Men want toys, women seek options

While men seem to want to work with big toys like naval destroyers, women are seeking interesting jobs with career options and flexible working arrangements. Picture: Thinkstock Source: Supplied

• Women focus on job security and career development
• Men want to work with with fighter jets, naval destroyers and big trucks
• ABC, Virgin Australia and BAE Systems voted top three desired employers

MEN still haven't outgrown their childhood fantasies of working with fighter jets, naval destroyers and big trucks, with weapons and security giant BAE Systems voted the most desirable place to work for Aussie blokes.

Richard Branson's Virgin Australia and mining giant Rio Tinto rounded out the Australian male's top three - according to a survey of 7000 jobseekers by recruitment company Randstad - confirming their undying love of big boys' toys.

Women are more interested in job security and career development, with the ABC, the Department of Health and Ageing and Channel Seven the most popular.

Randstad group director Steve Shepherd said men are craving organisations with strong leadership, career progression and financial reward.

"The top three employers for men show there is still a big boys' toys element about it," he said.

"Men are looking for a place that allows them to share their knowledge and that is well paid. BAE Systems have proven to be a very attractive employer with males.

"Women appear to be more drawn to employers with interesting job content, flexible working options, and learning and development opportunities as opposed to straight career progression."

The ABC was the overall winner of the Randstad Award.

Randstad Asia Pacific managing director Deb Loveridge said the public broadcaster's win follows a solid performance in the 2012 awards.

"In terms of attractiveness amongst the Australian population, the ABC is particularly attractive to women and the older generation (60-64 years of age)," she said.

"It ranked extremely favourably across all key criteria including interesting job content, good learning and development opportunities, long term job security, career progression opportunities, strong workplace culture and their ability to offer a good work/life balance."

Jobseekers aged 15-24 most wanted to work for accounting multinational KPMG and James Packer's Crown, while Virgin Australia and the ABC proved popular with the 25-39-year-old crowd.

Mr Shepherd said KPMG's options for working overseas was one of the big pull factors for young people.

Randstad Award top 20 most attractive organisations in Australia for 2013

Men
1. BAE Systems
2. Virgin Australia
3. Rio Tinto

Women
1. ABC
2. Department of Health and Ageing
3. Channel Seven

18-24 years
1. KPMG
2. Crown
3. Qantas

25-39 years
1. ABC
2. Virgin
3. Coca-Cola Amatil

40-59 years
1. ABC
2. Department of Immigration and Citizenship
3. WorleyParsons

60-64 years
1. ABC
2. Newcrest Mining
3. Wesfarmers

Overall
1. ABC
2. Virgin Australia
3. BAE Systems
4. Channel Seven
5. Qantas
6. Department of Immigration and Citizenship
7. Department of Health and Ageing
8. Newcrest Mining
9. Coca-Cola Amatil
10. GHD
11. Department of Defence
12. Australia Post
13. Rio Tinto
14. Wesfarmers
15. WorleyParsons
16. BHP
17. Nestle
18. Lion
19. Westfield
20. Computershare

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Men want toys, women seek options

While men seem to want to work with big toys like naval destroyers, women are seeking interesting jobs with career options and flexible working arrangements. Picture: Thinkstock Source: Supplied

• Women focus on job security and career development
• Men want to work with with fighter jets, naval destroyers and big trucks
• ABC, Virgin Australia and BAE Systems voted top three desired employers

MEN still haven't outgrown their childhood fantasies of working with fighter jets, naval destroyers and big trucks, with weapons and security giant BAE Systems voted the most desirable place to work for Aussie blokes.

Richard Branson's Virgin Australia and mining giant Rio Tinto rounded out the Australian male's top three - according to a survey of 7000 jobseekers by recruitment company Randstad - confirming their undying love of big boys' toys.

Women are more interested in job security and career development, with the ABC, the Department of Health and Ageing and Channel Seven the most popular.

Randstad group director Steve Shepherd said men are craving organisations with strong leadership, career progression and financial reward.

"The top three employers for men show there is still a big boys' toys element about it," he said.

