Career Management Alliance Blog

Yasmin Davidds-Garrido, international best-selling author and empowerment specialist, often expresses the following quotation in her presentations:

“Personal power comes from within and when you embrace it, you feel as though there is nothing in the world that you cannot handle. It helps you recognize that everything in your life is a choice, and it reinforces the truth that you have complete control over each and every one of those choices. While we may not have control over the events that occur in our lives, we have control over how we react to these events. You, alone, are in control of your destiny.”

How does this apply to your career? As we stated in our post Twelve Characteristics of Multicultural Career Success:

• Trust that you are the most important person in your career.
• Embrace your personal power to fuel your career power.
• Activate your career power so you can be proactive in your job search, manage the process and to respond well, rather than react, to the events you cannot control.
• Learn to adapt and transform any self-limiting cultural programming into power centers.

Declare your independence today, July 4, 2008!

Posted by Murray A. Mann

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It’s awards season. Diversity Inc., Fortune, Black Enterprise, disABLED, Hispanic Business, Human Rights Campaign, Working Mother, G.I. Jobs, AARP and other publications are releasing their annual lists of the best companies to work for. The directories are another valuable tool for use in your job search.  

To effectively make use of these lists we recommend that you take the following steps: 

• Determine that the organization uses legitimate selection criteria* and making decisions on the amount advertising dollars spent by a company
• Read the website’s rationale for choosing each employer by clicking on the links above
• Review the publication’s lists from the previous years to determine a company’s history as an employer of choice
• Research the employer – learn how at Quintessential Careers and job-hunt.org.
• Check out the company’s to website assess its commitment to diversity and inclusion
• Connect with the company’s diversity offices, recruitment programs and employee resource groups
• Network with industry-related professional associations that represent people of diverse backgrounds

Using these strategies can help you identify employment opportunities, determine your fit with the corporate culture, secure interviews, and increase your chances of getting hired.  

* How do credible publications chose which companies are the best employers?  Robert Bard, publisher of LATINA Style Magazine says that, “to select the annual list of 50 Top Companies for Latinas, we use  an extensive and transparent process listed on our website including a 140 question comprehensive survey (developed with the assistance of Catalyst, Working Mother Magazine, U.S. Census, Department of Labor and EEOC), conduct confidential interviews with Latina employees, verify applicant submissions through additional research and an outside review committee. It is a combination of many factors, not just a human resources issue; diversity must translate into all areas of a corporation.” 

Bard adds that, “We go to extreme lengths to insure that the Latina Style 50 is unimpeachable.  A company cannot buy its way onto the list. The majority of companies that are selected have never advertised with LATINA Style Magazine.” 

Posted by Murray A. Mann; cross-posted on Diversity Intelligence

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Your job interview is going just as you envisioned and prepared for. You think you’ve nailed it. Then you’re blindsided with an illegal, inappropriate, or offensive question.  Minorities, women, people with disabilities, and immigrants are more likely to encounter this dilemma.  

So what do you do if it happens to you? 

We recommend reading Emily Sanderson’s detailed post How to Answer Questionable Questions in a Job Interview. “Whether the question is legal or not, you still might have an incentive to answer it,” says Bill Coleman, senior vice president and chief compensation officer at Salary.com. . .”  

What if you believe that this is not a totally insensitive, discriminatory interviewer, but that the person slipped up in the phrasing of the question? Perhaps you are truly interested in this company, and feel that the interviewer’s insensitivity or inappropriateness may not be representative of the employer as a whole. On the other hand, you may believe that the interview does reflect the company’s treatment of people of different backgrounds.

This delicate situation becomes a real balancing act. We recommend that you choose to address these questions in a manner that supports your best interest in securing a job that fits your values and goals.  

While you can’t control the questions that are asked, you do control how you respond. Think about how you might TRIUMPH™ over illegal, inappropriate, or offensive questions by using the simple options below.

Take a step back; evaluate the question and the situation.

Respond to the question directly.

Identify the intent behind the question and respond indirectly with an answer that relates to the requirements of the position.

Upstage and ignore the question by redirecting the conversation.

Mention the error diplomatically.

Politely refuse to answer the question.

Hit the road. Gracefully and professionally excuse yourself.

To see examples for implementing the TRIUMPH™ strategy go to Diversity Intelligence . Posted by Murray A. Mann

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During Women’s Histrory Month, Single Ma, author of Fabulous Financials “the journey of a fabulous single mom pursuing financial independence,” wrote a wonderful series on career management and about what it means to be a professional woman.

