Category — Career

The biggest mistake most women make at work is to play mommy to their coworkers. Avoid this misstep to advance your career.

Lesson Two: Leave the Mom Hat at Home

You’re NOT Betty Crocker

While you may be an excellent cook, the time to show off your skills is not by cooking lunch for the whole office every week. It’s an extremely kind gesture and will not be overlooked, but it won’t be looked at in any way that will equal a promotion.

If you have some left over cookies, share with one or two coworkers your close with, but don’t make an event out of it. For an event focused around your culinary skills, consider a dinner party where you invite only influential coworkers (such as your boss) and their partners. Utilize this time to show off your talent, charm, and as an opportunity to push your ideas to push the company ahead. Can we say ‘corner office?’

You’re NOT an Interior Decorator

… And even if you are, you do not want your office to look like grandma’s house. While you may be a strong, powerful force in the board room, no one will take you seriously if they step into your office (or other work area) and see frilly decor full of cute little barn animals or a daisy wallpaper.

Instead, decorate your area tastefully, and definitely don’t overdo it. Keep it simple and very neat. Do include your own personal touch. Find individuality by keeping a small indoor plant, having a custom mousepad with your kids’ picture, or a trinket from international travel.

Do NOT Go Out of Your Way to Help Others

More than likely, this totally goes against everything you’ve been taught. Whether you’re new or a department manager, allowing yourself to help your coworkers with everything they ask will only ensure that you’ll be walked all over. It’s fine to show someone how to do their work more efficiently, and it’s even more important to make sure you do your share. Just be wary, or you will end up doing work that is not your own, get distracted from your goals, and be seen as someone that cannot delegate work out to others.

As Lois Frankel has said, “helping others is one way capable women gain exernal validation for their self-worth.” You are a capable woman. Not only were you selected out of a pool of candidates for your position, you have the potential to continue moving upward.

Are you ready for success? Try working on some tips from lesson two. If you have any questions, please use the comment section below. There is more to come in the series, so add Social Media Mom to your RSS reader to keep up to date as the successive articles are published.

Women in the office are generally stereotyped into a few roles: That of the receptionist, sitting at the front desk with a smile and nail filing board in hand; The intern, who, if hired by a chauvinist boss, will likely be eye candy and likely only used for making copies and coffee; Or a secretary, essentially the  right-hand gal of any executive, who usually ends up doing his work for him and getting zero credit.  These are the roles that feminism has fought hard against, and no matter your position on the movement, are ones almost no woman wants to claim as her life goal.

Ladies, it’s time to step up the game. Let’s advance in our careers to the top of the ladder, not by protest, but by making a usable plan of action. We will be looking at the different steps to take in this series of Five Ways to Get Ahead in the Workplace.

Lesson One: It’s all about defining who you are and what you represent.

It is great to be confident in oneself and comfortable with who you are. In an ideal world, you should not be judge by how you look, but rather by your character. Wake up. The real world is highly influenced by how one presents herself. Physical appearance is especially a key factor in this for women.

Grooming 101

Keep an overall well-groomed look. This means not only the rudimentary bathing procedure, but ensuring you always look ready for the day. Wear makeup each day you go anywhere there’s a chance of bumping into colleagues, superiors, or business contacts. These days are also not a time to try out the latest theatrical eye shadow look or a blue lipstick. Stay neat, close to natural, and fresh. If you’re unsure about which colors to use or how to apply them, check out any cosmetics area at a department store for a free consultation from someone whose own makeup looks perfect.

While self expression is great, some forms of wearable originality are distracting in a work environment. More importantly, it will take away from the professional image you want to create. Stay away from the obvious wild hair colors (if you just love the way electric blue accents your eye color, get a wig for weekend/party wear) and cuts (including faux-hawks, mullets, and the ‘Britney Spears with a razor’ look). Length does matter, and you may want to consider that hair going past the bottom of your shoulder blades will give you a whimsical, unprofessional ‘girl in the fields’ appearance … also, steer clear of too short, we don’t want people addressing you as “sir.” Go ahead, splurge and get your hair done by a good stylist that will customize the perfect look for you.

A well groomed lady is not complete without the requisite manicure and pedicure. Steer clear of acrylic nails and keep your natural nails healthy and polished. Colors come into play here, and you’ll want to stay away from greens, blues, black, and neon. Try a lovely peach, persimmon, or pomegranate if you want color; Stick to the classic french manicure or a clear polish if you want to keep things simple.

