I have a passion for mentoring. I have been helped by so many people to move from a small town student from Missouri to leading an international firm with some of the greatest employees in the world. I have experienced mentors that have moved in and out of my life and I have mentors who have been part of my life since I was 18 and remain touch stones of reality. These gifts from wisdom from mentors have made small and enormous differences in my life and the life of my teams.
If you really want something, you have to go after it. Wishing for it is just deluding yourself that you can get it and that you will indeed do that someday. Intent in itself is not enough. You have to set yourself up for success and surround yourself with the tools, the ideas, the people, and the atmosphere, if you will, for success.
Almost seven years ago, I needed a new receptionist. I interviewed half a dozen candidates, with many different skills and abilities from right out of school to years of work experience. The person I hired was a recent college graduate. I can’t say it was smooth sailing, because it wasn’t.
I took a chance on the young lady with stars in her eyes when I hired her. I was looking to the future, and I’m so glad I did.
Why the disparity between the number of women who obtain an MBA and the number of women CEOs, CFOs, COOs, and CMOs? If 1/3 of the MBAs granted go to women, shouldn’t the number of women in the C-suite look more like 33%? Yes, it should but it doesn’t. In order for things to truly be equal women need to shift gears and ask for spousal/partner help at home. As Sheryl Sandberg stated in her now famous Barnard commencement speech, “A world where women ran 50% of businesses and men ran 50% of houses would be a much better world.”
As a recruiter, business mentor and career coach, I’ve spent over 16 years encouraging people to invest time and effort into building their networks.
‘Networking’ was traditionally viewed as a business related activity. Commonly the remit of senior executives in an organisation and, more often than not, male ones at that, networking wasn’t viewed as an integral part of life-working, or, rather of making life work.
Women are natural relationship-builders. We often overlook this strength as it comes so naturally to us. Networking is merely another label for what we do naturally. So, get out there and do what you do naturally and brilliantly – and network.
I always used to struggle with awful nerves particularly before and during interviews and it meant I was missing out on many opportunities.I had to train myself to control these nerves to stop them from taking over. This took a while to do but here are a few of the things that I learned along the way.
Women, whether we are employed or in the application process, our personal lives tend to matter more than the personal lives of male employees. And, since our online reputation is often an extension (or at least a reflection) of our personal lives, we need to be far more cautious about it than the average man.
So my advice for workers: manage your reputation carefully. Don’t let your Facebook profile be viewed by non-friends and err on the side of disclosing less information online, not more. Conduct a Google search of yourself and try to assess the data out there when applying for any job.
Often times the only difference between success and failure is confidence. It is the most beautiful attribute on a woman, and it’s necessary to be successful in the workplace. A confident woman portrays strength, determination and persistence, and is not afraid to be herself. While we all know confidence is crucial in order to create a name for yourself in the office, actually obtaining it is another story. Here are a few tips to be more confident at work, command the attention of your co-workers and gain their respect.
You studied what you love, right? And you want to find a job doing what you studied. You want to find a job that can utilize your talents and interests; one where you won’t be bored, underutilized or blown off. But there is just one problem: there are no jobs in your field. Everybody is telling you to find a temporary position; something you can do until you find your elusive perfect job. No. You don’t want to do that. You don’t want to be stuck as a peon for the rest of your life. But you don’t want to starve either.
How can you find your perfect job? How can you resist the temptation to just find something, anything that pays? Here’s how.
Have you ever had such a bad experience with something or someone that you have an almost violently negative reaction to anything similar you encounter in the future? It doesn’t have to even be that much alike either; it only needs to spark that little bit of recognition to cause you to start running for the hills. The only thing you can control is yourself, so how effectively you can move on from a bad situation rests solely with you. Don’t hold yourself back, grow, move on, and find that better future for you.