and fair to both genders.
35% were offered the position, and interestingly 72% were left with a more positive impression of the hiring institution as a good place for women to work.
However over 50% complained about the lack of feedback post interview:
“Final confirmation took over 3 weeks - I assume as they were waiting on confirmation from preferred candidate”
Unfortunately, 20% were asked inappropriate questions:
”How do you think you can do this job now you have a child? I've had women working for me before that have decided not to come back after having a second child.”
About the Respondents
84% had had more than 5 years’ experience in the industry. 50% earn more than £100,000 per year. Respondents have been equally from investment banking, asset management/wealth management or retail/commercial.
“I really like the people who interviewed me and I am working with. The organisation has lots of structures and rules as it should be for making sure the right culture and behaviour..”
“ I ended up as the only woman in a team of 36”
So far, what can we take away from the survey? There are areas where the industry has recognised the need for change, especially in writing job descriptions. But there are points where it’s clear that the sector needs to re-evaluate its practices, especially surrounding women returners and asking appropriate questions at interview.
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