By Gabrielle Rapke Hoffman
Nearly 27% of adults in America volunteer through a formal organization, with that rate increasing to 42% among college graduates. Across the board, women volunteer at a higher rate than men. Although some people volunteer for purely altruistic reasons, the social, psychological, and career benefits of volunteering should not be underestimated. When I refer to the career benefits of volunteering, I’m not talking about volunteering at a soup kitchen on Thanksgiving. I’m talking about an ongoing commitment to a specific organization that will allow you to gain valuable leadership experience, try your hand at new skills that may benefit you professionally, increase your visibility in the community, and expand your network.
In this article, I will examine the career benefits of volunteering, and provide recommendations to help you determine which volunteer opportunities are most likely to provide those benefits.
How can volunteering benefit your career?
Obtain leadership experience. With the flattening of corporate hierarchies, opportunities to hone management skills are becoming increasingly scarce. At the same time, one of the most important ways leadership lessons are learned is through trial and error. Taking on a leadership role in a nonprofit can be an excellent way to gain or deepen your leadership experience. I once became President of a nonprofit after the previous President moved out of state. Membership had dwindled to only 30% of what it had been in prior years, events were poorly attended, and the Treasury was low on funds. In less than 2 years as President, I rebuilt the organization to over 80 members. Volunteering to lead this nonprofit out of a challenging time taught me many valuable professional skills: building and managing an executive board, regaining the trust and interest of disappointed members, developing a leadership pipeline, marketing the organization, seeking donations, delivering speeches to large audiences, and much more.
Gain visibility and recognition in the community for your existing skills. Use your professional skills to help a nonprofit. For example, if you are an Accountant, volunteer to serve as Treasurer of a nonprofit organization. New contacts you make through volunteering will become aware of your skills, which could translate into business or job opportunities. Also, if at work you only are responsible for one facet of a project in your area of expertise, volunteering may allow you to have autonomy over an entire project much sooner than you would be able to at work.
Develop new secondary skills that could benefit your career. If you are seeking to complement your professional profile with new skills, consider seeking them in a nonprofit setting. Anyoli Font, Provider Relations Manager at MedTrust Network and President of the Kiwanis Club of Miramar/Pembroke Pines, Florida, shared “Through my volunteer work, I was able to fill all the gaps on my resume.” At her job, Anyoli mainly works alone. Anyoli credits her volunteer experiences for the opportunity to develop skills such as teamwork, running meetings, public speaking and planning large-scale events.
Test your aptitude and interest in a different area before making a career change. Imagine you are a successful Engineer, but have been thinking about seeking a position in the Sales division of your company. Why not volunteer for the Development Committee of a nonprofit, and see how effective you are at obtaining donations first? The nonprofit will be glad to have your help, even if you are not experienced in the area. While you determine whether Sales is a good fit for you, you will gain confidence, take on a new challenge, and ideally, also raise funds for a worthy cause in the process.
Expand your network and sphere of influence. It could be argued that women network differently from men. They focus on nurturing relationships that may prove beneficial in the future, while men tend to network only when they need something. Women’s networking style could prove very conducive to nonprofit settings, where teamwork and long-term relationship building are the focus, as opposed to immediate “give and take.” It goes without saying that volunteering will expand your network substantially, enabling you to get to know people whose paths you probably would not cross as part of your daily routine. You are likely to meet and potentially build relationships with top executives, civic leaders, and other members of the business community who are also interested in the same cause.
Obtain a new set of mentors who see your potential and encourage you to stretch yourself. When others in your organization and in the community begin to recognize your potential, they often will allow you to see strengths and capabilities that you did not see in yourself. Anyoli Font shared a story of a woman who joined her Kiwanis Club. This woman had always wanted to be a leader, but did not believe she was qualified for a leadership position. Anyoli encouraged her to run for Treasurer of the club, and she won the election. Were it not for Anyoli seeing leadership qualities the woman did not see in herself, she would not have achieved her leadership position.
