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Archives for December 2020

Managing Emails and Video Calls in Your “New Normal”

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If you’re having problems achieving a healthy work/home balance or getting work done because of home responsibilities, then think about a system of time management that you can put in place to reduce stress. Most of the time, we’re overwhelmed because we think we have to fix everything at once. Pick something as a starting point, like something you can change with little effort or something that really bothers you.

Managing your emails and video calls could be a good place to start.

Set Email Boundaries

Let people know when you’ll respond to emails. If you say, “I try to respond to email within 24 hours,” then you need to repeat that often to help people understand when you’re checking emails.

Don’t panic if you can’t respond to emails immediately. When it makes sense to, creating an auto-reply message can be helpful. It can say, “I’m not answering emails right now. I’m in a webinar.” People will know you’ve got something going on. Then, you can respond without panicking.

Quick Fixes

  • Clear subject lines get emails opened: For example, if you have a specific request, include it in the subject line (such as, “Need bio today”).
  • Write a focused message: A short message is a good message. If you send something longer than a few sentences, then consider putting it in a Word document and adding it as an attachment. This will alert the reader that your message will require more time to read.
  • Identify yourself: Be clear about who you are and how you can be contacted. Include an email signature line with your title, phone, email, and website.
  • Always assume your email is not private: For example, it’s easy to send an angry email. If you get to that place, then write that email and send it to yourself. This gives you a chance to try reading it from the intended recipient’s perspective, then you can decide if you really need to send that email.
  • Be polite, greet, and sign off as appropriate: Be judicious about your use of Reply All, CAPS, underlining, bolding, or emoticons.

Set Video Call Boundaries

Treat your video meetings like regular meetings. When using online platforms like Zoom, it’s easy for people to book back-to-back meetings and forget the need for breaks in between them. If you schedule a full hour for a meeting, keep the actual meeting agenda to 50 minutes so that people have 10 minutes to stretch, go to the restroom, or grab a drink.  

Quick Fixes

  • Don’t multitask: Stay focused and present. Video call participants will be able to tell if you’re distracted, which could ultimately impact meeting outcomes negatively.
  • Optimize your video camera presence: Set the video camera to view your face straight on. Avoid backlighting and reduce background stimuli if you can.
  • Do a phone conference call instead: For meetings with one or two people, consider using the phone, which can be a richer, more relationship-based medium.
  • Admit video fatigue: You’re not the only one feeling tired of being on camera. Turn off your camera. Ask for an alternative, such as a phone call or email.

Setting boundaries can be hard but investing the time to set them up can do a lot to make ourselves feel better.

Thanks to Amanda Shaffer, Shaffer Coaching, LLC, for providing the content that this blog post is based on!

Tips for a Successful Career Transition

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Although every job search presents its own set of unique challenges (especially with the additional COVID factor or chaos of the holidays), our Ayers career coaches have found that there are overarching rules of thumb that transcend seniority and industry. It all begins with creating the right mindset and gaining perspective on your position: Be clear on your goal! Develop a daily routine that creates a forward momentum in your search.

Here are a few tips and tricks to help you along your way:

BUILDING A RESUME

Once you’re prepared mentally, focus on getting your marketing materials in order (i.e., resume/CV, LinkedIn, exit statement, 30-second commercial, and networking profile). Start with your resume/CV – think of your summary statement as PRIME real estate (location, location, location, right?). Realistically most recruiters or hiring managers will only read the top 2-3 inches of your resume, so be sure to concentrate on quantifying your outcomes instead of relaying a job description.

When it comes to your experience, avoid the skills “checklist” feel and make sure your accomplishment bullets can answer the question, “What’s in it for them?” using the Challenge. Action. Result. (CAR) technique.

NETWORKING

Then comes everyone’s favorite part: networking. Did you know that over 80% of all opportunities result from networking? Experts predict that because of social media, instead of six degrees of separation, we are all connected by just over 3 degrees! Meaning, you never know who your immediate network may know or have as a contact. Use LinkedIn proactively as an outbound tool to identify target companies and people who work there. Ask for 10-15-minute information meetings and use your networking profile (instead of your resume) as an outline for your discussion.

You’ll also want to prepare your 30-second commercial or marketing statement beforehand. The key for this meeting is to be clear and succinct: Who are you? What do you need help with? What insights and feedback can they provide? Do they know companies, people, or recruiters that may lead you closer to your goal?

