After work socialising: Do you feel pressurized?

Business and pleasure have always been uncomfortable bedfellows. It is widely considered than an informal off site or out of hours coffee, lunch, dinner or drink can oil commercial wheels and resolve tricky office situations much more smoothly than dealing with them in the office. Networking both internal or external are considered to be political skills necessary for professional success.

However, I am increasingly hearing  from a number of sources the difficulties of dealing with the unspoken pressure to socialize outside offices hours with either co-workers, vendors or clients.

Processing this can be challenging for any number of reasons. Meet four people who say ” No”.

• Childcare responsibilities:  many working  parents manage tight schedules when it comes to childcare. Many have  teenage children at home unsupervised,  others need to relieve nannies or collect kids from nurseries and day care. Very often there is also some after school participation in the early evening.  Suzette an IT Recruitment Manager told me “it’s  part of our office culture and routine to meet good clients for a drink on a Friday after work. My son plays football for a local junior team and I simply have to be back to take him there. My partner’s commute is much longer than mine and he can’t make it back in time. I  know this puts me in the poor team player category but it can’t be helped.  Sometimes I ask one of the other parents to cover for me with my son, but I resent feeling pressurized when I’m doing a good job in office hours and have excellent relations with all my clients .”   
• No interest:  Some people simply don’t want to go to cafés and bars with their colleagues.   Aashif, an associate with an international law firm with suggests “ If I have been in the office since 0800 and if I can actually leave the office at 1800 –  I wouldn’t choose to go for a drink with people I have been working with all day. I  have given enough time. I just want to get home,  not because I have a wife or children,  but I want to do other things. I also don’t drink alcohol so it’s not a lot of fun because as a non-drinker I can see the impact that even one glass has on some people.  I am always happy to meet clients for lunch. I know I am viewed as anti-social”
• Blurring boundaries:  Chloe a Fund Manager at a large bank finds the pressure to go to after work outings with colleagues and clients  frustrating and even annoying.  “There is a lot of blurring of boundaries at these post work drinks and some bad behaviour.  If people really want to socialize with their work colleagues or clients  they  can have coffee, lunch or even breakfast.  Very often some of these functions turn into late night events which I think can be inappropriate. ”   
• Damages reputation:  Behaviour outside office hours can be quite often misconstrued and lead to office gossip and even reputation damage. Martin heads up an all female team and found that he was the subject of water cooler whispering following after work social events with a group of only women.   “They were perfectly correct occasions and genuinely intended to cement the team. But  the best of intentions back fired and there was a lot of open sniggering from outside the department,  so I simply stopped suggesting them.”

So do you feel pressurized to socialize with clients, colleagues or vendors after office hours?  Take the poll. 

An overlooked piece of networking etiquette

The ultimate multi-tasking. Eating, drinking,standing up and Networking

Make one person feel comfortable at every event

Do you ever wonder which sadist put eating, drinking, standing up and networking in the same sentence?

At networking events, do you feel genetically challenged and your fine motor movements suddenly seize up?  Does securely balancing your glass, clutching a cocktail napkin and finger-food plate in your sticky fingers become an impossible task?

Do you dread slickly producing your business card with a smooth sleight of hand of hand, while simultaneously delivering some pithy, riveting sound bite about the value proposition of your business (or yourself) in one easy movement? All this of course at the same time as other physical aforementioned challenges?

Do you create a danger zone and is anyone else physically at risk, if cutlery is involved in any part of this process? A spoon, but heaven forbid… a fork?

Do you quake at the prospect of elbowing your way to one of those high cocktail tables, overcoming nausea at the un-appetizing buffet detritus, squeezing your plate in and asking if you can join the group?

Does the thought of a chirpy encounter with a cool, calm and connected fellow networker purring  “Tell ME all about YOU”,  fill you with total horror?

When you see the phrase “walking dinner” on your invitation do you immediately groan and think “foot petals”?

Does your handbag appear take on the same demolition potential as a sledgehammer?

Does root canal work sound appealing in comparison?

You are probably in the majority.

I have read, written spoken, coached and consulted on networking for many years.  But while we are exhorting the newbie networker to get out there and perfect their elevator sound bites, dive into the networking scrum and no end of other challenging strategies,  there is one overlooked piece of networking etiquette that deserves  to be resurrected by every networker, confident or otherwise. We should all aim to make one other networker comfortable at an event. All it takes is a few words:

• Please join us…
• Can I help you with …?

