Last week, the Families and Work Institute released a new study that showed attitudes of and about working women have changed radically even in the last few years ─ and for the better.

One of the findings:

Whether they are mothers or women with income, no kids (WINKs), substantially more women under 29 want to move up the corporate ladder than did in 2002.

Source: Families and Work Institute

So, if you are one of those women (or even a little older!),  be sure that you let people know that you have high aspirations .

One of the things we discovered when we wrote Her Place at the Table: A Woman’s Guide to Negotiating Five Key Challenges to Leadership Success is that way too often, women suffer from The Tiara Syndrome. “What’s that? you may be wondering.   It’s when you keep their head down, deliver outstanding results and hope that someone notices and places a tiara on your head to reward you.  The problem? It didn’t happen very often before the economic crisis hit and happens even less now.

Some things to consider:

• If your company offers career planning services, take advantage of them.  Ask for advice about alternate career paths in the firm.
• Proactively seek out mentors in your company and outside your firm as well.

• Read as much as you can about your organization and issues that affect it directly or indirectly.

• Raise your hand for high visibility assignments.
• If you are willing to transfer, make that clear.
• Think creatively about ways you can increase your profile in the firm and in the industry more broadly.

It’s up to you to proactively manage your career – nobody else will do it for you.   Don’t assume people in your company know you want the corner office,  tell them.

TAGS: ambition, career choices, career goals

A recent New York Times article about the “fabulous Schoppe twins,” asked the question: Will the economic downturn stop the best and the brightest from flocking to Wall Street?

My answer: I hope so.

During my freshman and sophomore years at Yale, I’d sit with friends for hours in the dining hall, loving the debates about politics and literature and history. It was exactly what I’d hoped college would be like. Sometimes I’d look around the table and feel as if I were peering into the future: I could easily see my smart, hardworking, well-rounded classmates becoming history professors, investigative journalists, human rights activists, entrepreneurs, museum curators and diplomats.

And then senior year rolled around and a strange thing happened. Instead of talking about Milton and Jefferson and Elizabeth I, everyone started talking about Goldman and Lehman and Morgan. The best and brightest people I knew suddenly considered no other career paths than investment banking (well, and management consulting).

I see this happening just as often today. As I travel around to college campuses, I meet smart, articulate, worldly and personable students. And, inevitably, the best and the brightest often ask me how to get jobs on Wall Street. Yes, they do this even now.

For the students who are fascinated by finance, Wall Street is a good choice for a career. But, in my observation, intellectual interest is rarely the reason that students select this post-college career path. It’s for the money. And the perks are undoubtedly glamorous. (While my parents moved me out of my dorm in their suburban SUV, the kids who landed jobs at the top investment banks had professional movers come to pack up their books and souvenir beer mugs.)

And, perhaps most appealing to top-tier students, there’s the fact that entry-level Wall Street jobs have traditionally felt like a prestigious continuation of college — working hard late into the night, surrounded by really smart people. (Although the work involves spreadsheets, not Shakespeare.)

I really do get the appeal of these careers, but I’ve always felt that something was awry when a large percentage of our best and brightest young people flock so directly to Wall Street.

I hope that the Wall Street debacle and this long recession have an effect on the way college students (all college students, not just in the Ivy League) think about their desired careers. I hope that students who genuinely love finance will pursue that career because it will really make them happy and fulfilled. And I hope that everyone else — the young grads who decided to pursue careers in the most lucrative and prestigious industries because they are the most lucrative and prestigious (and “safe,” so we thought) — will start to think more broadly. I hope that they pursue careers in government, education, entrepreneurship, publishing, research, general management, psychology, urban planning, technology, social services and any other fields that engage them and use the best of their skills.

Why do I have such strong feelings about this? Now that I’m almost 13 years out of college, I have some data. Almost all of my brilliant friends who took their first jobs in investment banking are now doing something else. They all gained great experience, sure, but what did they lose?

Here’s what these friends have told me: Money loses its shine when you’re unhappy going to work every day. Perks lose their luster when you’re stressed out. And prestige doesn’t stand a chance against something infinitely more appealing: personal fulfillment.

A version of this blog post originally appeared on the Lindsey Pollak Career Blog.

TAGS: career choices, career goals, careers, finance, Generation Y

While the food at the Chinese take-out restaurant we’ve been patronizing lately isn’t all that great, their fortune cookies are terrific.  My fortune the other night:

Doing what you like is freedom.  Liking what you do is happiness.

This bit of philosophy made me think of how very important it is to periodically reflect upon how happy you are with the work you do.  Of course, we all have bad days but, overall, you should be able to say that you enjoy the work you do – that, yes, it makes you happy.

If you can’t, perhaps it is a good time to figure out why – and then to change the situation.  Sometimes, you can negotiate for things that will increase your satisfaction, for example, a more challenging assignment or more resources to get the job done.  Or, if the problem is deeper, perhaps it’s time to make a different employment decision…

The main thing to keep in mind is that your career satisfaction matters most to you – nobody else, except perhaps your mom, cares that much.  Don’t let yourself down!