International Professional Experience is More Important than Ever
Managing ChangeThere has been debate recently over the career value of working abroad. Considering the ease and frequency with which executives travel the world, is it necessary to spend time living in another country? “True” international experience is not a two-night trip spent in luxury hotels, being chauffeured from meeting to meeting — it is facing the same challenges locals face on a daily basis. It is immersion in a business environment and daily life different from your own. In addition to the obvious benefits for those who aspire to have a global career, even for those who plan to work solely with their own domestic market, international experience provides extensive benefits in critical areas of professional development.
International experience is practically mandatory to become CEO of a global corporation. Seventy-five percent of Fortune 100 CEOs today have international experience, compared to less than half ten years ago. Considering that ever-growing portions of corporations’ consumer base and supply chain are global, it has simply become too risky for global corporations to have leaders without international experience. However, although the international experience is increasingly required for senior managers looking to rise in a global corporation’s ranks, it is not necessary to become a “serial expat.” Most individuals will not become CEO outside their country of origin. Rather, a study from IE Business School shows that executives actually may be more likely to advance their careers by returning to their home market.
Challenge yourself and refine your skills by working in an unfamiliar environment. Working abroad will improve your problem-solving and management skills in a way that no domestic assignment would, because of the additional layers of complexity inherent in doing business outside your home country. You will be challenged in new ways, as you need to perform functions that were already complex within an unfamiliar framework, often contrary to the norms you are used to. You learn to play by a new set of rules and begin to question things you believed to be unquestionable. That improves your flexibility and encourages you to think innovatively. Leisure travel and short international business trips can give you a taste of these benefits, but living in another country will develop these skills over an extended period of time.
Your EQ will thank you. If you are looking to develop your emotional intelligence and ability to successfully communicate, collaborate, and negotiate, working internationally will challenge you at a whole new level. On the international communication continuum, the US is considered to be a “direct” culture. By spending time abroad, particularly in a culture with significant differences from your home culture, you will become aware of these nuances. As a result, you will improve your ability to “read” people and will be better able to adapt your communication style to your audience and the situation.
Opportunities may be greater than those available at home. This is especially true in rapidly-growing markets, where opportunities often exceed the number of people trained for them in the local market. International assignments may enable you to work on high-profile projects that would not be available to you at home. You may also be able to attain higher levels of responsibility more quickly. While on an international assignment, your knowledge of your home country and your network there will be an asset. In the eyes of your new colleagues, you will already have valuable international experience (in your home country) from the day you arrive.
International experience may make you more successful in the US as well. The percentage of the US population that is foreign-born is at a high for our lifetime, and has been on a continual upward trend since 1970. This means that all people – including customers and potential customers, coworkers, and fellow citizens – are more likely to come from different countries today than was the case just a couple of decades ago. Individuals who have experience understanding other customs and cultures, and interacting and collaborating with people with diverse backgrounds will be well-prepared for success not only working in international business, but when collaborating with the diverse and international population living in the US.
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Voice of Experience: Robin Cohen, Partner, Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman
Voices of Experience“I knew very early on that I wanted to be a lawyer, but the path to where I am today was somewhat accidental.” Robin Cohen fell in love with law in elementary school when she participated in a program that gave her the opportunity to get firsthand experience in the legal field. “Students were able to leave school twice a week and do something that you were interested in pursuing later in life. I worked downtown in a common case court where the judge tried a lot of criminal cases.” This experience served as the foundation for Cohen’s bright future in the courtroom.
Career Path
Cohen left law school unsure of the career path she wanted to follow, but she very quickly developed a passion for litigation. “When I got my first assignment, and was told it was an insurance case, I assumed I would be representing the insurance company, but in fact I was representing the policyholder,” said Cohen. She continued, “This really fit my personality. I enjoyed being the plaintiff and moving litigation forward.” Since then, Cohen has been a key player in the insurance coverage area, representing big organizations in complex, and sometimes even groundbreaking cases.
The last trial Cohen prosecuted in December definitely stands out to her as one case of which she is particularly proud. “The trial team consisted of attorneys I have practiced with for a very long time. We work together like a well-oiled machine. It was a complex case and the jury came back within five hours and found in favor of our client.” She continued, “From the culmination of all the mentoring work I had put into the team, I was so proud of them and the success we achieved.”
