Does this headline attract your attention? It should! According to the 2013 August edition of Recruitment Extra (page 10), young unattached men are perceived as closest to the “ideal worker”. This data was gathered from a Kronos survey of 500 employers and 2,000 employees within Australian organisations. They found that employers believed being male, constantly available for work, and with outside responsibilities or interests were amongst the most desired qualities in an employee. When asked what qualities they looked for in a candidate – the responses were
- 76% like their workers to be willing to work extra hours
- 57% prefer their employees to have had unbroken work history
- 73% look for ambition in their employees
The reseach indicated that many employers like their staff to be male rather than female (38%) and 40% also preferreed workers who did not have children.
This was all quite a revelation for me! It feels to me that many employers are missing out on the many of us who manage our lives successfully outside of work and also perform to high standard within our jobs! What about the human need of a work and life balance? Are we beating our heads trying to get employers to consider diverse employee profiles, especially when according to the survey 53% felt that mature-aged workers who face retirement were less appealing as employees because they would expect to work less and have some flexibility! – that counts me out then… I’m nealy 60, I’m female, I -lack ambition ( I mean I only want to work another 10 years!) and I have a broken work history…. It’s a miricle that I have a job!
Australian employers can not afford to over look workers like me, who boost productivity; are loyal; committed; talented; act as mentors and maintain a diverse culture!
[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]http://eatherrecruitment.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/ivana-permanent-and-temporary-staff-solutions.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]Content goes here[/author_info] [/author]
Ivana Agapiou
Eather Recruitment