The needs of existing and prospective female IT workers change over time and job recruiters and HR personnel need to recognize that, according to new research out of Penn State University.
A study of 92 women in IT showed that “You can’t classify women by a single category whether that category is desire for technical competence or organizational security,” said Eileen Trauth , professor of information sciences and technology in Penn State’s College of Information Sciences and Technology.
“Women’s career motivations change and human-resources personnel have to recognize that in order to keep women in IT fields,” she said, in a statement. Her research is described in a paper co-authored with Jeria Quesenberry called “What Do Women Want”: An Investigation of Career Anchors among Women in the IT Workforce.”
Addressing such issues could help to increase representation of women in the IT workforce (currently, women make up about a third of the IT workforce, though nearly twice as much of the overall workforce).
The research found that none of three traditional career anchors — technical competence, managerial competence and organizational security—was by itself the main reason for women making career choices. About a third indicated the desire for careers that allowed them to perfect skills in technical areas.
In other recent research, women are being encouraged to cash in on the need for more businesspeople with “soft” skills that go beyond technical ones.
Others say that while engineering environments are accepting of a wide variety of male personalities, they still don’t make it easy for women to fit in regardless of their traits.