Being a good networker isn’t all about being cool.  It’s not  just about making your perfect pitch, collecting cards or securing appointments. It’s about embracing others. If you are genuinely a good networker you will be empathetic towards, and aware of, the people around you and help them feel at ease.

The  man or woman struggling with their carefully constructed bite sized tortilla,  miniature tiramisu  or  diminutive shrimp on an oversized garnished  spoon might very well be useful connection or have something of value to add.

If you are  truly a skilled networker, you should add to your networking strategy:  make at least one person feel comfortable at any event.

Let’s  start  to reconsider what constitutes good networking.

Tap into technology for more effective networking

Never has the circulation of information been faster. At the touch of a screen which can be as small as the palm of a hand, we have access to information on a scale never been seen before. We can also share data about ourselves and others in a nano second whether it’s an update on our relationship status (Facebook) , the meal we’re about to eat (Twitter) a photo of a view or people we’re with (Instagram) an article we’ve read (LinkedIn) or even our own resumés.

There are many, particularly in the older demographics, who still turn their noses up at the new social media platforms, associating them with lowest common denominator activities. This is not entirely disconnected to intellectual arrogance as well as ignorance.  I do  agree that reading about people’s lunch choices is only marginally more interesting than watching paint dry.   However,  there are times when technology can enhance tried and trusted methodologies and even bail us out if we’ve screwed up. It certainly adds a new dimension to networking opportunities.

A spontaneous request for a CV 

Old school   – request business card and email resumé at next possible opportunity.

New options  (with permission)  –

•  Option 1  keep a copy of your resumé on your  smart phone or  tablet. Send it immediately to the person requesting the document.
• Option 2 send a LinkedIn connection invitation on the spot from  smart phone or iPad.

Forgotten or run out of business cards

Old school  – panic,  cringe with embarrassment, miss opportunities, write on beer mat,  ask for their card and contact by email later.

New options

• Option 1 keep a photo of your own card on your phone or iPad.  Send immediately.
• Option 2   CardMunch  app is a business card reader launched by LinkedIn. All you do is take a photo of your contact’s business card and it will automatically upload the business card details to your phone so you can make a connection with a potential connection  in seconds. This process is better on an iPhone than iPad where it has had mixed reviews for layout.
• Option 3 Put number directly onto their phone.

Don’t know anyone at an event

Old School – feel uncomfortable, hang out with friends, get cornered by event bore, try to break into a group of ” cool” people.

 New options – 

• Option 1 check out other participants on LinkedIn and connect before event and arrange to meet. If the organisations aren’t listing who is attending then the event is probably run by old schoolers
•  Option 2  If you are attending an industry event or social function, Foursquare is a location locater tool that allows you to find out who visiting the same place as you. Alert your network and share your coordinates  so you become  visible and contactable to potential network connections.
• Option 3 many conferences and events have mobile apps to facilitate event networking and interaction while you are there.
• Option 4  post your attendance at the event  on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter!   Some registration platforms (EventBrite) encourage participants to post on Facebook as part of their marketing. Let your network know you will be there. Many organisers  issue event  hashtags so that information on the event can be shared and tracked.

Whether this will lead to the predicted demise of the business card the pundits are still at loggerheads. In my book there is no need for it to be an either/or situation. There is a place for both traditional and more hi-tech methodologies and if used effectively they can be complementary techniques.

What other hi-tech tips can you share to supplement traditional networking? 

Do you have a “Go-To” Top 10?

Who are your Go-To Top 10?

All of us have situations which are problematic. They can range from  minor irritations and something irksome, to outright  emergencies.    To get out of a hole we might need repairmen, baby sitters or service providers in a wide range of fields.  But one area which we woefully neglect  is the development of strategic alliances to support an emergency in our careers.

We all need a ‘Go-To” Top 10.

These will be your top 10 top professional connections to whom you can turn in a crisis or even with a problem or a question.

All our requirements are different when we assess who should be included on that list.  Broadly speaking there are some general guidelines that apply to us all.  There will be variations according to the severity of the situation:  whether it’s a little situational glitch, a specific question or something more major requiring a full  emergency landing.

