Gender Gap or Lack of Education On How to Get Ahead?
The New York Times recently published an article on “Girl Power At School, But Not At The Office“. While our educational environments seem to be evolving to encourage and empower girls to excel at school, it seems like we are still failing at helping young women make the transition from schools of learning to offices of hard knocks.
Unfortunately the article doesn’t highlight any new issues, and instead points out issues with negotiations, the perception of a woman in the work place and being the “young lady” in the office are items we have had to deal with for years. But should we continue to point fingers at a “gender gap”, or more importantly find ways to change the way we as women of the web learn to transition and adapt to perform in an office environment?
For women of the web and in technology, both new to the work world and years down one’s path, here are some suggestions to help you get ahead in the office:
- Plan to Negotiate
Do you have a system to negotiate, or a well thought out plan before entering a negotiation? For example, when you go in to negotiate a raise or offer, do you have a spreadsheet of questions and possible answers to ask entering the negotiation? Ask peers and friends questions they ask or tools they use during a negotiation to help you understand what you may need to ask for. - Continue to Build Self Confidence
Gain that “thick skin” you need to take blows in the office. That means, don’t take things personally – focus on making things happen, understanding that you will have times you will fail or rub someone the wrong way, but pick up the pieces, learn from the mistake and move on. There isn’t enough time in the day to linger on issues. - Be Proactive
Don’t just see an issue and walk around it, either within your office environment or within yourself. Tackle it before it festers further, or if you see an opportunity to make something happen, make it happen.
For parents, college advisors and offices of career services reading this, here are some questions to ask yourself:
- How are you educating your child or student to get ready to enter the work force?
- Do you provide education on dress, attitude and behavior?
- How do you train on critical soft skills like influence, leadership and negotiating?
Lastly, for those of you that run your own business:
- What can you be doing to encourage younger talented generations to join your team and become a loyal employee via a smooth transition from college?
- Are you encouraging your leaders to help bring younger colleagues “up”, or, to fight with each other for a more senior position?
What else can we be doing to help incorporate the educational environment’s sense of equality to the workplace?
Related posts:
Did you enjoy this post? subscribe now to get all of the posts Comments (1)
Great post! I see as one of the great challenges the lack of publicity of female role models in leadership positions. There are many more male role models and they may not be relevant or appropriate for women. It is very important teach all the necessary facts about woman power. But teachings should also be strengthened by the specific inspirational examples and active mentorship. It could be really cool if every woman entering the workspace had another woman (preferably in her organization) to help to get up to speed