Graduate Business Schools up the Ante
After years of law schools and medical schools directing their attention and resources to attracting women applicants, business schools are now seeing the reaped rewards from these same efforts of enticing more women into MBA programs. Historically, women enrollees have been considerably lower than their male counterparts. That’s changing, though. More business schools are bringing out the heavy artillery in their efforts, says A. Harrison Barnes, career coach and founder of EmploymentCrossing.com. Private parties, all expense paid trips and other incentives - such as cooking classes, of all things, are successfully wooing more women.
Some of the best business schools in the country are already reporting impressive growth from women applicants; sometimes up to 2 percent. This means more women are going to be entering their business careers higher up the corporate ladder than in previous years. The overall image is changing too, says the EmploymentCrossing.com founder. “Women aren’t as likely to be intimidated when faced with a tepid response in a classroom comprised of mostly men”.
A University of Michigan at Ann Arbor study revealed the main reasons the numbers have always been low have to do with a lack of female role models, a lack of encouragement by their employers and the belief business jobs would mean they would have to make more compromises in terms of marriage and family. Women have been becoming brilliant physicians and attorneys for decades, now the gap is closing in business, as well. A. Harrison Barnes says there’s one more reason women have sometimes steered clear of MBA programs that’s rather surprising: the quantitative capabilities are sometimes off-putting for women. Still, the report found that more than eighty percent of women business school grads agreed the MBA contributed significantly to their careers and that the challenges were well worth the anxiety and efforts.
One school, the University of Indiana’s Kelley School of Business, offered cooking classes as part of its enticement methods. Enrollment immediately increased by eight percentage points. This is indicative of women who want it all – and believe they can achieve it. From the results of this study, they’re right. From the boardroom to the kitchen to the school plays, today’s contemporary woman is realizing there’s a balance to be had – and they’re defining it to fit their needs.
Women have long since known they can incredible medical and legal careers and now, they know an MBA is within reach – and they don’t have to make the sacrifices those before them might have faced. The Stern School of Business, located in New York, has traditionally had the highest proportion of female students and it’s now reporting ratios of forty percent and growing. With more careers opening up, as evidenced by the trends on EmploymentCrossing.com, it’s clear there’s a new trend and for many, not a moment too soon.
The last thing many workers have been thinking about in this dismal job market is how to ask for a promotion or a raise. The popular mind-set: “You’re lucky you still have a job.”
But now it’s time to shake off those recessionary shackles and start thinking seriously about getting what you deserve at work, especially if your employer is seeing an uptick in business and looking to hire new workers.
“Companies are starting to worry about defections when the economy gets better,” said Laurence Stybel, executive in residence at Sawyer Business School, Suffolk University in Boston. “Once the drumbeat of hiring starts, that’s when you can go to the boss and say, ‘I haven’t had a raise or promotion in two years.’”
Patrick Sweeney, the president and CEO of ODIN Technologies in Ashburn, Va., said his firm hired no new employees last year and had a few layoffs. But this year he plans to add up to 15 new positions.
He also just promoted two employees.
“Both guys were often the last ones at the office at night and among the first here in the morning,” Sweeney said. “More than a great work ethic, they jumped in wherever it was needed, from figuring out complex engineering problems to sweeping up our lab to calling clients on the weekend when they needed help.”
Getting a promotion in this economy is not a lot different than getting one during an economic boom. You still have to show managers you’re willing to work hard and can produce results.
“If you really want to turn yourself into a loser, think about a salary increase as a reward for past good services,” advised Stybel. “You’re trying to extract money from a cheap company, and companies don’t care about the past they’re obsessed about the future.”
Saving a company big bucks
That focus on producing results is what got Hubert Rivera two promotions in 2009, one of the toughest economic years in recent U.S. history.
Rivera became a vice president for InCharge, a Orlando, Fla.-based nonprofit credit counseling organization, in October after 10 years with the company. That came after a previous promotion in April.
Despite having to cut costs because of the economy, the goal was to maintain service to the firm’s clients. So he took initiative.
“I spoke to my boss back in May of 2009 about ways we could improve our efforts and help the company grow,” Rivera said. “We have been hit hard by the economy and saw reductions in calls and business.”
He put in extra hours and came up with a ways to cut costs but still maintain customer service, including creating an online newsletter and getting customer referrals from banks. “We put our focus together and did a lot of work,” he said.
The new initiatives saved the company $826,000.
His strategy for promotion success: “Don’t ever feel you’re entitled to your job. Always feel like there is more you can do, and eventually they will notice. If they don’t, maybe you should seek other opportunities.”
Indeed, sometimes employees work hard and get little or no recognition. Last year I received many e-mails from readers who were frustrated after taking on extra work because of layoffs or furloughs and getting nothing in return. Some workers complained that managers dangled future job promotions as a way to get them to do more, but those promotions never came.
Amanda, a bank employee who did not want her full name used for fear of retribution, shared a typical promotion scenario, which I call the “promotion Ponzi scheme”:
“Last April, my current boss told me that he was going to promote me because of the additional responsibilities I’ve taken on and the excellent job I’ve been doing. As of today, I have yet to receive that promotion. Every time I ask him about it, his only response is ‘I’m working on it.’”
In this scenario, a worker has two options.
You can simply say nothing and allow it to eat you up every day you’re at work.
Or you can ask for a meeting with the boss to discuss your performance. At that meeting, bring a list that details what you want, including a timeline on when the promised promotion will go through. Be sure to pepper the conversation with comments like: “I enjoy my work and this company very much.”
