Choosing your career path as
a woman can, and in some cases, will be the most difficult decision you’ll ever
make. But once you get in the trenches
of your career, you want what every man wants, advancement. More often than not, we hear the phrase “the
first woman to ever”. That’s because, companies
are now beginning to focus on the ability to do the job as opposed to the gender. Your education, experience and track record
is starting to speak for itself and that’s a beautiful thing. But if you’re still challenged with male
dominated leadership and looking to break down the walls of gender bias
companies, here are a few tips to get you to the top.
1.
Choose your career wisely: If
you choose a field that is generally male dominated, then breaking down gender
bias walls is not impossible, but can be difficult. In environments that are heavily male skewed,
you have to constantly take them to school and teach them by using visual
aids. You remember that old saying “I
can show you better than I can tell you”, it works well in those type of
environments. People will always do what
they’ve always done, until you show them something different.
2.
Knowledge is
Power: Know your stuff! Everything there is to know about the job you
want should be embedded in your brain and regurgitated in a moment’s
notice. What you know is essential to how
far you go. And what you don’t know,
learn it. You already come to the table
with a cloud over your head for just being a woman, but coming to the table as
a woman who isn’t knowledgeable about the job she wants, will be the beginning
of your demise. Knowledge is the
difference between the top and the bottom.
3.
Don’t ever
play the girl card: Being a woman can be your secret weapon, so don’t use it
in public, because now everyone sees it and it no longer holds any value. And if you use it one too many times, it then
becomes “the boy who cried wolf” story.
The best weapon you can use to advance your career is your mouth. Keep the fact that you’re a girl off the
table. Tell your leadership what your
goals are and where you would like to position yourself within the
company. How else will they know if you
don’t open your mouth? Remember a closed
mouth never gets fed.
4.
Engage in a
little competition: As a woman working in any industry, you will
compete. But your main competition are
not men, it’s other women. Yes, it can
become a good old catfight, but don’t let it!
Competition can make us crazy but collaboration will make us better. Pull your resources together because you’re
both going after the same thing, the opportunity to advance. The beauty in that is, if one of you get the
job, you are now in position to reach back and pull up the other one and show
them, “Who Run The World” Girls!
5.
Find the
balance: The hardest thing to find in life is balance, and the
more successful you become, the less balance you have. Finding balance between work-life and family is
not as much an issue for women than it is for those looking to hire and promote
women. While it is important to maintain
all areas of your world, don’t allow your decision to have a life and a family,
affect your choice to have a career too.
As women, having it all doesn’t mean having everything you want, it just
means having the same work and family choices that men do.
While this is still a man’s
world and the “good ole boy” network is still in affect, women will continue to
infiltrate industries that do not see the value in the advancement of
women. But ladies, don’t let that stop
you, let that drive you. Many women have
knocked down walls, broken glass ceilings, climbed ladders and balanced it all,
while remaining a woman, all for the sake of advancement. So go get what’s yours
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