PRESS RELEASE
Following research[1] into its candidate database, The IT Job Board, the UK’s biggest IT specialist recruitment website, has revealed that only 16 percent of all job seekers are women. This confirms statistics[2] which highlight that women make up only one fifth of all employees in the IT sector.
As a direct response to its findings, The IT Job Board has launched its ‘Women in IT’ campaign, calling for more women to join the UK’s technology sector. The IT Job Board will create a series of campaigns with the objective of encouraging women into a career in IT.
Drilling down into the data further, The IT Job Board has revealed its top two job titles for women working in IT companies and departments are: project manager and business analyst. For men; they are developer and project manager.
When it comes to the major cities attracting IT professionals, the top three for women are London, Reading and Birmingham (in that order), and for men – London, Birmingham and Manchester.
Commenting on the findings, Alex Farrell, managing director of The IT Job Board, said: “Clearly our statistics, as the largest UK advertiser of IT jobs, confirm what we already know – that there is a serious lack of women working in the IT sector, but what are the reasons behind this?”
She adds: “The sector is male-dominated, and – I believe – a prejudice exists that men are perhaps more proficient when it comes to IT. Of course, this doesn’t paint an accurate picture, and the sector boasts a wealth of female talent – talent which should be championed.
“As the backbone of business, IT can be a competitive and stressful environment to work in, with long hours that perhaps don’t fit in with the needs of raising a family. However, I believe that companies need to focus on creating more diverse workforces, and to help women build and develop careers in IT.
Farrell also believes – given the prejudices highlighted – that there is a limited appetite for female graduates to enter into the sector. She adds:
“The Women and Equality Unit report also highlighted that girls disengage from IT subjects between the ages of 11 and 15, and I truly believe that the whole issue does stem back to childhood. Rather than sit and wait for things to improve, the sector needs to do more now to attract the female talent of the future. Through our ‘Women in IT’ campaign we hope to help work towards this.”
[1] February 2011
[2] The Women and Equality Unit report, “The Gender Pay Gap”. When you look at specific jobs involving the development and production of technology, the figure drops still further.
About The IT Job Board:
The IT Job Board group of companies was set up in April 2002 in recognition that recruitment in the IT sector was increasingly dominated by the internet.Today, The IT Job Board (www.theitjobboard.co.uk) is the UK’s biggest IT specialist recruitment website with approx. 15,500 (as at March 2011). Online technology enables sophisticated targeting – for example by skill, region or experience – of The IT Job Board’s database of 800,000 IT professionals. The company always tries to get closer to candidates either via planned content campaigns, or through the use of social networks. The site also offers employers services such as branded job postings, a featured employer zone, targeted email campaigns and guidance on advertising copy. The managed campaign service filters responses to provide companies with a shortlist of applicants most suitable for the advertised position. www.theitjobboard.co.uk’s clients include Accenture, Barclays and Comparethemarket.com.
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