Another source of pride for Cohen in her career came when she was about seven or eight years out of law school and an important client asked her to be lead counsel on a big environmental coverage case. “I was very young to be doing this,” recalled Cohen, “and it was one of the first environmental coverage trials in the country. The client so was happy with the outcome of the trial, they gave us a party at the Rainbow Room. And it was as a result of that case that I was able to develop so many clients.”
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Extracurriculars Are Not Just for Kids: The Career Payoffs of Volunteer Experience
Work-LifeNearly 27% of adults in America volunteer through a formal organization, with that rate increasing to 42% among college graduates. Across the board, women volunteer at a higher rate than men. Although some people volunteer for purely altruistic reasons, the social, psychological, and career benefits of volunteering should not be underestimated. When I refer to the career benefits of volunteering, I’m not talking about volunteering at a soup kitchen on Thanksgiving. I’m talking about an ongoing commitment to a specific organization that will allow you to gain valuable leadership experience, try your hand at new skills that may benefit you professionally, increase your visibility in the community, and expand your network.
In this article, I will examine the career benefits of volunteering, and provide recommendations to help you determine which volunteer opportunities are most likely to provide those benefits.
How can volunteering benefit your career?
Obtain leadership experience. With the flattening of corporate hierarchies, opportunities to hone management skills are becoming increasingly scarce. At the same time, one of the most important ways leadership lessons are learned is through trial and error. Taking on a leadership role in a nonprofit can be an excellent way to gain or deepen your leadership experience. I once became President of a nonprofit after the previous President moved out of state. Membership had dwindled to only 30% of what it had been in prior years, events were poorly attended, and the Treasury was low on funds. In less than 2 years as President, I rebuilt the organization to over 80 members. Volunteering to lead this nonprofit out of a challenging time taught me many valuable professional skills: building and managing an executive board, regaining the trust and interest of disappointed members, developing a leadership pipeline, marketing the organization, seeking donations, delivering speeches to large audiences, and much more.
Gain visibility and recognition in the community for your existing skills. Use your professional skills to help a nonprofit. For example, if you are an Accountant, volunteer to serve as Treasurer of a nonprofit organization. New contacts you make through volunteering will become aware of your skills, which could translate into business or job opportunities. Also, if at work you only are responsible for one facet of a project in your area of expertise, volunteering may allow you to have autonomy over an entire project much sooner than you would be able to at work.
Develop new secondary skills that could benefit your career. If you are seeking to complement your professional profile with new skills, consider seeking them in a nonprofit setting. Anyoli Font, Provider Relations Manager at MedTrust Network and President of the Kiwanis Club of Miramar/Pembroke Pines, Florida, shared “Through my volunteer work, I was able to fill all the gaps on my resume.” At her job, Anyoli mainly works alone. Anyoli credits her volunteer experiences for the opportunity to develop skills such as teamwork, running meetings, public speaking and planning large-scale events.
Test your aptitude and interest in a different area before making a career change. Imagine you are a successful Engineer, but have been thinking about seeking a position in the Sales division of your company. Why not volunteer for the Development Committee of a nonprofit, and see how effective you are at obtaining donations first? The nonprofit will be glad to have your help, even if you are not experienced in the area. While you determine whether Sales is a good fit for you, you will gain confidence, take on a new challenge, and ideally, also raise funds for a worthy cause in the process.
Expand your network and sphere of influence. It could be argued that women network differently from men. They focus on nurturing relationships that may prove beneficial in the future, while men tend to network only when they need something. Women’s networking style could prove very conducive to nonprofit settings, where teamwork and long-term relationship building are the focus, as opposed to immediate “give and take.” It goes without saying that volunteering will expand your network substantially, enabling you to get to know people whose paths you probably would not cross as part of your daily routine. You are likely to meet and potentially build relationships with top executives, civic leaders, and other members of the business community who are also interested in the same cause.
Obtain a new set of mentors who see your potential and encourage you to stretch yourself. When others in your organization and in the community begin to recognize your potential, they often will allow you to see strengths and capabilities that you did not see in yourself. Anyoli Font shared a story of a woman who joined her Kiwanis Club. This woman had always wanted to be a leader, but did not believe she was qualified for a leadership position. Anyoli encouraged her to run for Treasurer of the club, and she won the election. Were it not for Anyoli seeing leadership qualities the woman did not see in herself, she would not have achieved her leadership position.