INTERVIEWING

As you start to schedule interviews, you’re going to want to be prepared for all occasions. Research the company and person(s) interviewing you and be ready to have multiple rounds of phone, video, and AI interviews. Keep in mind that in today’s changing environment, video interviews are especially common. Hone your Zoom and MS Teams skills, ensure that your technology is working, and set up in a quiet space where you won’t be interrupted or distracted.

Practice your “tell me about yourself” question until it becomes second nature, establish your value, and be able to relate your expertise with some exciting accomplishment stories to back it up.

Most of all, try to relax and keep it conversational! The interview isn’t just about whether you’re a good fit for the organization—you ALSO get to ask relevant questions to learn more about them. Remember to show interest and follow up with a thank you email within 36 hours of the interview.

The truth is, looking for a job is a full-time job – AND you don’t have to go at it alone: Ask for help! Get a career coach! Practice self-care! Build a support system of friends and family to keep you accountable! You may even discover new skills and strengths, friends, and silver linings along the way.

To learn more about how you can build the skills you need to conduct a successful job search, contact Ayers today at hercinfo@ayers.com

Thanks to HERC partner, The Ayers Group, for producing this blog post! Ayers is a Talent Management consulting firm that helps universities, organizations, and individuals with career transition services, outplacement, professional development, leadership development, executive and team coaching.

Want CV/resume and cover letter tips? Download our free ebook, How to Apply for Higher Education Careers (Revised Edition).

What Works for Women at Work – 4 Basic Patterns of Gender Bias and How to Navigate Them at Work [Part 4 of 4]

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This is the fourth and final part of a blog post series that will introduce you to four distinct patterns of gender bias, and provide you with strategies women have successfully used to navigate workplaces shaped by subtle bias.

Joan C. Williams, Hastings Foundation Chair and Director at the Center for WorkLife Law at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, conducted the research in this series. Williams has played a key role in reshaping the debates of women’s advances in the past quarter century, and has authored eight books, most recently What Works for Women at Work: Four Patterns Working Women Need to Know (co-written with her daughter, Rachel Dempsey).

This is part four of our “What Works for Women at Work” blog post series.

Fourth Pattern of Gender Bias: Tug of War

The least reported pattern by Williams’ informants (55%), Tug of War is when gender bias against women fuels conflict among women.

Tokenism leads to zero-sum opportunities

A woman in Williams’ study said that opportunities for women are very zero-sum, so if one woman gets a prized position, another woman won’t. This is often referred to as the problem of the Evil Queen Bee who is intent on keeping other women down. However, this isn’t a personality problem of an individual woman. Instead, this competitiveness stems from the fact that there’s only one slot available for women: a token spot.

This also leads to women who experience discrimination early in their careers to distance themselves from other women. Marissa Mayer, the former CEO Yahoo, famously said when she was working at Google, “I’m not a girl at Google, I’m a geek at Google.” She distanced herself from the ”out” group (girl) and identified herself with the “in” group (geek). Mayer recognized she was operating within a political environment, and she understood that it was in her best interest to distance herself.

“I fought my way to the top. You need to do the same.”

Sometimes women are harder on other women. This plays out in two dynamics that translate into Prove-it Again biases:

  1. “If I had to prove myself over and over again, you have to do it.”
  2. “I’m just toughening you up, because that’s what it takes to succeed here as a woman.”

Generational gaps can divide older and younger women

The Tightrope bias is also passed from women to women in what Williams calls “fights between the femmes and the tomboys.” This plays out when younger women fault older women for being too masculine. A young woman informant says, “I’m on kind of a backlash mission…I wear dresses. I bake cookies for my group meetings. I bring my child to class with me. I’m not going to compete as a boy because I’m not a boy.”

This dualistic conflict of femme vs. tomboy stems from women in their 50s and 60s beginning their careers in many traditionally male careers, when the only way to survive was to assimilate into male culture. These women probably felt more comfortable with assimilation in the first place, which is why they often put themselves out there as solo workers. On the other hand, women 20 to 30 years younger often are more comfortable with femininity and see it as part of equality. This sometimes results in older women thinking younger women won’t make it “with that little girl voice,” and younger women disliking older women for “turning into men.”

