IWD: Three top tips for women job searching in 2023 ??

This past year has been rough; layoffs have been raining down aplenty, and unfortunately, there are likely still more to come. And for women, it gets even worse as sadly, ladies have been disproportionately affected by the redundancies sweeping the tech industry.?

As a group already underrepresented in tech, jobs that have been considered “non-business critical” include the areas of Marketing, HR, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and PR, which disappointingly make up a huge amount of areas where many women actually are employed in tech.?

This leads me to think more women might currently be on the job market than usual this International Women’s Day, so I’d like to offer a few pointers I hope will prove useful if you find yourself in the position of looking for your next role.?

1. Remember job specs are first and foremost a wish list

It’s important to recognise that when companies and hiring managers put out a job spec, they outline every skill or bit of experience that will come in handy for the job. Only a “unicorn” would match 100% of the full criteria. So how does this fact affect women more than men?

Well, multiple studies have shown that typically, women are less likely to apply to a job than their male counterparts unless they feel they fit 100% of the required criteria.?

Why is this??

Let’s consider the overconfidence factor. In a 2022 study , men and women were both asked whether or not they felt they could land a plane in an emergency after watching a short video clip deliberately designed to be technically useless. You guessed it, after watching, men in general, marked their confidence 12.24 points higher out of 100 at their ability to land the plane than women.?

Taking this confidence and applying it to job searching, men end up applying to 20% more jobs on average than women.

Now I can’t claim to be a fan of the numerous memes that were created after Donald Trump’s unexpected rise in 2017 as I think you at least need some experience for any job you’re applying for.

Interestingly though this thinking does align nicely with research that suggests it's completely unnecessary to fit 100% of the criteria in a job spec. One job search site, TalentWorks, found applicants were just as likely to get an interview when they matched 50% of the skills listed in a spec as they might at 90% or more.?

With this in mind, I’d like to suggest asking two questions to yourself when you’re reading about your next dream job.?

a) Do I fit 60% of the criteria? TalentWorks might have found a success rate of 50% but personally, I have found applicants are often successful at getting that crucial interview once they hit the 60% mark.

b) Do I meet the requirements of the first three bullet points listed? The most important criteria to meet are always going to be at the top of the list. As we drift towards the bottom of requirements start considering them as nice to haves.?

2. Don’t underestimate the importance of networking?

Applying to that dream job is the first step to greatness but annoyingly, the work is not over yet. Networking is a massive part of job searching but it’s something women often struggle with.

There are many different reasons for this but one, in particular, stands out the most to me: research suggests networking can feel more disingenuous to women than men. As women, we are statistically more likely to build stronger, longer-lasting relationships based on honesty and authenticity than men throughout our lives. And in comparison, we are also more likely to view networking as exploitative and disingenuous if the main motivation is purely self-advancement.?

So how can we get over this personal hurdle?

Remember networking doesn’t just have to take place schmoozing outside of work hours over cheap booze swapping classic business cards.

Instead here are three alternatives:

a) Join a ready-made network that you can use to your advantage absolutely guilt-free as their main purpose is to help you find others who are like-minded and who want to connect. Here are a few within tech that I think are worth shouting out:?

• BlackWomenTalkTech
• GirlsinTech
• LesbiansWhoTech

b) Find a mentor. It can be comforting to receive an “in” rather than always having to reach out cold. An experienced mentor is likely to have a network already and can potentially make useful introductions for you. It could be someone you’re already familiar with or have previously worked with. Or it could be someone you’ve yet to meet. Many people enjoy mentoring and sharing their knowledge with others and there are many communities out there that can help you find one including:?

• Meet a Mentor
• WomenTechNetwork

c) Open the door. For companies you’re interested in applying to now or in the future, it’s important to start making connections early and get yourself on the hiring manager or recruiting team’s radar. Reach out to folks who are already at the company, and ask them questions about how it is to work there, or you could attend any events hosted by them. Also, women are 26% less likely to ask to be referred to a role than their male equivalents so don’t forget to use any connections you might have made.

3. Ask for more: what’s the worst that can happen?

There are many reasons women feel less comfortable negotiating a better deal for themselves but here are a few of the big ones:

• Lack of confidence
• Fear of being negatively perceived by their future employer
• A lack of understanding of the average salary for a job in their industry/at their level. The gender pay gap certainly isn’t a secret but women are still less likely to discuss salaries with loved ones, friends, and colleagues than men are??
• Women are more likely to advocate for others than they are themselves

I think to summarise this general reluctance there’s no better finding than the one described in Linda Babcock and Lara Laschever’s book Women Don’t Ask . When asked to pick metaphors for the process of negotiating, men picked “winning a ballgame” and a “wrestling match,” while women picked “going to the dentist.”

In a recent survey, Glassdoor found 48% of men were likely to negotiate their salary while only 32% of women were willing to do the same. And on average for their efforts, they have been receiving an 8% pay rise .?

I can only back these findings up from my own career in offering folks brand-new jobs. In most cases, I have found the majority of men I have previously offered a job to have pushed in some way for better conditions. Usually, it’s a case of wanting a higher base salary but it can be more stock, a bonus, more holiday days, or a more specific contract clause. You get the idea; “more” is the word of choice here.??

Yet I could count on one hand the number of women I have offered who have ever pushed for more. All have been in a position of seniority (unlike the men), and all have been confident in their pushback - it’s definitely not been their first rodeo.?

How can I start negotiating??

a) Obviously, you want to have some idea of a salary range from the get-go but it’s a bad idea to try to use the first conversation to negotiate. It won’t work. If the initial salary range sounds promising save your pushback for later. By the time a company has been through the process with you, they’ve spent time, money, and energy, and now they have a much bigger incentive to get you over the line and onboard.?

b) Think “what’s the worst that can happen?”

Remember it is very, very, VERY unlikely for a company to reject you if you try to negotiate your job offer. I cannot imagine a situation where it would happen unless you were to take drastic action and scream for more cash at the recruiter. Then it might be a case of a “we regret to find there are cultural differences” email coming your way.”

Simply asking “is there any chance we could up the base salary to X?” is more than enough to get the conversation started.

I’ve also noticed there is often a lack of knowledge on exactly how much more to push for. Hopefully, the 8% figure though gives you some idea of how much men are negotiating for, and typically in my experience, the majority have pushed for around 5k to be added to their base salary.?

Changing your mindset to consider negotiating to only be considered a win-win situation for you is hard, I won’t lie.?

But put it this way, even if the answer is no, remember this is not a bad thing. You tried and it didn’t work this time. Did your future employer reject you? Nope.?

More importantly:

• Did you challenge yourself??
• Did you learn anything for next time?
• (If you’ve accepted the job) Does your new employer have a better idea of your goals and what matters to you when it comes to promotion time?

Hopefully, the answer to all three questions is yes!

I hope all three topics have sparked some interest and will be helpful to job searchers now or in the future. And with point 2 in my mind - I would love to add to my own network anyone who would like to continue this discussion or is interested in connecting generally.

And finally, my wish for anyone currently job seeking:

Happy #IWD2023 ! ??