CEOs and Other Senior Leaders Reveal What they Wear, Drive, Eat, Drink and More In New CareerBuilder Survey on Emulating the Big Cheese

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Nov 16, 2011, 06:00 ET

CHICAGO, Nov. 16, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Did you know that CEOs and other company leaders are more likely to part their hair to the right, bring their lunch from home, drive a SUV, wear navy blue and are right-handed? A new CareerBuilder survey on "Emulating the Big Cheese" provides fun insights about the habits and characteristics of those who work in the corner office. The study was conducted from August 16, 2011 to September 8, 2011 and included more than 550 hiring managers in senior leadership positions (CEO, CFO, COO, Senior VP, etc).

Typical office attire

A majority of those in senior management said they wear business casual attire to the office, and some even noted jeans or shorts as typical workplace wear. Business suit was the least popular choice.

Business casual – 63 percent
Jeans or shorts – 18 percent
Business suit – 14 percent

Navy blue, black and brown fared as the most popular colors executives typically wear, while pink and red came in last at 1 percent or less.

Navy blue – 36 percent
Black – 26 percent
Brown – 8 percent
Grey – 8 percent

Comparing genders, female executives have a much higher tendency to wear black. Fifty-one percent of women in senior leadership positions typically wear black to work compared to 18 percent of men. Men in senior leadership positions are more likely to wear navy blue – 41 percent compared to 21 percent of women.

Car of choice

When it comes to driving to work, the big honchos like to drive the big cars. Senior leaders are more likely to drive SUVs than other vehicles.

SUV – 27 percent
Mid-sized sedan – 22 percent
Luxury sedan – 15 percent
Pickup truck – 9 percent
Sports car/convertible – 8 percent
Minivan – 5 percent

Drinks on company turf

When asked what they drink at happy hours or company parties, nearly one-third of respondents said they don't drink alcoholic beverages at company events. Among those who do partake in the festivities, wine and beer lead as the drink of choice, followed by mixed drinks. Twenty percent said they stay away from company happy hours completely.

Don't drink at company events – 32 percent
Wine – 26 percent
Beer – 22 percent
Mixed drinks – 18 percent
Martini – 5 percent
Shots – 3 percent

Wine is the preferred drink among female executives (31 percent) while male executives prefer either beer or wine (25 percent each).

Typical lunch

When asked about their typical workday lunch habits, most senior leaders reported they brownbag their lunch. Twenty-three percent said they normally don't have lunch at all.

Bring lunch from home – 41 percent
Eat at a sit down restaurant – 19 percent
Grab fast food – 17 percent

More than half (57 percent) of women typically bring their lunch from home compared to 36 percent of men. Men were more likely to order fast food – 19 percent compared to 10 percent of women.

Hair partitions

When asked how they part their hair, three-in-ten senior management leaders reported they part their hair on the right.

To the right – 31 percent
To the left – 27 percent
Down the middle – 9 percent
Shaved or bald – 7 percent

Survey Methodology

This survey was conducted online within the U.S. by Harris Interactive© on behalf of CareerBuilder among 561 hiring managers in senior management positions (employed full-time, not self-employed, non-government) between August 16 and September 8, 2011 (percentages for some questions are based on a subset, based on their responses to certain questions). With a pure probability sample of 561, one could say with a 95 percent probability that the overall results have a sampling error of +/- 4.14 percentage points. Sampling error for data from sub-samples is higher and varies.

About CareerBuilder®

CareerBuilder is the global leader in human capital solutions, helping companies target and attract their most important asset - their people. Its online career site, CareerBuilder.com®, is the largest in the United States with more than 24 million unique visitors, 1 million jobs and 40 million resumes. CareerBuilder works with the world's top employers, providing resources for everything from employment branding and data analysis to recruitment support. More than 9,000 websites, including 140 newspapers and broadband portals such as MSN and AOL, feature CareerBuilder's proprietary job search technology on their career sites. Owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE:GCI), Tribune Company and The McClatchy Company (NYSE:MNI), CareerBuilder and its subsidiaries operate in the United States, Europe, Canada and Asia. For more information, visit www.careerbuilder.com.

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SOURCE CareerBuilder