TAGS: career change, career goals, dealing with family expectations, Gratefulness, Leaving a bad boss or a job you hate, negotiation skills, personal brand building, personal development, ways to work healthy

I sent out a message this weekend to friends and colleagues announcing The Thin Pink Line. I expected to get some “congrats” messages but I did not expect to receive as many messages as I did cheering us on!

One client (now a friend) wrote me mentioning that a very senior woman at her organization has just “opted out” to stay home with her three young children.  While the company is known as a leader vis-à-vis supporting women, this woman, at the pinnacle of her career,  made a different choice – for now. My friend wrote, “I, on the other hand, am still barreling down the corporate freeway while trying to raise two teenagers. The raising teenagers part is way more complicated then the corporate freeway, in my opinion.”

Oh yes!

In the next paragraph, she writes of the moment she was able to pin the Eagle Scout medal on her son’s chest, culminating years of work on his part to earn Scouting’s highest honor (and undoubtedly years of driving on her part to support him).  She described it as “beating any promotion she has ever received, by far!” 

The choices women have to make – whether they involve children or not – can be very difficult.  What I have learned at this point is that there is no right answer for all of us — only a right answer for each of us.  And whatever answer is right for you, don’t apologize for it. 

TAGS: career goals, Women at Work, women leaders

Penelope Trunk advised last week that you should never answer the question, “What’s your salary range?” 

I disagree; it depends on when the question comes and who asks it. In fact, there is a lot of research that suggests “anchoring” is an effective way to begin a negotiation.

If you have already convinced the questioner that you have the skills and experience for the position, there is no harm at all in being clear about what you expect vis a vis compensation. Remember, you can’t get what you are worth if you aren’t willing to ask for it.

But you won’t know what the right range is if you haven’t done your homework.  What is the fair market value for the job?  Consider the industry, the geography and the company. 

There is a wealth of information on salaries available on the Internet (check out sites like www.thevault.com; you can learn even more through social networking sites (see www.linkedin.com, for example).

In fact, one of the best ways to assess whether the position is a good fit for you is to talk about the salary range early.  If what they are paying is too low, the job is probably not what you think it is.

TAGS: career goals, disconnects, negotiating pay

 Elizabeth Keathley explained yesterday in a piece she wrote for Women’s ENews that the challenge women face with regard to being “womanly” and yet still competent has affected Hillary Clinton’s campaign.  And, in case you don’t believe it,  Tuesday’s  Wall Street Journal ’s  (paid site) front page article THE DECIDERS: White Men Hold Key for Democrats  detailed depressing evidence of both gender and racial bias.

So, yes, it’s a puzzle.   The good news is that the attention this issue is getting this year will help women to understand that it’s not their just their imagination they struggle with getting the respect they deserve at work (for example, have you ever suggested an idea at a meeting that was ignored until it was brought up again by a male colleague?)  So, what to do?

Change perceptions, one person at  time.  Think about the people with whom you are interacting.  What do you know (or can you learn)  about what keeps them up at night? Most people are not consciously biased; they (both men and women)  are simply looking out for their own best interests.  To influence them,  you must help them to realize that they will be better off with you in a leadership role than not.

TAGS: Building workplace relationships, career goals, Hillary Clinton, personal branding, Self-trust, stereotypes, The Wall Street Journal

We’ve all been writing about trusting ourselves, so I’ll add my two cents. It isn’t easy, especially if you haven’t found yourself in a dark tunnel during your career and then found the light — a few times. But once you’ve had such experiences, self trust develops. You begin to see that the end of one chapter is not the end of all chapters but merely the beginning of a new one.

I’ve been reading The Nine: Inside The Secret World of The Supreme Court by Jeffrey Toobin. Toobin wrote of now Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts:

Robert’s failure to win confirmation to the D.C. circuit in 1992 turned out to be a lucky break…

For the next 8 years he had several arguments in front of the Supreme Court. He became known but did so without making enemies, creating for himself a “golden aura.”

This aura served Roberts well — as did his avoidance of partisanship. One door closed and another opened for him to ultimately become Chief Justice. Who knows the extent to which Roberts felt rejected in 1992 and how angry he may have been. Obviously, whatever he did feel did not prevent him from finding another route forward — trusting his ability and what clearly was a keen sense of politics. Like him or his politics or not, he certainly picked himself up and went on.

Not all closed doors lead to such impressive outcomes via other routes, but what happened to Roberts and most people who experience considerable success is a lesson. You have to believe in yourself. Sometimes that means believing you can learn what’s needed to start doing something new. And then going about doing so.

It’s important for all of us to know that there is never a single road to what we want to achieve. And even that what we want is not always as good as what we might ultimately get.

TAGS: career derailments, career goals, Jeffrey Toobin, John Roberts, Self-trust