Human resource management careers: different paths for men and women?

This paper focuses on the career progression of human resource professionals. The perspective is that of graduates from a postgraduate programme which conferred a professional qualification in human resource management. The study explored whether the acquisition of a HR professional qualification had the same impact upon career progression for male and female managers or whether other factors have a more significant effect, regardless of formal qualifications. The findings suggest that the careers of men and women do differ, with men receiving more internal promotions, while women were more likely to seek career progression in another organisation and to be less successful in terms of earnings. The women were much more likely than their male counterparts to perceive barriers to their careers such as lack of role models and difficulties with self‐confidence. This raises issues of curriculum design regarding raising the confidence and aspirations of female managers.