• Go-To Top 1 : Do you have a mentor?  This would be the senior or elder states person in your professional life who can share their deep experience and wisdom.  This will be immediately calming and informative as appropriate,  or both.
• Go-To Top 2 :  Do you have an internal sponsor?   This role will be filled by a  confidante,  a door opener,  someone whose  professional status and standing will be sufficiently significant to catalyze responses to calls and emails,  or even better to effect introductions to contacts beyond your reach .
• Go-To  Top 3, 4 and 5: Do you have external sponsors?  See above,  but with a wider reach in your geographic region or functional or market sector.  Having one for each segment of activity would be even more beneficial. If you have connections in line with your longer term goals so much the better.
• Go-To  Top 6: Do you know a super-connector?  This will be different for all of us.  I count on my super connectors,  but in turn fulfill that function for others. They are the ones who say  ” Let me think… have you tried …????.”
• Go-To Top 7  Do you know a curator? We all come across the person whose catch phrases are ” have you seen? or ” have you read?” These individuals will be veritable gold mines of information, sometimes obscure, sometimes less so. They will know where to look for any key information on and  in the latest emergency and can send you there quickly, thus saving you hours of valuable time.
• Go-To  Top 8:  Do you have a port in a storm? We all need a sympathetic shoulder to lean on,  some one who will be there only for us. Their role is not to advise  but perhaps put the kettle on,  open a bottle of something cold and white (or warm and red) and just listen neutrally.   Very often this role is best  fulfilled outside an intimate relationship,  although  not always.
• Go-To Top 9:  Do you have a devil’s advocate?   Their role in any Go-To Top 10 is to give you the viewpoint from the other side. Their skill in constructive communication will be peerless as they force us to examine our own roles and responsibilities in any debacle and communicate that to us in a way we can hear .  They risk our moods, wrath and petulance or even worse. They are people who know us well.
• Go-To  Top 10:  Do you have a  list of specialists  Whether this includes doctors, lawyers, coaches, bank managers   accountants or any other type of professional  or technical specialist, it’s always useful to have a full,  up to date list of people you can call on.  If anyone in a network has no problem being contacted out of the blue after years of neglect, it’s usually because they are charging a significant fee.

Who would you put on your list?

B.A.S.I.C: A Networking strategy for Women

I was invited recently to a corporate sponsored  (this is important) golf outing as a guest for the social only, clearly being expected to play to my strengths! My short game is somewhat longer than it should be.

As I waited at the bar in the club house for my host, I observed the players coming off the course and circulating. Here are two almost verbatim accounts of conversations between 2 pairs of golfers I overheard at the 19th hole:

Ladies

Maria : Hi I’m  Maria  J. Pleased to meet you. Are you a member here?
Jane: Jane P. Yes I’ve been a member for 10 years Which club do you belong to?Maria: Sunny Golf Club, I joined in 2000
Jane: That’s a nice course too. I did look at it when I first started playing, but the  traffic is really bad on the A123, especially on a Friday. Where are you driving from?
Maria: Well, I work on Business Street, Brussels but live in Very Nice Suburb. On the weekends – it’s only 20 minutes by car.
Jane: Very Nice Suburb? That’s a great area. But quite far from Business Street.  Maria: I  know – the kids go to X School and we wanted to be close to there. Even now I feel as if I spend my entire life in the car! Do you have kids? (in response to nod) Where do they go to school?
Jane :  They’re only in the local primary school – but I still spend too much time  in traffic!

 (Conversation continued about best school runs,  school curricula, summer programmes …)

Gentlemen          

Tom :  Tom X. Pleased to meet you
Joe– Joe  Y… likewise. How did you get on today? Great course –I  haven’t played here  for years
Tom –     10 over. More bogies than birdies as they say. You?
Joe –  played  to my handicap
Tom :     what are you at?
Joe:      22 and you?
Tom : 16,  just dropped last year. Where do you play?
Joe :   Sunny Golf Club –been a member for 10 years
Tom:  Good course. Played there with Peter X of Better Products last summer.  He smashed that 9th hole, the one with the dog-leg to the green. Do you know him?
Joe:  That’s true the 9th is tough–I know Pete X well – we should play together sometime. Let’s set something up maybe in October? We have a roll-up competition ( Pulls card out of wallet)

(Conversation continued about business and golf  courses, people they had in common and  game set up)

 I recounted this story to lunch buddy Silvana Delatte  who challenged me to create an  acronym to help women network.

This  is what I came up with B.A.S.I.C.

• #B =   Wear your business hat first at a professional  and corporate event. Be strategic and inquisitive professionally.  Identify some business basics and have networking goals!   It’s OK!
• #A =    Assess the situation.   Ask Socratic questions  (who, what where, why and how?) to find out more about the person. Ask for card and contact details. Give yours.  Avoid Mumspeak and private over sharing  too early in this conversation. At a school parents’ evening it would be different. This  can actually upset women without children, as much as diluting a woman’s professional presence.
• #S =  Synergy what and who do you have in common? Be strategic! Suggest connecting on an online platform. You are then connected not just to them but  also able to tap into their networks.
• #I  = show interest and interact professionally as well as personally. Implement your strategy.
• #C =  Now is the time to Chat and Create relationships. People do business with individuals they like and trust. This is where women excel, social beings that we are.

