American business has had to alter its perceptions based upon changes in society where men and women are concerned. That's certainly true to a great extent, but it doesn't necessarily extend to all women in the workplace. Yes, modern women than ever before are not only being hired but being given top executive positions. That's the good news. The bad news is that every survey on the subject of salaries for men and women indicates that, in general, women are paid 35 percent less than men for doing the same job. I suppose this represents an advance of sorts; undoubtedly, the figure was even lower a few decades ago.
Perhaps the reason has to do with the fact that women have made their biggest impact on the workplace only in recent years, and the age level of employed women, on the average, is lower than for men.
At the same time, remember, as I said before, if you discuss on the premise that you'll always have less responsible jobs at less pay because you're a woman or a member of a minority group, you may subconsciously turn that belief into reality. We do it in many areas of our working lives-give in to something over which we have little or no control, then become convinced that we have not succeeded because of it. Certainly, there are negative factors outside ourselves that have the potential to cause us problems, but, whether perceived or actual, it is our responsibility to recognize them and create ways to cope with them in order to convert them to our advantage, rather than go through life feeling victimized.
Many problems faced by women, as a group, in today's workplace are also problems for individuals of all types, male and female alike.
Take age as an example, which I've addressed specifically in other chapters. If someone considers him- or herself too old to land a better job, that attitude will be evident and will surely stymie the person's chances for success. On the other hand, if that same person views being somewhat older as something positive, a good share of opportunities for better jobs will be the result.
I've encountered a legion of job seekers in my career who operate under the handicap of what I call the "Too Syndrome." They explain away their failures by saying they're too short or too tall; too homely or too good-looking; have too little experience or too much; too little education or too much. And, in the case of some women, "The workplace is too prejudiced against women for me to really succeed."
Women who think this way when pursuing jobs, and going through interviews, assume that the male behind the desk doing the hiring considers women not to be career-oriented enough...or that women get married have children, and don't return to work...or that women aren't tough enough to withstand big business rough-and-tumble rat race...or that women are too sensitive.
The list goes on.
The best approach any woman with career aspirations can take is to counteract any such myths-if they exist at all with any given male interviewer-before they are allowed to influence a hiring decision. I recommend that women prepare, as part of their overall approach t an interview, answers to those myths and questions. The might well be on an interviewer's mind, but won't b asked because it is against the law of the land.
Such questions as "Is she married?", "Does she expect to get married?", "Is she living with someone?", "She's married; how soon does she plan to start a family?" might be answered without the questions being asked, if you think it's to your advantage and would help you nail down a job offer. For instance, here's something you might say during the interview, if you consider it appropriate:
"I think this position you're filling, is a wonderful opportunity for me, and I assure you that if you hire me, you won't be sorry. My husband and I both have solid work ethics. He's a partner with a major CPA firm, and we own an apartment ten minutes from this office. We don't have any children, and we share household responsibilities beautifully, I consider myself someone who works equally well with men and women."
This approach holds true for anyone who anticipates prejudice that might be practiced against him or her, no matter how subtly. If you're older, project what questions might arise with the interviewer, and put his or her mind at rest up-front. If you think your age is holding you back, will. Combat the problem during the interview by interacting with such prejudices. For example, you might project into the interview something like: "Ms. Brown, I list tell you that I'm proud of my attendance record. In the last two years I was only out once, and that was for three days. I'm not only extremely accurate in the work I do, I pride myself on being able to complete a project in the least possible time in order to free myself up for new assignments. I guess what it amounts to is that I enjoy working and take a lot of pride in what results I'm able to achieve."
It's my sincere belief that competent women have better opportunities today than equally competent men. Companies are just beginning to recognize that the effective number of qualified people applying for better jobs has at least doubled in the past twenty-five years. Men now believe that they have 100 percent more competition than they used to have-women!
Ten years ago we did a survey that I found interesting, if not startling. We examined the files of job candidates we sent on interviews for financial middle-management positions. The survey revealed that when at least one woman was interviewed for the position- no matter how many men were interviewed for the same opening-women were hired in 73.3 percent of the cases.
When I started my career on the way to becoming a Certified Public Accountant, women were a rarity in public accounting. I worked with two women in a large CPA firm that employed mostly men. I must admit they were superior accountants. I rationalized that men and women were equal in innate ability, but that women tried that much harder in the man's world of accounting. Today, more than half of college accounting graduates are women, and women hold jobs of tremendous responsibility in all areas of finance and account! There is absolutely no room for discrimination prejudice in any area of hiring. I've always had a feeling about this subject, and have fought for equal rights throughout my many years in personnel recruiting. When I first started in 1948, some newspapers still accepted that were blatantly discriminatory-for example, "only Christians need apply." Age requirements were more frequent than not, and women were easily omitted from the better jobs in the classified section of major newspaper because the better jobs all appeared under the heading "Help Wanted, Male." That's the way jobs were filled in those days, and I have to tell you, I certainly wasn't very proud of it.
When I was president of our trade association in the early 1950s, I wrote an article titled: "It's as Simple a Black and White." I pointed out to our members that the world has changed and will never be the same. Discrimination because of color has no more place in our society, it's not only inhumane, it's bad business to discriminate. I had some insight into the problems of blacks. I was a volunteer ambulance driver in the 1940s, one night a week from 7:00 PM. to 7:00 AM., for Sydenham Hospital in Harlem. I did this volunteer work for two years, and our group took the conventional police phone calls. Sydenham was experimenting at the time with a "revolutionary" plan of black doctors working alongside white doctors and black nurses working with white nurses. It didn't take me long to realize that, black or white, I should judge them on what I perceived was their ability. I found them the same-some of each group were good and some were not so good.
Prejudice of various kinds and strengths, against various groups, is still with us, and at times spills over into the hiring process when certain individuals are involved. Now this, however, those individuals are far fewer than years ago. We've come a long way-thank God.
Whatever sex, religion, ethnic background, or color you are, you owe it to yourself to not allow those things to keep you from finding better jobs. They're out there for everyone, unless you go after them assuming you won't get them because you're too...