Women are selling themselves short before they even apply for a job

Women could be undermining their own earning power before they’ve even hit ‘apply’ on a job listing, according to new research from JobLeads.

The online job search platform analysed real job search activity – not survey responses, but actual clicks, applications, and salary inputs –from 61,111 UK users to track how the job search process impacts the gender pay gap.

Taken together, the findings suggest that this disparity isn’t solely the result of employer decisions or negotiation outcomes.

Instead, it begins much earlier, shaped by expectations, confidence, and the types of roles candidates pursue. So, by the time an offer is made, the playing field may already be uneven.

Lower expectations from the outset

On average, women’s upper salary expectations are 12% lower than men’s, at £103,531 compared to £118,016 for men.

However, the gap is even wider at the lower end, with women’s minimum expectations averaging at £28,871 — 34.5% lower than men’s £44,051.

Applying less — and to lower-paying roles

While women browse job listings at nearly the same rate as men, they’re around 7% less likely to actually apply for them.

Because this crisis of confidence leads to a smaller number of offers to use as leverage, it can limit negotiation power and in turn contribute to lower pay.

But even when women do apply, they tend to target lower-paying roles., In fact, the median salary of jobs women apply for is £9,000 (13%) lower than those men pursue — an amount that can compound significantly over the course of a career.

Industry differences

The gender pay gap varies across industries, but the largest disparities can be found in finance (-8% or -£6,650), followed by IT and technology (-6% or -£5,384), management and operations (-6.5% or -£4,894), and human resources (-5.2% or -£3,600).

However, engineering stands out as a rare reversal. In this sector, women apply to, and are considered for, higher-paying roles than men, with a median difference of +2.2% or +£1,800.

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Legal (+1.7%) and bio, pharmacology and health (+1.2%) are the only other fields where women edge ahead. Interestingly, they’re also female-majority sectors, with women making up 66.2% and 71.4% of the workforce respectively.

Engineering, by contrast, has the lowest female participation at just 20%, yet still sees women targeting higher-paying opportunities.

How job preferences impact earnings

Women are significantly more likely to search for part-time roles, at 36% compared to 23% of men. This 13-point gap suggests more women are funneled into lower-paying career paths early on, potentially as a result of caregiving responsibilities.

In addition, women tend to apply for roles requiring slightly more soft skills — 28% compared to 25% for men.

While the difference appears small, it carries a measurable impact: roles emphasising soft skills pay £7,523 less per year at the median across industries. And over the course of a career, that’s a lot of lost income.

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