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Leading Multi-cultural Global Teams: Asia
Managing ChangeDo you know that women in India are more likely to give up their career to take care of their elderly parents than to raise kids?
If you think you are ready to build and lead a team spread across the globe or perhaps already do, there are some inter-cultural issues to consider that can help you as you take up the challenge of working in, or working with a team, whose implicit norms are different from your own. Don’t leave the human resources department to be the only folks on top of the “do’s and the don’ts.”
As Shanker Ramamurthy, President of Global Growth & Operations, Thomson Reuters, explained recently at the WILL USA conference in NYC:
As companies scramble for new perspectives and disruptive thinking to wade through emerging markets leaders and top executives – both men and women, need a deep understanding of diverse cultural and gender norms in different parts of the world.
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Harvard Women Reflect on the School’s New Focus of Fostering Female Success
Featured, Managing Change, Office PoliticsThe New York Times recently highlighted Harvard Business School’s (HBS) attempt to create gender parity in the classroom, changing a culture considered to be the breeding ground for corporate leaders globally.
When Harvard’s first female president, Drew Gilpin Faust, appointed the new dean, Nitin Nohria, the dean vowed to do more than his predecessors when it came to remaking gender relations at the school.
HBS’ approach was radical, changing how students spoke, studied, and socialized. The transformation also went deep, with administrators installing stenographers in the classroom to guard against biased grading and providing private coaching for untenured female professors.
Clearly, HBS’ makeover doesn’t mean it is now – or will be – perfect. The school’s gender makeover has resulted in a number of unintended consequences and issues. For example, the grade gap disappeared so quickly, it’s unclear what its true source was. Also, there are demands for more women on the faculty, which is a request deans are struggling to fulfill. There has also been pushback, mostly from young men who believe the makeover to be “intrusive social engineering.”
It wasn’t until August of 1962 that Harvard Business School accepted its first female students and in the fifty-one-years since, women have made considerable gains in academia. Today, three women earn a college degree for every two men and women are earning more graduate degrees than men. Admittedly, Harvard has been a hotbed for progress: the school’s current 900-plus first-year students are 40 percent women – HBS’ highest percentage ever. HBS’ student body is also far more diverse than it was 50 years ago, not just in gender, but in race, ethnicity, social class, and nationality. HBS also recently admitted its first transgender student.
In finance, however, women and minorities have made very little progress, though Harvard seems unafraid of tackling these difficult topics. A recent conference at HBS entitled “Gender and Work: Challenging Conventional Wisdom,” addressed the on-the-ground reality of women leaders 50 years after the first women were admitted to the School’s two-year MBA Program.
Harvard has been more than forthcoming in detailing the many ways the school was failing to retain female students, but how challenging was the atmosphere for female students before the makeover and what do female grads think of the school’s effort to foster female success?
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To Unplug (Completely) or Not During Family Vacation? …that is the question
Expert AnswersRecently, I emailed a woman that I often partner with and received an out of office reply indicating that she was “on vacation with family and 100% unplugged from all communication devices.” She was an entrepreneur mom (like me) and we’d often discussed the challenges that working women/entrepreneurs face so her emphatic and somewhat unconventional out of office reply definitely brought a smile to my face.
While my first visceral reaction was “good for her!”, it was almost immediately followed by a second reaction – “sounds good in theory, but not for me.” As someone who prides herself on being the “queen of work/life balance” it seemed odd to me that I had that response, but if I were honest with myself I had to acknowledge that I’m a “95% unplugged during vacation” mom, and that just works best for me.
We hear “work/life balance” all the time, but we tend to think of that concept as only meaning “how can I pull away from work and spend sufficient time with family, etc?” What I’ve found though when considering this “to unplug or not dilemma” is that for me, I also have to consider the other side of that balance – creating just enough space for “work” to keep my business running and avoid the mind numbing avalanche of emails awaiting me after a week of not checking emails.