Don’t be confrontational. Just say: “I want to know if I’m appreciated here. I see others being promoted in other departments, and I want make sure that it’s not my performance that’s keeping me from getting a new title.”
It’s important to keep in mind that any time you confront your boss, you risk creating an uncomfortable situation, especially if the manager is unable to give you a raise or really doesn’t want to.
Get that promotion
If you haven’t approached the promotion topic yet with your boss and think the time might be right, remember to “think like a CEO,” said Sweeney.
“This applies to everything from turning out lights to selling the company at a cocktail party or sports event,” he said. “Be fanatical about promoting the company and its products or services.”
“The secret is to create unexpected money for your company before you ask for a piece of it back,” said Larry Myler, CEO of More or Less Inc. and the author of the forthcoming book called “Indispensable By Monday.”
Myler offers two steps. First increase profits by cutting costs, increasing revenues or boosting produtivity. Second, document the financial impact of your actions so your boss can see it in black and white.
Remember it’s always a good idea to sing your own praises. Contrary to popular belief, your boss doesn’t know what you’re doing every minute of the day.
Wendy Enelow, director of the Resume Writing Academy, suggested keeping “a running list of your accomplishments” ranging from small process improvements to large projects handled. “Be certain to include any quantifiable achievements, such as increasing sales 22 percent by capturing a new key account or reducing operating costs 11 percent by eliminating repetitive processes,” she said.
Ask for a promotion from a point of strength, said Suffolk’s Stybel. Tell your managers you’re getting calls from recruiters, he said, but only if you really are.
You also should be networking, joining trade groups and social networking sites, growing your skills, and building your reputation in your industry outside your company,” Stybel said.
When you’re ready to talk to your boss, make an appointment and tell your manager exactly what you want to talk about so there are no surprises, advised Sandra Naiman, author of
”The High Achiever’s Secret Codebook: The Unwritten Rules for Success at Work.”
While all this advice may help you get that well-deserved promotion, the biggest hurdle is working up the nerve to ask.
“If you don’t ask, you’ll never know the answer,” Naiman said.
On paper, the prescription for unemployment is rather formulaic: send in résumé, go on interview, be your charming self, get hired.
The frustrating reality isn’t nearly as simple. Getting an interview alone is an exercise in persistence and patience.
Here are 10 reasons for why you’re not landing that interview and what you can do to reverse the trend.
Your résumé and cover letter are as articulate as Courtney Love’s Web blog. If your application materials contain typos, grammatical errors and irrelevant or inconsistent information, employers will take notice — in a bad way. Once you’ve looked over your résumé and cover letter to the point of dementia, take this advice from Joyce Gioia of the Herman Group: have three people, for whom English is a first language, review your résumé and cover letter before you send it.
Your cover letter is generic. Make it personal by tailoring it to the particular job and addressing it to a person, not “To Whom It May Concern.” And include a sentence or two about how you are the right fit for that particular job. If no contact is listed, take the initiative to find out who the hiring manager is by searching the company’s Web site or calling the reference desk.
Your letter is a CliffsNotes version of your résumé. Instead of simply restating what’s on your résumé, include new information like how you found out about the job, why you want to work there and what you can do for them. Finally, close with something that will encourage a response, such as a request for an interview.
Your letter exudes self-consciousness, not self-confidence. If you don’t feel qualified for a job, why are you applying for it? Don’t call attention to your shortcomings in a letter; emphasize your strengths by focusing on your skills, experience and ability.
You cross the line from sounding confident to sounding cocky. Don’t mistake selling yourself with bragging. Putting “I would be an asset to your company” in your cover letter catches the eye; writing “You would be crazy not to hire me” turns the stomach.
Your MySpace page lists “binge-drinking” as a favorite pastime. Don’t post anything on a publicly accessible Web site that you wouldn’t want a potential employer to see. Not all hiring managers run searches on job candidates, but some do, and it’s better to err on the side of caution. Google yourself to see what comes up, because recruiters will see the same results.
You assume e-mail is enough. Hitting the send button on an online application is only the first step in landing an interview. For one thing, not every e-mail is received or read. Try following up your application by sending a paper résumé and cover letter via snail mail (indicating you’ve already applied online). After that, call the hiring manager to see that they’ve received your application and check on the status of the job in question.
You assume the Internet is enough. The majority of all employment opportunities aren’t advertised, so be proactive: Contact human resources managers at companies you want to work for inquiring about positions available; register with a job recruitment agency; attend industry events to stay on top of news; and devote energy to meeting like-minded professionals who will be the keys to discovering more opportunities.
You misrepresent yourself. It may sound like a no-brainer, but misrepresenting yourself on a résumé is bound to catch up with you. Upon performing a reference check, Denise Moorehead, communications director of a non-profit service agency in Boston, once discovered a job candidate had left her previous job a year earlier than she’d admitted. It turned out that the candidate had gotten burned out and decided to take a year to temp and regroup, but thought the obvious employment gap would be held against her, so she simply lied about it. “I figured if she’d lie about something this easy to explain, she might lie about the deadline-driven work she would have to do with me,” Moorehead says.
You give up. Remember that looking for a job is a full-time job. If you’re not hearing back from employers, considering changing your strategy. Experiment with different cover letters, revise your résumé on a regular basis and look for opportunities to add to your experience even when you’re not working (i.e. taking classes, participating in workshops, volunteering).