The full series includes:

Part I: The Professional Woman

Part II: The Myth of Having it All and Being Assertive

Part III: Leadership Styles (participative vs. command & control)

Part IV: Developing Relationships (networking and mentoring)

Part V: Summary and Recommended Reading

We contributed to the discussion with some suggestions we included in the Career Management Alliance article, A Mentorship Roadmap For Your Clients. While mentoring is beneficial for everyone at all levels of the career continuum, research confirms that a strong core of advisors and mentors is more crucial for youth, women, people with disabilities and multicultural careerists. Mentors in your career board of directors can include:

• Formal and informal mentors
• Males and females
• From your ethnic group and other ethnic backgrounds
• Leaders in your company and industry
• Experts from cross-functional segments in your organization
• Peers or others with specialized skills and experiences that will be helpful to you
• Individuals, company based employee resource/affinity groups and external professional associations
• Formal company mentorship programs.
• Industry peers from outside your company.
• Knowledge experts.
• Academics
• Career, workplace, and life coaches. 

Remember to give back to your mentors and pay it forward by helping others achieve their career goals.

Posted by Murray A. Mann

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A recent blog post on the Executive Recruiter’s Exchange network caught my eye - the heading read:

“No women at the top at Apple”

The article, based on an Oct 16, 2007 story in the San Diego Mercury News highlighted the fact that the glass ceiling is still prevalent, especially in California. The fact that Apple Computers, one of the top technology companies in the world, does not have a single woman in the executive suite, in a state considered to be one of the most progressive in the nation is a real eye opener. A 2007 survey by UC-Davis reported that only 9% of companies in Santa Clara County, California, which is home to Silicon Valley, have promoted a woman to a top position. This sad scenario is reflected in businesses throughout the country, despite the fact that women are increasing their involvement in male-dominated industries and are pursuing graduate degrees in record numbers in business, science and engineering.

A study by Catalyst, a New York non-profit that works to expand opportunities for women in business, found that companies with women directors achieved higher profits. Catalyst’s latest study, released this month, showed that Fortune 500 companies with the highest representation of women on their boards attained significantly higher financial
performance, on average, than those with the lowest representation of women board directors.

These companies, that have given women opportunities to advance to higher levels, deserve to applauded:

• Hewlett-Packard is among the top 25 companies in the 2007 UC-Davis survey.
• Kyphon, eBay, Cisco Systems and Intuit each have four women on boards or in top posts.
• An additional 12 Silicon Valley companies have three women at the top: SJW Corp., Applied Micro Circuits Corp., Netgear, Credence Systems Corp., Palm, SVB Financial Group, Synopsys, California Water Service Group, Omnicell, Adobe, Google and Sun Microsystems.
• Safra Catz is President, Chief Financial Officer and member of the board of directors at Oracle
• Meg Whitman is President, CEO and board member at eBay
• Susan Decker is President of Yahoo

So what needs to happen for more women to break the glass ceiling and get the recognition they deserve? Companies need to realize the rich perspective that women bring to the table and make hiring decisions with diversity in mind.As an executive coach, I work with women who have struggled with this issue. In many cases, they possess the intelligence and skills to succeed in senior leadership roles, yet don’t get promoted due a lack of aggressiveness that for many women is inherent in their female upbring. Coaching can help women step beyond their limitations and achieve goals they never thought possible. It’s a step in the right direction, if the men making the decisions will give them a chance.

Posted by Julianne Franke

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What’s going on with today’s corporate executives?

A February 2007 blog entitled Top Talent Demands Better Work-Life Balance stated a surprising trend:

Even five years ago, the idea that a senior executive would turn down a job because it meant too much travel, too long a commute or demanded too much of their time would have been seen as absurd.

It wasn’t the first time I had heard about this emerging trend. A recent teleconference on leveraging recruiter relationships revealed that it is becoming increasingly difficult to recruit for senior level executive positions in today’s corporations. The speaker, Joe McCool, a leading expert in executive recruiting, stated that he is seeing a “pendulum shift” on the work/life balance issue, i.e. fewer executives willing to make the sacrifices required to be successful at a high level in today’s corporations. This includes an
unwillingness to relocate and to work 70-80 hours a week, among other things. Joe
said management tenure is at an all time low while the demands and pressures of leadership are at an all time high. According to his research, one organization reported that 40% of high potential succession planning candidates opted out of the process voluntarily.

A bit shocking? Indeed; yet a recent survey by ExecuNet concluded that half of American execs are unhappy in their jobs and planning to leave within a year. The survey that polled 2,149 executives with average salary of $221,000/year stated that job satisfaction levels among America’s top managers were “dangerously low”, with many organizations simply unable to keep their management teams intact.