Of course, while on vacation my primary purpose and focus is on my family, myself, and having fun (as it should be), but the reality is that clients will continue to approach me with new business opportunities, our tenant may have an emergency, or a friend may have a bad break up and really need to talk.
As a result, I’ve found that when I’ve tried to unplug 100% it creates more stress for me and allowing that 5% of check in time relieves that and enables me to really enjoy my time away. For me, that 5% usually looks like checking email for 20-30 minutes every other day – not doing “real work”, and this allows just enough connection with the outside world for me to feel like I’ve got the balance I need.
To be completely honest, I tried to be 100% unplugged for awhile, and it just wasn’t working. Honestly, it felt a bit like I’d imagine a drug withdrawal might feel or the feeling when I realize that I’ve inadvertently left my purse in a restaurant. Furthermore, I had a bit of a jarring incident during one Destin family vacation. My family was lunching at our favorite restaurant – sipping drinks with umbrellas on the outside patio overlooking the bay when my phone rang.
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Fitting In: What Interviewers are Really Looking For
Office PoliticsHow do hiring managers choose candidates for jobs at top firms? According to Northwestern University research, it’s all about personality.
Based on analysis of the hiring practices of elite professional services firms, Lauren A. Rivera, Assistant Professor of Management and Organizations at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, found that interviewers give far more weight to “fit” than they do to technical skills or academic achievements. After all, hiring managers reason, most Wall Street firms accept entry-level applications mainly from graduating students of Ivy League universities. For the most part, even being able to apply to these top jobs implies a baseline level of competence, and whatever they don’t know, they’ll pick up through a comprehensive analyst or associate training program at the firm.
For applicants, that means getting a job offer is less dependent upon proving smarts or skills, as it is convincing an interviewer they’ll fit in at the company. For interviewers, it means they’ll be sure the person they hire can get along well with team members, who they’ll be spending about 80 hours per week with anyway. This should help boost retention, employee engagement, and all the other good things that create a productive workforce, right?
In her article, “Hiring as Cultural Matching: The Case of Elite Professional Service Firms,” Rivera says she is not so sure. At some point, all this focus on cultural homogeneity is bound to produce a groupthink culture, one which keeps valuable voices out and ushers in people who may not be as qualified for the job.
Most companies claim they want real diversity in their offices, but Rivera’s study shows that diversity of thought may not falling by the wayside.
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Voice of Experience: Hilarie Bass, Co-President, Greenberg Traurig
Voices of ExperienceHilarie Bass, Co-President of Greenberg Traurig, emphasized the importance of defining your personal level of success and mapping out a career path that will enable you to get to that level.
According to Bass, all lawyers should look at their careers through a long lens. “Think about what you want to achieve in five years and create a vision for what that definition of success will look like,” explained Bass. “Being a really good technical lawyer is a precondition to any level of success in the practice of law. That being said, technical ability in and of itself is not enough,” she added.
Career at Greenberg Traurig
Bass has a unique career path in that she has spent her entire career at one law firm. “I came to Greenberg Traurig as a summer associate, accepted a job offer on the spot, and have been here for my entire legal career,” explained Bass. She became a shareholder in 1987, and in the mid-nineties Bass became the head of the Miami Litigation Group.
After leading the litigation group in Miami, Bass spent eight years as chair of the Global Litigation Practice for Greenberg Traurig. She then became Global Operating Shareholder for three years, which gave her the unique opportunity to work with the chairs of all the practice groups at the firm.
Since February, Bass has been getting up to speed in her new position as Co-President. “In this role, I have a lot more opportunities for interaction between our lawyers and our clients,” said Bass.
“The achievement I am most proud of in my career, outside of practicing at Greenberg Traurig, is having served as the chair of the ABA litigation section, which is the largest section of the American Bar Association.”
She continued, “The other moment I am proud of is my work on a pro bono case in which I represented two foster children that led to the finding of unconstitutionality of the statutes that prohibited gay people from adopting in the state of Florida. We raised the legal issues from the perspective of two fit children rather than the adopting parents.”
“It was great to be able to use the law in the way I have always thought about it,” Bass said, “which is a tool for social change.”