"Men are looking for a place that allows them to share their knowledge and that is well paid. BAE Systems have proven to be a very attractive employer with males.

"Women appear to be more drawn to employers with interesting job content, flexible working options, and learning and development opportunities as opposed to straight career progression."

The ABC was the overall winner of the Randstad Award.

Randstad Asia Pacific managing director Deb Loveridge said the public broadcaster's win follows a solid performance in the 2012 awards.

"In terms of attractiveness amongst the Australian population, the ABC is particularly attractive to women and the older generation (60-64 years of age)," she said.

"It ranked extremely favourably across all key criteria including interesting job content, good learning and development opportunities, long term job security, career progression opportunities, strong workplace culture and their ability to offer a good work/life balance."

Jobseekers aged 15-24 most wanted to work for accounting multinational KPMG and James Packer's Crown, while Virgin Australia and the ABC proved popular with the 25-39-year-old crowd.

Mr Shepherd said KPMG's options for working overseas was one of the big pull factors for young people.

Randstad Award top 20 most attractive organisations in Australia for 2013

Men
1. BAE Systems
2. Virgin Australia
3. Rio Tinto

Women
1. ABC
2. Department of Health and Ageing
3. Channel Seven

18-24 years
1. KPMG
2. Crown
3. Qantas

25-39 years
1. ABC
2. Virgin
3. Coca-Cola Amatil

40-59 years
1. ABC
2. Department of Immigration and Citizenship
3. WorleyParsons

60-64 years
1. ABC
2. Newcrest Mining
3. Wesfarmers

Overall
1. ABC
2. Virgin Australia
3. BAE Systems
4. Channel Seven
5. Qantas
6. Department of Immigration and Citizenship
7. Department of Health and Ageing
8. Newcrest Mining
9. Coca-Cola Amatil
10. GHD
11. Department of Defence
12. Australia Post
13. Rio Tinto
14. Wesfarmers
15. WorleyParsons
16. BHP
17. Nestle
18. Lion
19. Westfield
20. Computershare

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Southern Cross reviewing options

Southern Cross Austereo is reviewing its options for the company, should media rules be relaxed. Source: AAP

TELEVISION viewers in regional areas are not expected to suffer any loss of local programming should Nine and Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) merge.

On Monday, SCA said in a statement its board was reviewing a number of options for the company, with that announcement following speculation over a potential $4 billion merger with Nine.

The union of Nine and SCA would bring together Nine stations in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Newcastle with SCA's regional television stations in Queensland, NSW, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and the Northern Territory.

While the two parties would be prevented from merging under current laws - which restricts a television network from reaching more than 75 per cent of the population - federal Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has proposed abolishing the rule.

Fat Prophets senior research analyst Brian Han said he expected regional viewers to see little change on their television screens in terms of local content should the two parties eventually merge.

"I think the market will ensure that local programming will be maintained," Mr Han said on Monday.

"The reason for that is because regional viewers want local programming and whoever slackens off on that relative to the competitors will suffer the consequences.

"Regional broadcasters still need to target regional advertising dollars, and that won't be easy unless there's a certain amount of local content."

Speculation about the potential merger sent SCA's share price up 5.5 cents, or 3.61 per cent to $1.58.

Currently, SCA's TV stations broadcast programming from the struggling Ten network.

The current agreement with Ten was due to expire in mid-2013.

"SCA understands that there may be speculation regarding the strategic direction of the company in that context," the company said in a statement.

"SCA is reviewing a number of strategic options.

"The board has not, at this stage, formed a view as to any preferred option."

Kimber Capital head of research Greg Fraser said the end of the 75 per cent reach rule was likely to trigger yet another round of consolidation in the media market.

Not only would it open the way for Nine to merge with SCA, it could also being Seven and its regional affiliate Prime together.

Australia's third regional player, WIN Television - which in addition to its country stations also owns Nine stations in Perth and Adelaide - would also be free to seek a partner.

"If you get the all three regional players being swallowed up by the three metropolitan players then you end up with a three-player market instead of six now," Mr Fraser said.

View the original article here