Ask-A-Recruiter: Work Backwards To Get Your Goal

Contributed by Caroline Ceniza-Levine of SixFigureStart

I have an idea of the job I want. How do I figure out where to start?

Work backward from your goal to outline the necessary steps. You say you have identified your ideal job – this should mean a specific industry, company and department. Who do you know in that department? Who do you know in the company – they may be able to refer you to someone in the department? Who do you know in that industry – to get to the company to get to the department? Jobseekers should realize that 15% or less of jobs are filled by advertising. Word-of-mouth or networking is the most effective method. To figure out where to start networking, work backward from your target job. Get to the decision makers who will know what spots are open and will have the power to hire you for one of them.

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Life, Work, and … Study: Tips for Making the Most of Distance Learning

by Elizabeth Harrin

After a day at the office, the last thing you want to do is come home, switch on your personal computer and start all over again. But if you need additional qualifications to get ahead and don’t want to or can’t afford to quit and go to school full-time, fitting in a few hours of study at night is one way to do it – trust me, I’ve been doing it on and off (mostly on) for the last eight years. Three of those years involved eating every dinner at home on a tray, as the dining room table was covered with insurance textbooks, draft essays and sample exam papers. When guests came around I swept the whole lot into a huge pile on the sideboard. Clearly, I was never a great hostess.

I was, however, a great student. I don’t mean that I always got top grades. But I did approach studying like any other work-related task: I scheduled time for it, and I always got my papers in by the deadline. And I worked full-time. I’m no super-woman, by any stretch of the imagination. Anyone can fit studying around a full-time job, if they so desire.

Here are seven tips to make the process easier:

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The Glass Ceiling, The Labyrinth of Leadership, and Work/Life Balance

by Sima Matthes

Is there a glass ceiling or isn’t there? This is the subject of much debate, even here at The Glass Hammer. The term “glass ceiling” is an overused expression, found in research around the world, as far afield as Bahrain and even Australia. I’ve been delighted to find decrees of the death of this idea, even as I’m unsure whether there’s anything to celebrate or mourn.

Talking about the glass ceiling with other women, the responses fall into two categories. It’s either like the Supreme Court’s definition of pornography—we know it when we see it—or like God—you don’t have to see it to know it’s there.

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Movers and Shakers in Energy

It’s the first bud of the spring that gets noticed. It pokes its head out of the dirt, and blooms regardless of whether others around it are doing the same thing. This is true of women at the top of corporations as well. Often, they’re the only women at the table, and even as their numbers increase, they do so slowly, causing us to take notice of big appointments when they occur.

This week, Lynn Laverty Elsenhans was elected Chief Executive Officer and President of Sunoco Inc. Ms. Elsenhans is Sunoco’s first female CEO and President, following her tenure at Royal Dutch Shell, and replaces John Drosdick upon his retirement in August. Ms. Elsenhans holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics from Rice University, and an MBA from Harvard. Ms. Elsenhans will receive an initial salary of $1.24 million and a onetime grant of restricted share units equal in value to $5 million, the company said. According to the Wall Street Journal, this appointment increases the number of women at the head of Fortune 500 companies to 13.

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Happy 30th Anniversary – Time to Change the Pregnancy Discrimination Act?

by Sima Matthes

Although 2007 showed an increase in reported pregnancy discrimination complaints to the EEOC (up 14 percent from the previous year and up 40 percent from 10 years ago), it is only certain recent case in the UK and a pending case before the US Supreme Court that have brought the issue front and center for public debate.

According to the Sunday Times in the UK, Sarah Vince-Caine won £120,000 in compensation for unfair dismissal and sex discrimination from her former employer, the Giorgio Armani group. She sued the company after she was pushed into a lower-level role and eventually fired after her second maternity leave.

Although this represents a victory for Ms. Vince-Caine, Nicola Brewer, chief executive of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, in a separate statement, remarked “If the world of work is premised on the assumption that a woman will take a year off, that loads the dice against her.”

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Golf Outing with 85 Broads and the Women’s Bond Club

Sign up for the Golfing and Golf Workshop at the beautiful Harbor Links Golf Course – either play 18 holes of golf or take a day of lessons to learn to play golf. A half-day of lessons and play is also available.

The workshop consists of 6 students for each instructor. Learn the basic swing techniques, chipping and putting as well as the rules, etiquette and language of golf. Practice your lessons with unlimited balls on the driving range.

Golf clubs may be rented at Harbor Links, if needed, for an additional cost. The day also includes lunch and cocktails and networking opportunities with members of 85 Broads and the Women’s Bond Club.

The day gets started at 11:00 am with check-in and lunch starts at 11:30. Play begins at 12:45 p.m. for those playing 18 holes. Instruction begins at 1:00 pm followed by 9-hole play at 2:45 pm. The day ends with a cocktail reception from 5:30 – 6:30 pm.

To Register

(Please bring photo I.D)

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The Executive’s Guide to Throwing the Perfect Dinner Party

by Jacqueline Church

You run a department, head a practice, handle the crankiest clients and supervise staff. But throw a dinner party? Who has the time? Where to start? If hosting a dinner party has never been your strong suit, and you don’t want to go the “hired help” route, fear not: you already have all the skills you need by virtue of your success at work. Here then, the simple rules of successful hosting:
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Girls Bond Over Banking

by Caroline Shannon

While many expect young girls to be fascinated with Disney Princesses or to memorize all the songs from High School Musical, some business experts are working to push a more practical interest – an interest in finance.

Yep, we’re talking about clubs and camps that teach gals about saving, investing and other personal finance concepts – all life necessities that experts feel, if started early, can make a girl’s professional adult life more successful.

Marsha Firestone, Ph.D, CEO and founder of the Women’s Presidents’ Organization, says programs like these are a necessity, seeing as how “people are programmed to teach young girls one way and boys another way and not necessarily with forethought.”

“We have research that indicating that at about age 11 girls start to lose self confidence,” said Firestone. “It is a programmed response to treat them differently. People do not ask young women to make financial decisions or take financial responsibility.”

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WSTA 2008 Summer Magic

WSTA Socials afford industry professionals the opportunity to socialize in a relaxed atmosphere.

Ticket Price Includes: 4-hour open bar, hot and cold hors d’oeuvres, buffet and music all at a spectacular venue.

For more information on WSTA

For tickets to this WSTA Social Event

*After July 11th all tickets will be $195 plus shipping and handling charges.

*Ticket sales close July 16, 2008 4:00 PM EST.

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Stay at Home Husband? One Lawyer’s Story

Ilise*, a female attorney at a big New York law firm, is the envy of most of her female peers, at least those with children. Unlike most of the other lawyers at her firm, who have to juggle unpredictable hours with inflexible and costly childcare arrangements, Ilise has a built in child care system that doesn’t make her feel as though her two daughters, ages 18 months and 4 years, are being deprived of quality parental time. After Ilise came back to work from her second maternity leave, her husband, a writer, decided to stay home with the girls.

Ilise’s situation is unique, but hardly unusual among professional woman these days. In fact, stay at home husbands have been a hot topic in the blogosphere.

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