Currently, Bass is approaching the end of almost four and half years of litigation in a major case involving Chinese drywall. She explained, “Post-Katrina, it made economic sense to import drywall board into the US. Between the real estate boom and the post-Katrina reconstruction, there was a high demand for drywall. As it turned out, the imported drywall contained an excessive amount of sulfur, which will deteriorate anything made of copper or silver in the house.”
Bass continued, “I represented many of the big public builders across the country who repaired their homes on behalf of their homeowners. We have had a lot of success reaching settlements with various parties. I am glad we are coming to a positive end on this case.”
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Intrepid Woman: Yesi Morillo-Gual, Founder and President, Proud To Be Latina
Intrepid Women SeriesBy Michelle Hendelman, Editor-in-Chief
As a successful senior level Latina at one of the largest global financial services firms, Yesi Morillo-Gual recognized that she was one of few Latinas to hold a Director position. This was one of her primary motivations for starting her Latina networking organization, Proud to Be Latina, three years ago.
“I have been in Corporate America for twenty-one years,” said Morillo-Gual, “starting at the administrative level and working my way up to where I am now.” She continued, “I started Proud To Be Latina because of some of the challenges I faced in my own career. These included things like not knowing how to navigate the landscape, not knowing about the unwritten rules, not having a lot of support, and also not really believing that I belonged because the majority of my colleagues did not look like me.”
As a result, Morillo-Gual found herself creating individual barriers that she admits, in hindsight, probably did not exist. She explained, “I saw other women around me doing this same thing, and that is not to say barriers did not exist, but we were creating more barriers for ourselves. This motivated me to create a platform of empowerment for Latinas to learn from one another, empower, and encourage each other to reach their full potential.”
One of the most important ways Morillo-Gual carries out the mission of Proud To Be Latina is to be a role model and mentor for other professional Latinas who also feel like they are the only Latina in the room at times. The organization also has several programs [PDF] designed to bring professional Latinas together to network and share experiences.
Networking Opportunities for Latina Professionals
Morillo-Gual said, “One of these programs is the EmPower Hour, which is a conference call held on the first Monday of every month. We bring in experts in a field or topic and individuals on the call can ask important questions and discuss relevant issues.” Morillo-Gual mentioned topics discussed in previous EmPower Hours include how to build wealth, learning how to say ‘no,’ and how heritage can be a source of strength for advancement.
“Some Latinas think they have to leave their heritage behind to succeed in corporate America, which is not true at all,” explained Morillo-Gual.
Another program Proud To Be Latina hosts is EmPowered Latinas Connect, a networking event held three to four times a year. At their most recent event, which took place last Friday, they addressed the issue of the unconscious bias Latinas have created against each other and how to overcome this. “We had a really honest conversation about what our responsibilities are to other Latinas,” said Morillo-Gual. These events offer a safe space for professional Latinas to express themselves on these important issues impacting their career advancement.
Finally, Proud To Be Latina hosts an annual Latina EmPowerment Conference to help women bridge the gap being Latina, being American, and never compromising their identity to succeed in their careers, according to Morillo-Gual.
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Employee Enthusiasm for Diversity Underpins Successful D&I
Managing ChangeA study [PDF] published in the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology suggests that one of the core factors in whether a company will build a successful diversity and inclusion program is whether people in the workforce see difference as an asset to the company or not.
The article, “Embracing uniqueness: The underpinnings of a positive climate for diversity” outlines the workforce characteristics of a company noted for a successful diversity program. They authors, Ashley Groggins, Peckham, Inc., and Ann Marie Ryan, Michigan State University, write that they set out to find “how diversity can be translated into attitudes (openness to change, openness to others, openness to error and perceived person-environment fit) and competencies (efficacy for change, interpersonal competence, improvement capacity and actual person-environment fit).”
They identified four factors for success: “our data revealed an underlying concept of diversity as a central organizational attribute, which leads to a key role for concepts of accommodation, difference, learning, and physical and organizational structure.”
When employees see diversity as one of the defining characteristics of their company, they are more likely buy into programs, policies, and structures that promote diversity.
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