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News For You - February 2005We have developed this page to give our visitors the opportunity to see what's new, at a glance, in the business world and how it relates to our program. Take a moment to browse and see what's of interest to you!
Career Planning: A Recruiter's Perspective
Career Planning: A Recruiter's Perspective CAREERJOURNAL.COM recently interviewed Judith von Seldeneck, the founder and CEO of Diversified Search Inc. one of the largest woman-owned search firms and rated among the top 20 executive search firms in the country. Q: How can women executives do a better job of positioning themselves for their next move? A: They have to approach it from several perspectives. If their next job is in their current company, they should plan their careers moves, have a time frame in mind and be sure to communicate their objectives to upper management. Many large companies do a good job helping key people map their career paths, especially key women. But women executives have to make sure the subject stays on the agenda when they talk to senior-level people. They have to be the ones who drive it. At the same time, they should keep their options open, so if their career in their current company isn't proceeding within the time frame they have set, they have outside-the-company alternatives. Maintaining outside networks is the key. You can do this by serving on not-for-profit boards and joining business networks in the community, such as a national industry association or chamber of commerce business and professional group. Q: Do you think women are judged more critically in their careers than men? A: I hate to say it, but I do. It's obvious by looking at certain statistics, such as, the number of women chief executive officers and the percentage of women on Fortune 1000 boards. It's very disappointing how little women are progressing in executive suites and boardrooms. It isn't because there aren't capable women to occupy these positions. It's a societal problem that still plagues us. For whatever reason, it seems to be harder for women to climb the ladder than men; and I think it's because they are held to a higher standard and more critically evaluated. Q: Are MBAs needed for the kind of jobs that women executives want today? A: I think the jury is out on that. They were needed until recently, but my sense is that MBAs have become less important. People look at your work experience, level of responsibility and compensation. How highly you're compensated is a real signal of how highly you are valued. Q: Can women who are serious about their careers also have a family? A: I think they definitely can. I do. You can be better at both if you have both because you appreciate how important each is to you and you work harder at compromising, being more efficient and managing your energy and emotion. The complete interview with Ms. von Seldeneck is available at CareerJournal.com Source: The Wall Street Journal Monday, November 8, 2004
Negotiating Tips For Women Executives Even powerful and successful women have made negotiating mistakes. We wanted to know what they learned from them. We talked with top women executives in a range of industries to discover the most common mistakes women make when bargaining. These missteps are relatively easy to correct once you realize you're making them. Here's a look at two of them. Mistake: Adopting a negotiating style that doesn't reflect who you are.
Solution: Be yourself, but be the best self you can be. Women often think that a good negotiator is tough, screams, knows all the tricks and can outsmart her opponent. But this approach usually doesn't work - for men or women. And many women simply aren't comfortable with it, preferring a collaborative negotiating style instead. There are plenty of other ways to operate. If you're soft-spoken, you can be a soft-spoken negotiator and still take strong positions. You can disagree politely. You can offer alternatives, but you must be able to disagree rather than give in to something that's contrary to your interests. Mistake : Not negotiating well when you're doing it for yourself. Solution : Negotiate for yourself as if you were negotiating for someone else. Both Men and Women find it difficult to negotiate for themselves, but women often have an even harder time. Many women were raised to believe that it's selfish to ask for things for themselves. Sometimes just recognizing that you have a tendency to put others' needs ahead of your own is enough to change your behavior. If you do your homework, you'll know what's fair and reasonable to request. Don't settle for less. To see more negotiating tips, go to www.CareerJournal.Com/Salaryhiring/negotiate. This article is adapted from the book "A Women's Guide to Successful Negotiating" (McGraw-Hill, 2002). Source: The Wall Street Journal, Monday, November 8, 2004