Research by Monica Stallings of The Wharton School, suggests that both men and women show a preference for multi-plex networking, that is,  they network with people they like and trust. But it’s men’s willingness to be more instrumental  and strategic,  that puts them ahead of the networking game.  We all wear many hats in our daily lives.  We wouldn’t wear a fascinator to the office or a business suit to the gym.  Leaving our parenting hat in the cupboard at a corporate event is no different, until it’s an appropriate time to share.

Neither Jane or Maria had brought cards to the event. Jane’s company shortly afterwards announced major cuts in the workforce. Maria is the HR Director of a company in a loosely related sector.   Would being aware of each other’s professional identities have made a difference? They’ll never know!

What acronym can you create to prompt women  (and men)  to become  more effective networkers?

Get out of the job search advice maze

Navigating the job search maze

Create your own Job Search Advisory Board

If you  Google “job search tips” there are 460 million entries. Now I haven’t looked further  than the first 3 pages, but I can imagine they contain some widely differing nuggets of advice.  Add to this,  the well intended input from friends, family, colleagues and bosses, it’s hardly surprising that the average job seeker is scratching his/her head in bewilderment.

Confusion
Only last week I heard that one client had been advised from someone in Germany not to create his own web site when he was actively looking for corporate opportunities, as well as freelance consulting work.  Another was told to dumb her resume down  by a university friend,  so not unsurprisingly was getting cut after either the first screening or interview.   Another was advised not to connect with people he didn’t know personally on LinkedIn by a colleague nearing retirement. Another was advised by a neighbour that a certain professional networking event wasn’t worth it!

So what can you do when there are so many different opinions and how does the average job seeker navigate his/her way through this veritable maze of job search advice? The answer is with considerable difficulty.

 Get on  Board
One way to get over this problem is to strategically create your own advisory board to give you varied, but focused access to a range of opinions.

But how do you go about this and who should you include?

• Set job search goals and create a strategy:  for most jobs seekers this key first step alone gives necessary focus.  It cuts out the scatter gun approach of “asking around” and sending your CV to a group that is simply too wide.
• Research – your sector and chose companies thoroughly. Target them.
• Create a strategic network –  identify a number of  individuals who can mentor you and answer your questions. Choose different age ranges,  locations, backgrounds and personality types to create your very personal Job Search Advisory Board. As the CEO of your own brand you can synthesise the results and take your own decisions Who do you need?
  • An up to date source –  A group of connections with more opinions than experience of job search will not be helpful. You need someone who has been in the job search market or associated with it in some way during the last 3-5 years, otherwise the chances are they are out of date. The market is changing at a rapid pace and it is very hard to keep up with,  even for those who work in the sector.
  • Age  range –   people tend to network and seek advice in their own age demographic.  Some are strongly bound to the way their age group does (or has done things) things.  Get a cross-section of input.
  • Cultural differences – there can be marked differences between corporate, sector, professional, regional and national cultures.  Someone seeking a job in the construction sector in Germany,  will have and need a very different approach to an U.S. based Marketing Manager. Once again get a cross-section advice.
  • Personality types  – We all have different styles. If you are an introvert, the approach of your extroverted advisor may fill you with horror and bring you out in a cold sweat,  but there could still be some lessons to learn. Likewise the extrovert could profit from some lower key approaches of a more reflective personality.

Whatever you do:

•   Monitor your results –  if you are not getting any results at all, something needs to change even if it means going out of your comfort zone.  We can all get stuck and caught up in rigid thinking. Experiment.  Create a web site, put professional details on Facebook, connect with someone you don’t know personally, attend networking events you were told may not be useful.
• Trust your gut  – if something doesn’t feel right it probably isn’t, at least for you. Go back to step 1! Find what is right for you and don’t be afraid to change.
• If all else fails seek professional help.

How do you filter  job search advice? 

Ladies! Will an interest in men’s sports advance your career?

Last year at exactly this time, while I was working I must confess, being a sucker for a good ceremony, I was maintaining a watchful half eye on the biggest pageant the world has seen for a very long time – THE Royal Wedding. Keeping me company was an old friend and business associate – male.