A Sense of Style

A good wardrobe doesn’t have to be an extravagant one. Keep some great staples in your closet to wear to work. Try a solid color knee-length skirt, a pair of classic slacks, a career-appropriate blazer, a few blouses, a good pair of pumps with a 3″ heel, and a good supply of nude or suntan colored pantyhose. Consider Banana Republic, J. Crew, or Nordstroms as some places to look for great career wear.

Everything should fit well. If ever, now’s the time to forget about what size you are and get what looks good on you. Clothing should be fitted, not baggy, but avoid any item being skin-tight. Jewelry should be rather simple and not overly extravagant.

To accent your outfit (black, navy blue, and gray are recommended colors for suits), utilize color tastefully. Try a scarf or a shell in colors suited to your industry, as recommended by feng shui expert Gill Hale: Jade, for those working in publishing or media; Red or purple, for ladies in marketing/advertising, public relations, fashion, or law; White or gray, suited for accountants, bankers, and engineers; Yellow for those in architecture or human resources; Blue or dark blue, great for the communication, health, and travel industries.

Those Bad Habits…

Bad habits may be hard to kick, but you’ll really want to work on a few apparent ones if you want to be taken seriously. One thing that I know many women do is put on makeup, brush their hair, and otherwise groom themselves while in public. If you feel the need to reapply lip gloss, excuse yourself and do it in front of the bathroom mirror, same goes for putting on eyeliner behind your desk… and never brush your hair on the commuter train. These are things that need to be completed before leaving home, or done in the privacy of a restroom or even your car.

Let’s just list the little things that you think no one notices, but they do: Sitting with one foot underneath you, biting your nails/cuticles, excessively shaking or tapping your leg/foot, not keeping good eye contact, forgetting overall good etiquette (see Emily Post). All of these, at the very least, subconsciously create an image of a little girl or diffident person in the minds of  associates.

Now we’re on the way to success! Try working on some tips from lesson one. If you have any questions, please use the comment section below. There is more to come in the series, so add Social Media Mom to your RSS reader to keep up to date as the successive articles are published.

all images via flickr creative commons pool

Whether the last few years on your resume read SAHM or you were a victim of the recent major job cuts worldwide, the current job market has become extremely competitive. What tools are available to someone who has the qualifications, drive, but just hasn’t landed that perfect position yet? Enter 360 Job Interview, a new site that promises to give you a professional edge. They claim to have a large pool of consultants in every major field, ready to help you polish your resume and perfect interviewing skills.

What is interesting about the idea is that you can connect live with any of their consultants … for a fee. The fee, however, is relatively nominal compared to most career coaches. And it seems easy enough to connect - just log on to Skype and prepare for your interview or e-mail your resume over. This beats going to an office that is either too far out of the way or is only open during inconvenient hours. They also have a blog with some interesting tips for your job hunt that may be worth checking out.

Go check out 360JobInterview.com and see for yourself. This economy is not so job-hunter friendly. It may give you the edge you need to land not just any position, but also the ideal one.

I am the director of Social Media for Durbin Media and while most people who are not involved in blogging and social media will not even know what this means, Chris Brogan has a great post that explains exactly how to use a career in social media to find a job, thanks to the various tools available in this arena.

“Today’s career environment is different, at least for the information
workers. What’s different is that there are more ways to influence
getting a job than in the past. You probably already know that the old
saying is true: “it’s not what you know; it’s who you know.” Well, the
people you know has expanded a bit, thanks to social networks, and what
people know about you has grown, too, thanks in part to the various
tools you can employ in social media.”

Chris goes on to list some great strategies to use while building your on-line presence with social media in mind. Here are two of my favorites…….

“Your Blog Is A Resume
Blogging about this stuff is like writing out my experience for a resume line by line. (Only less boring).
Social Networks for Networking
I think social networks, blogs, and all these various places like Seesmic, Utterz, Flickr
, are great touchpoints to understanding someone’s personal interests,
tastes, and learn about their professional proclivities as well.”

Chris mentions some “elements to consider” that for me would look a bit like this:

1. Putting a picture of yourself on your main page. (Plan trip to Glamour Shots)
2. Make about page robust. (Tackle after Christmas shopping is done)
3. Publishes email and phone number on main page. (1-800-Hot-Social-Media-Mom)

I sincerely suggest you check out Chris’s post on Social Media For Your Career and the rest of his 100 Social Media Posts. After all, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know!