During my first 4 weeks in the "real world" working a career-type job, I've made several observations about people.
1. It's not what you know it's who you know: I know it sounds way cliche but it has a lot of truth to it. The other day we learned about something called your "corridor reputation." This refers to what people would say if someone asked them about you- ex) the funny guy, the over-achiever etc. Apparently, this corridor rep is based on 3 things: performance, image, and exposure. Performance only accounts for 10%. Image is 30%. The rest is in this huge category called exposure- do people know who you are? I know another intern who recently had a job opened just for him after meeting someone on his train commute to work. This job pays a 6 figure salary. Crazy right? I really struggle with this. Office politics suck. See #2.
2. Nice Girls Never Get the Corner Office: This is the name of a book that I really want to read that we talked about in an intern session the other day. It basically talks about women in the workplace and the major challenges that we face. It mentions a bunch of mistakes that women can subconsiously make that causes people to take them less seriously (men can also make these mistakes but they happen more often with females). For example, I tend to take up little space at meetings usually sitting back in my chair with my hands on my lap. Not effective. Men, on the other hand, tend to lean forward and put their arms on the table claiming their "territory." Apparently, positioning yourself in that way shows confidence and that you deserve a "seat at the table." Another mistake= tilting your head when you talk to people instead of looking at them straight on- guilty of this. But my biggest struggle involves asking for what I want. There are a lot of people around that I would love to arrange meetings with/ ask for job opportunities. But I'm not a forward person. Some people will walk into whatever office they're interested in and introduce themselves and ask for a job, opportunity, etc. That's not my style. Unfortunately, it's hard to get what you want without asking for it. The trouble is coming across as too forward or greedy. This brings me to #3.
3. Sugar and Spice: I've noticed that there are 2 stereotypes of career women stereotypes that are prevalent. There's the beauty with no brains who sleeps her way to the top and there's the Ice Queen who everyone hates. Where's the middle ground? I'm not saying that the women I meet fall into these categories- that's not the case at all. It's more about how we're perceived by outsiders. For example, I'm scared to wear skirts that fall above my knee because then the women think I'm slutty and the men think I'm the first category above. If another married man makes a move, I might punch someone. Wiener scandal anyone...A lot of men are dogs- but I digress. But when I'm career focused and trying to get ahead, I'm perceived as the second category. This kind of relates to the corridor reputation thing I mentioned in #1. Getting that "exposure" is hard for modern women. You're either a whore or a bitch take your pick. It's ridiculous.
Don't get me wrong, I'm loving every minute of my experience out here. I've met some amazing people, and I'm doing important things at work that make a difference. I'm trying to write everything down that I'm questioning in this blog because I want to combat the stereotype. The number of female leaders has grown but it's no where near a majority. Congress, especially the Senate, have very few female leaders. Even the two biggest female leaders in the limelight, Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin, fall into the type I and II stereotypes I listed above. Hillary is perceived as the Ice Queen and Palin the airhead. I'm not going to go into their politics (I'm representing both parties here), but do we really have to compartamentalize people like that? At the rate we're going I don't think the public would ever be satisfied with a female president- she's seen as either too emotional or cold-hearted. It has got to change.
Ok, that concludes my soapbox. The end.
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