Women in Business – How are you with change?

It’s a pretty unpredictable business world at the moment. To be honest, for most of my adult life it feels like it’s always been a pretty unpredictable business world; this time around the stats are telling us that women in business are getting the worse end of the financial crisis, (somewhat ironic in light of a new book published on neuroeconomics, highlighting how if women had been in charge we probably wouldn’t be in a downturn!)

However, we are where we are and our attitude to change will be a significant factor in how we survive.

How do you React to Change?

There are two ways of responding – try to ignore and resist it and adopt the ‘if I stay quiet it won’t notice me and will go away’… stance. Of course, it won’t go away and you will feel weak and powerless and a victim of circumstances. This victim mentality will not help you deal with whatever life is throwing at you. Although for a while it can be a comfortable place to be as we rant and rave at the powers that be, frequently quoting how different it might be if women had been in charge! Be warned, the apparent comfort of moaning is a terrible trap to fall into….it won’t help and it may harm you.

And the second option? Don’t give away your power. Life throws rubbish at us from time to time but we always have a choice – recycle or drown in garbage. Recycling is so much better!

Keep the End in Mind

It might not be exactly what you want because you’re making it from what you’ve actually got, not what you’d choose, but it’s better than the alternative! Even when times are tough there are solutions, you just have to look a bit harder.

Don’t stop looking ahead and making plans for your future. Don’t stop investing in your career. Perhaps you can’t afford a course but you could could get a good career relevant book or an on-line course. Tap into all your resources., including friends and colleagues and give back too.

Know where you want to be ultimately, even if for a while circumstances mean you need to do a bit of fancy footwork. and make some compromises. If you can keep those longer term aims in sight it makes the interim stuff much more bearable.  See it for what it is, a deviation on your route which might mean the route takes longer. Keep your eyes fixed on the end goal and one day you will be doing just what you want to do!

Photo Credit: Dieter Joel Jagnow

Career Tips for Women # 16

Three Minutes Count!

Julia Goodman runs a consultancy helping women perform well at interview. Using the research from Professor Mehrabian (which I’ve written about before, click here) on the impact of the non verbal messages we give, she films all her clients giving mock interviews.  This has given her a wealth of material to draw on for research.

Keep Focussed

Ms Goodman reviewed over 1000 of these role play tapes and discovered an interesting fact. The first three minutes really count, when you make your initial impression and set the tone for the interview. No real surprises there as we all know the power of first impressions.

However, she also discovered that many interviewees lost focus in the closing stages of interview but those that maintained focus right to the end, gave more successful interviews (at least in the role play interviews). The final three minutes were as important as the first. It makes sense, people remember the first time they meet you, and the last!

Relief

So next time you have an interview, don’t let your relief at getting to the end show too much! Remain focussed and alert and don’t begin to relax until you have left the building!

If you have any interview tips or stories to share, please use the comments box and tell us!