It’s no wonder that the “War for Talent” is heating up. But if you are an aspiring senior executive, this is good news. For the first time in a long time, there may be more room at the top for those willing to make the sacrifices involved in climbing the corporate ladder.

Posted by Julianne Franke

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After the cards, flowers, and brunch, what’s in store for Mom on the Monday after Mother’s Day?

*Chances are she is among the 65.7 million women who work outside the home

*According to a 2006 AFL-CIO fact sheet, being a mom means she is likely to be underpaid and underemployed:

• *Women >35 years of age earn 76% of the earnings of their male counterparts;

• *Women ages 16-24 earn 95% of their male counterparts

Families with working mothers are experiencing the “maternal wall” - a complex set of sociological and economic barriers that lead to a myriad of problems, including lost income, poor health, work-family conflict, etc. The maternal wall is sometimes imposed on working adults by employers whose workplace policies are not family-friendly. In this case, the maternal wall is known as “family responsibilities discrimination” or “frd” - a new name for a familiar barrier that prevents women from achieving economic self-sufficiency and parity.

The bricks and mortar of the maternal wall are issues like:

• While most parents work outside the home, childcare resources are frequently limited, expensive, and disappointing. It is a status symbol for a parent to be able to stay at home to raise children.

• While women have earned more bachelor’s and master’s degrees than men since 1982, many are squandering their education and experience as they opt for less demanding, lower paying, and oftentimes, “dead-end” jobs in an effort to achieve work/life balance.

• Careers that offer high salaries and status usually require work habits that conflict with raising children, e.g. expectations of 24/7 availability, travel, relocation, etc.

• Women who opt-out of the workforce to raise their families are taking a risk: they could become single parents or widows with limited work experience, undeveloped networks, and inadequate health care insurance and retirement security.

So what can be done about it? How to honor our mothers and grandmothers who have hit the wall?

• Lobby employers to adopt values neutral human resources policies, e.g. without respect to gender or family status

• Encourage a re-examination of 24/7 expectations of successful professionals/executives

• Use tele-commuting and other technological advances to help women and men remain current in their field and visible to colleagues and management

• Expand options for quality childcare and eldercare, and for childcare/eldercare workers

Volunteer for a sympathetic candidate’s campaign or join an activist group like MomsRising.org. or Women Work! Write a check to the political campaign of a candidate who supports polices to make America truly family friendly. Scale the Maternal Wall - Do it to honor your mother!

Posted by Karen P. Katz

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A recent article in CIO Digest cited evidence that the percentage of women in IT has declined by almost eight percent since 2000, to 26 percent of all employed IT workers. Nobody at CIO seems to know the reason for the decline. Lynn Ellyn, Senior Vice President and CIO of DTE Energy, writes, “I think this trend is an indictment of the often abrasive experience women have in the IT arena. As I reflect on this disturbing trend, I recall countless incidences where women have been discounted and marginalized while struggling to balance family and work.” Also, she writes, “the image of the ‘computer guy’ is very unappealing to young women.” Ellyn, by the way, has been in the technology business for 30 years and currently oversees an 800-person IT organization.

I am sure CIO Ellyn is on to something. I also believe that our public education system might be a large reason for the trend. A long time ago (okay, about 20 years ago) I began a bachelor’s degree in computer science, and changed my major to business after only one semester. Why? Because it was really, really difficult. As much as I studied and received extra help (thanks Dr. Britton), I didn’t think in the same way as my professors and fellow students. Before college, I hadn’t received much training in logic and scientific thinking. In public high school, besides Algebra, Biology, and Chemistry, most of my required subjects were liberal arts. Certainly, one could say that I didn’t belong in a scientific field and was weeded out early. That is probably true. But, I wonder how many other girls (and guys) got weeded out and gave up altogether.

Fast-forward twenty years or so and not much has changed. I have a 14-year-old entering a top-notch public high school next fall (it’s famous because Oprah went there for a semester). Interestingly, as a freshman he’s required to take a semester of health and a foreign language, but science is not a requirement. In a survey conducted by Bayer of the 100 fastest growing U.S. science/technology firms, the CEOs assigned an average grade of “C-” (2.87) to the U.S. pre-college or K-12 education system for the job it is doing engaging and nurturing girls and minorities to pursue STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) careers.

So what does this mean? Of course we need to do a better job of preparing our kids and augmenting science education at home. However, from a careers perspective there’s tremendous opportunity for girls and women who wish to enter or transition into the field. With so much attention given to this trend, you can bet that forward-thinking firms will want to attract and retain women into their technology departments.

Posted by Michele Haffner

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