The Facts Behind Board Diversity There has been much written recently about the need to add more women to corporate boards and the lack of progress in this area. Though this is often attributed to a long-standing resistance to including women at the board level, I would offer another view. I believe the reason that statistics for women holding board seats are, at best, static, is due to a combination of factors, both regulatory and pragmatic. Most executives understand why it may be in a company's best interest to increase the gender equality on its board. Among them are the acknowledgement that women and minorities bring new and different perspectives that can be a catalyst for creativity, innovative thinking and fresh ideas. Also, according to research studies, when there are females on a board, issues such as conflict-of-interest and risk oversight are addressed more often than on all-male boards. Women often look at issues differently and in greater depth than their male counterparts. Finally, with half of the work force comprised of women, board diversity can be a recruiting tool, helping to communicate the company's values and commitment. Despite this knowledge, other concerns take precedence in today's highly charged environment for board governance. The rules of the Public Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act of 2002, known as Sarbanes-Oxley, have made it more important than ever to have a precise mix of experience and talent on a board. Financial skills, international expertise and knowledge of a company's products and markets are critical. It's the skill sets that are paramount -- not gender. Compounding the issue is a trend toward keeping boards small, which presents fewer expansion opportunities. If there are, say, one or two women directors out of eight board positions, a company may feel they're OK on the diversity issue. Though we would clearly like to see higher numbers of women, a case can be made that this percentage is in line with the number of women at executive levels in America. Going forward, advocacy for and by women is a key factor, of which all of us women who serve on boards should be mindful. Going the extra step to find women candidates with the right experience, and speaking up to get women included in the mix, are vital. It is also important that women who aspire to board directorships understand and, if necessary, obtain the experience needed by boards today. That way, there will be more qualified women candidates to choose from. While board diversity is not happening as quickly as we'd like, it's not for the same old reasons. One could argue it is improving if you factor in smaller board sizes and the focus on required expertise. Source: Philadelphia Business Journal, November 19, 2004 print edition.
USA Leads in Female Board Members Countries with the highest percentage of female board members at biggest companies:
Source: USA TODAY SnapShots
Self-employment on the Rise, Especially for Women and Minorities According to a recent study done by the Small Business Administration's office of advocacy, self-employment is on the rise. Last year, more than 12 million Americans were self-employed which accounts for nearly 10% of the nation's workforce. Of the increased number of self-employed people, it is reported that women and minorities hold the largest increase. From 1979 to 2003, the number of self-employed women more than doubled to 3.8 million. Self-employment among blacks also increased drastically to 710,000, while self-employment within the Latino community jumped 328% to more than 1 million. Source: Philadelphia Business Journal December 10-16, 2004
Salary Discrepancies Between Men and Women Still Persist It has been forty years since laws were passed that protected women from gender discrimination, yet women are still paid less money than men for doing exactly the same job. After all the struggles women have gone through to achieve equality in the workforce one would think that by now women and men would have a level playing field, be paid the same amount for doing the same job, and would share equally in opportunities for promotion. Because of the salary discrepancies between men and women, there has been an increase in discriminatory legal action on the part of women against corporations. This has been precipitated because women now are sharing more of the financial responsibility of the family. About 62% of all working women are contributing 50% or more of their household income. And, the difference between the entry level pay for men and women generally is several thousand dollars, which may seem insignificant, but over time it adds up and with the pay gap increasing each year, the figures can become very significant. However, there have been arguments that the statistics may not tell the whole story, because they don't account for biology or preferences. For example, working women who have children often take time off, delaying their promotions and some women choose professions that pay less or quit high powered jobs when they don't seem worth it. Hilary Lips, a Radford University psychology professor conducted a study of the pay gap that did control for these factors. In her study she found that only in jobs that pay $25,000-$30,000 a year do men and women earn roughly the same. The further up the pay scale you go and the higher the education levels, the wider the earnings gap becomes. According to economist Linda Babcock, co-author of the 2003 book Women Don't Ask , one explanation for women's lower pay and status is that women don't negotiate as deftly as men. Studies show that women are much more likely to accept a salary offer without negotiation. A study done by Carnegie Mellon graduate students reported that men were eight times more likely than women to negotiate an initial salary, resulting in starting pay an average of 7.4%, or $4000, more than their female classmates. And, many companies argue that failing to negotiate is the job candidate's problem not theirs. Laura Liswood, a senior adviser and former managing partner at Goldman Sachs and head of the council of Women World Leaders at Harvard's Kennedy School, says that the groups that dominate (usually white men) "tend to think the system is based on merit, works correctly, and that if changes are needed, they're minor." In the exact same organization, she says, "Women and minorities believe the opposite." Source: Fortune Magazine, January 10, 2005
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