ChickSpeak

We recently spoke with the authors of The Girl’s Guide to Kicking Your Career into Gear, Kim Yorio and Caitlin Friedman, and learned valuable lessons, true stories, and tips for using what you’ve got (A Brain!) to make your WorkLife work for you.  Check out our interview here:

While working an average of a 46 hr week,… why don’t we all love what we do? 

Y&F: Based on our experience and the hundreds of interviews we conducted for our books, it seems that while there are several reasons we don’t all love what we do for a living the biggest reason is that we don’t know what we WANT to do, just what we DON’T want to do.

And most of us don’t take the time to figure it out. When we ask ourselves the tough questions—what are my strengths/weaknesses as an employee and/or boss, do I prefer working alone or in teams, am I where I want to be professionally, is my career a priority for me—we are in a better position to figure out what would make us satisfied at work. The other reason we’re stuck in our unhappy jobs is just plain fear. Too often we don’t take chances with our careers. We don’t quit jobs we should be

cause we are afraid that there won’t be another one, we don’t ask for raises or promotions because we think we will be turned down. We don’t make suggestions or take on high profile projects because we are afraid of being wrong. What we don’t seem to remember, or maybe we just don’t think it applies to us is that successful careers are often a result of taking risks

What’s most important: the resume, the interview, thank you note? How nec. is the thank you follow up and do employers appreciate them? 

Y&R: We would say it’s a tie between the resume and the interview. Without a kicking resume you are not going to get the interview but if you blow it in the interview it won’t matter if you send the most eloquent thank you note ever written—you won’t be getting the job. We give lots of tips in The Girl’s Guide to Kicking Your Career into Gear, but here are a few things to consider.

As two people who have interviewed loads of candidates for our pr agency, we recommend tailoring the resume to the job you are applying for. You have NO IDEA how few people do this! As for the interview, show up on time and do your research. Know where you are interviewing and the job you are interviewing for. We once had someone come in for a position who said she was interviewing with us because she figured it was time for a “real” job. That was it, nothing about our agency, or the job mattered to her. Just that it was “real”.

Office politics: how can women play with the big boys and win? 

Y&R: The key to winning the game is to know how your office plays. When you get a new job lay low for a while and watch how the most popular and high profile members of the team behave. It sounds a little like behavioral science, but you can really learn a lot from those that are already winning.

Who are their allies? Do they appear to gossip? How do they communicate? Via e-mail? The phone? Are the meetings they conduct casual or formal? How do they contribute? Do they praise or support their teammates or employees? Are they critical? The quickest way to lose is by offending the group in the early days of your job so do more listening than talking and whatever you do—keep your opinions to yourself!

What inspired you both to create “Girls Guide?”

Y&R: Both of us have gotten so much out of our professional lives—confidence, friends, opportunities for personal growth, fun travel, challenges that inspire us everyday, creative outlets, amazing people—that we wanted a way to reach out to women to talk to them about what work could be if they took charge of their careers.

We wanted to speak to women that enjoy working but maybe need a little guidance, advice for taking the leap into owning a business (The Girl’s Guide to Starting Your Own Business), tips for being respected as a manager (The Girl’s Guide to Being a Boss without Being a Bitch), or maybe are feeling stuck and not sure how to ask for a raise or promotion or a new career (The Girl’s Guide to Kicking Your Career into Gear). When writing all of our books and the website (www.girlsguidetobusiness.com) we always include voices, stories, advice from other women because we think it is crucial that we learn from one another’s mistakes and successes.

We want women to get comfortable sharing their workplace stories without embarrassment or self deprecation. As women we downplay our successes and that hurts us in the long run. If you can’t tell someone (or won’t) what you have contributed to a winning project then why should they hire you, promote you or raise you? We created Girls Guide as a place both on the shelf and the web where women can find the answers, support and cheerleading they may need to push them into taking charge of their professional lives.