Why career tips just for women? Well, women are not just slightly scaled down versions of men (despite what car manufacturers and seat belt designers think. My own personal prejudices might be showing there). We are different.
Women face plenty of extra hurdles when forging ahead in their careers. Extra to what, I hear you ask? Well, that’d be extra to men. Most of our working practices have been around for some time and as such were designed to suit very well the guys who designed them. Which, I guess is fair enough, but now it really is time for them to move along the bench and make some space for us.
Men Do Well When Women Do Well
Frankly, it is in their interests to make a gender equal working environment. Companies that employ significant numbers of women in senior roles do much better on most metrics. Plus, men actually enjoy working in them more, too.
As well as businesses surviving the economic storms better when they have gender diversity, policies like parental leave etc contribute to a much more wholesome (as opposed to toxic) definition of masculinity. That pressure to be Macho Man is diluted the more women come on board. And I mean literally on the board.
1. Stop Playing Safe With Your Career
A quick scan through some of the literature on women and careers will tell you that women can be very risk averse when it comes to their careers and to financial risk taking. There are a lot of reasons for this, and I am not apportioning blame. However, if you want to get ahead you need to be the one in control. And remember, women are described as ‘risk averse’ when they are compared to men. It could just be that be that men take too many risks, compared to us. You decide.
Check out How To Stop Playing Safe With Your Career and answer the seven questions.
2. Networking – Most Women Don’t like It, Do You?
Networking for women. Is it really any different to general networking? Well, my coaching clients would seem to suggest that it is.
How do you feel about networking? Has the very word ‘networking’ made you shudder as if you’ve just stepped on something unpleasant? You are not alone if so, as that is often the response I get when I mention it during coaching sessions. I haven’t always been keen on it myself in all honesty, until I discovered a way to make it work for me. It is an essential ingredient in career success. Read my next tip Networking for Women and Why You Must Do It.
3. Make Your Voice Heard At Work
Women talk too much. We’ve all heard that, haven’t we? So it must be true. Yeah, right. Like so many commonly held beliefs about women’s capabilities it’s a myth and not backed up by the actual research.
Yet it seems to be a commonly held idea that women talk too much. Researchers looked at a huge selection of business meetings across the Western world and at the end of each meeting asked everyone as they left who talked the most. If you buy into this myth it’s really hard to speak up when you need to, and you do need to to have career success.
Check out the full advice here Making Your Voice Heard
RenewYou, My Tried and Tested Career Booster!
RenewYou has helped thousands of women make positive and lasting change in their lives. I deliver it one-to-one as part of a bespoke coaching package for women looking to move into leadership, to progress their career, or who wish to be the absolute best version of themselves.
Posted on April 20th, 2021 by Jane