Maternal Wall bias also plays out between women

The Maternal Wall bias is exemplified in this quote by an informant without children: “People immediately assume that because I don’t have children[,] I should be the person who takes our colloquium guests every Thursday when we have a…dinner because they all have their wives and their great husbands and their children to go back to…”

Women without children are often seen as having no lives, whereas men without children are seen as bachelors playing the field, so they need time to date. This is a modernization of the spinster stereotype and explains why women without children work the longest hours of unpaid overtime of any group in today’s workplace.

Women expect to get emotional support from other women, not men

Of the relationship between administrators and professionals, an informant says, “There’s an expectation from female staff that the female supervisors…will be more nurturing, will be more understanding, for example if they have to leave…because of their families…Staff are less tolerant of women who are not like that… I think that often causes problems between female staff and female supervisors.”

Williams received persistent reports that women, particularly women of color, have more difficulty getting support from support staff than male colleagues. Part of this is because female support staff expect female professionals to do more emotion work, such as asking about their kids and feelings. Another part is that support staff looks for who is on top of the organization: typically, it’s men. In that context, it makes more sense for an admin to support a man than a woman in order to advance her career.

Missed the other posts in our series? Start at the beginning with the first pattern of gender bias: Prove-It Again.

What Works for Women at Work – 4 Basic Patterns of Gender Bias and How to Navigate Them at Work [Part 3 of 4]

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This is the third part of a blog post series that will introduce you to four distinct patterns of gender bias, and provide you with strategies women have successfully used to navigate workplaces shaped by subtle bias.

Joan C. Williams, Hastings Foundation Chair, and Director at the Center for WorkLife Law at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, conducted the research in this series. Williams has played a key role in reshaping the debates of women’s advances in the past quarter century, and has authored eight books, most recently What Works for Women at Work: Four Patterns Working Women Need to Know (co-written with her daughter, Rachel Dempsey).

 This is part three of our “What Works for Women at Work” blog post series.

Third Pattern of Gender Bias: Maternal Wall

The Maternal Wall is by far the strongest pattern of gender bias and was reported by 59% of the mothers that Williams interviewed. Once triggered, the Maternal Wall ushers in very strong biases. If hiring committees are given two identical resumes, but one comes from a mother, the mother is 79% less likely to be hired; only half as likely to be promoted; offered an average of $11,000 less in salary; and held to higher performance and punctuality standards.

This pattern is of a magnitude larger than the other biases covered in the prior blog posts in this series. Part of the Maternal Wall bias stems from assumptions about how mothers will behave in the workplace. However, when women are indisputably competent in the workplace and committed mothers, they’re found less likeable by other women, not men. Biases against women from other women will be explored in the next part of the blog post series.

There are two types of biases in the Maternal Wall pattern:

Hostile Prescriptive Bias

The hostile prescriptive bias is rooted in what people believe a mother should do, rather than what they will do, and is delivered in a hostile manner. An example is this quote given to a woman from her tenure committee: “Why don’t you stop worrying about tenure and just go home and have more babies?”

Benevolent Prescriptive Bias

More common than hostile prescriptive bias, benevolent prescriptive bias  is similarly rooted in what people believe a mother should do, but it is delivered without blatant hostility.

An example is when a female student found out she wasn’t being considered for a highly coveted fellowship, because the man in charge was telling people she just had a baby, so it wasn’t a good time for her. While it’s possible he meant this benevolently, the message is the same: a good mother wouldn’t want to do this.

Strategies to Navigate the Maternal Wall Pattern

When you return from maternity leave, know that you might be triggering some or all of the Maternal Wall biases, especially if you have three or more children. A recent study showed that there is more workplace hostility towards mothers with three children, than with mothers with one or two children.

With that in mind, here are some specific strategies that have helped mothers:

Counter bias with information

If you intend to pursue your career, say so. If you’re willing to travel, say so, especially if your partner is willing to follow you and assist with the baby. Share if you’re the family’s primary earner, because people will assume the opposite if you don’t.

“Tolstoy was Wrong”

When people make comments about your mothering style, such as, “My wife could never leave her kids,” or, “I don’t know how you could work long hours,” you can use the Tolstoy was Wrong solution by saying, “I’m sure that’s right for her (or other people), but this is what works for my family.” You’ll bring subjectivity into their judgement, without starting a confrontation.

The next and final post in our series will cover the fourth pattern of gender bias: Tug of War.

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