As a woman with an MBA degree and someone who wants to see more women in the C-suite, I read with interest an article entitled Defining Workplace Dreams for Women MBAs in the September 28, 2009 issue of Forbes magazine.  The article referenced a study by Universum, a research firm focused on employer branding.  Universum surveyed 6,207 MBA students in the U.S., about 40 percent of them female, from over 50 top business schools.

Preferred Employers

Both genders selected Google as the most desirable employer.  But, the sexes did not agree on the second and third preferred employers.  Males selected McKinsey & Company (#2) and Goldman Sachs (#3), while women chose Johnson & Johnson (#2) and Apple (#3).  That difference is likely explained by the industry that survey respondents selected as the one they’d ideally like to work in after graduation.  Men choose management consulting, while women ranked marketing/advertising at the top of the list.

Salary Expectations

I was particularly struck by the differences between men and women on the subject of first-year salary expectations.  I see this as evidence of our tendency as women to undervalue ourselves.  Given the current state of the economy, the numbers are down from last year’s survey for both genders.  However, the drop is much greater for the women than the men.  Women expected $87,599 in annual base compensation, down from $91,142 last year – a difference of $3,543.  Men expected $99,142 – a whopping $11,543 more than the women!  And, it seems the men aren’t letting the bad economy put too much of a damper on their expectations.  The drop from last year’s survey was a mere $818 for the male MBAs.

Career Goals

According to the survey, the top three career goals for the female MBA students are:

• Work-life balance
• Intellectual challenge
• Opportunity to lead people

Note the absence of a competitive compensation package in that top three.  Hummm…  Maybe the students just assume they will be paid a competitive salary.  Or, perhaps they are willing to give up some cash in exchange for meeting other career goals.  I haven’t seen the full text of the Universum study, so I’m not sure where compensation ranked for the MBA students surveyed.

Defining Work-Life Balance

Work-life balance ranked at the top of the list of career goals in last year’s survey also.  Fortunately, Universum is interested in knowing what work-life balance means to the female MBA students they surveyed.  As it turns out, work-life balance means more than flex time and not having to work 80 hours a week.  Below is an excerpt from the Fortune article.

“Work-life used to be shorthand for a reasonable balance between responsibilities in the office and at home,” says Rachele Farri, global director of employer branding at Universum. “Today we hear women MBA students saying things like, ‘I want the ability to be myself,’ ‘I want to be appreciate for what I bring to the table,’ and ‘I want to work for a company that places social responsibility and community involvement high on its list of corporate goals.’”

I’m very interested in the notion of work-life balance and what it means to women (and men).  In future posts, I plan to discuss why women are reluctant to pursue MBA degrees and to share my thoughts on a new study from the Families and Work Institute and the emergence of the term “work+life fit.”  In the meantime, I welcome your comments and feedback.