I was somewhat surprised at his willingness to spend any time at all observing the frankly semi – hysterical, international orgy of girly gushing about frocks and fascinators, although a view of Pippa Middleton’s fine derrière seemed to make it all worthwhile. When I asked him why, he told me that as the CEO of a company which employs over 90% women, he feels he needs to at least be able to comment intelligently and engage on issues that interest the people who work for and with him. Women. He knew they would all have watched the ceremony, as well as the pre and post analysis ad nauseam and he wanted to be able to make a contribution. I passed an admiring comment on his open-mindedness and resilience – it was rather a protracted affair as you may recall.

Women don’t engage in men’s interests
His reaction took me by surprise. His perception was that it was a managerial obligation to understand the culture of his organization. It was just coincidence that in this case his employees happened to be all women. He went one step further and maintained that IHHO there was a general failing in women to do the same, suggesting that we women are remiss in taking no, or very little time, to engage or understand male culture and topics which are of interest men, simply bitching up a small storm about being excluded.

Fast forward a year to the Brussels JUMP conference. One of the keynote speakers Jean-Charles Van den Branden gave an eloquent presentation on the barriers that women encounter in the workplace, but one passing comment struck a memory chord. Hiring managers recruit and promote people they like and trust, which as a recruiter I know to be true. Jean-Charles cited that men for example like football (soccer in the US) and would feel more comfortable with candidates who have similar interests, because this forges a bond between them more easily.

Would it make a difference?
Now I can’t help but wonder would it really make a difference if female candidates become conversant in the minutiae of the international transfer arrangements of the Premier League, tapped into the latest Spurs, Juventus or Barca gossip or took a position on the EUEFA cup final ( May 19th Bayern Munich v Chelsea) rather than simply what’s going on with the WAGs? The world is full of women who are not only passionate about activities that are perhaps wrongly traditionally and stereotypically considered to be male areas of interest, as spectators, but as participants as well. In the UK 1 in 4 of those who pass through the turnstiles is a woman. 33% of London marathon runners are women, whereas in New York the figure rises to 38%. According to Scarborough Marketing , 42 percent of the NFL’s total fan base is made up of women.

But does it result in professional leverage? I didn’t know – so I asked around.

A key differentiator
Carys Osborne, Commercial Consultant at Optimal Media and Man U fan says a definite yes. Being able to  explain the off side rule has made a real difference.   ” Working in the advertising industry, it is all about networking, building relationships with clients and having that personal touch. A knowledge of football instantly creates common ground with prospective clients. It adds something other than a sales pitch discussion to build a rapport. Company directors might not have much time to speak to sales callers, but they are happy to take 10 minutes out of their day to talk about last night’s game. As a woman able to have these discussions, you become memorable to people, which is key to success”.

Not really
I got a different perspective from Amy a Corporate Lawyer who is both a runner and a footie fan, with the London marathon and the 3 Peaks Challenge under her belt. Raised with 3 brothers learning about football wasn’t an option for her. She was however less sure that it advanced her career in what is the conservative, male dominated environment of the law. But she told me “ I think it all gives me additional respect. The 3 Peaks is particularly challenging and a lot of men don’t make it. It was irrefutable proof of my resilience, commitment and focus. Being interested in football means that I can genuinely participate in post work chat which undoubtedly helps office relationships”

A question of marketing
Anne Vandorpe, Consumer Sales and Marketing Manager at Sanoma Media, a soccer Mum and fan, plans to run the NYC marathon later this year. She suggested as a marketeer that “ it’s all about knowing your market whether it’s consumer product users or male hiring managers “ and has always found her interest in sport extremely helpful professionally. She has a word of caution that it can be useful as a differentiator, but will exhaust itself if all women had the same level of enthusiasm in traditional areas of male interest. The natural scheme of things will result in men and women finding other ways of standing out.

Where is this headed?
So ladies, as someone who sadly wouldn’t know a penalty from a corner, is the message that we need to get out our football scarves or running shoes and make a better effort at taking an interest in male activities and improve our all-round engagements in these areas of interest? Is this what we need to enhance our careers?

But where does this leave the concept of diversity? Isn’t it about accepting and benefiting from our differences? Don’t men and women alike need their own spaces or are we headed for a totally “metro-sexual” world?

Or is this all just another smoke screen? Should any of it matter at all?

What do you think?

Men and women please complete my LinkedIn poll ” Has an interest in any particular sport helped advance your career?”

Are you ready for a professional emergency landing?

Many of us sit on aeroplanes, especially frequent flier business trips and watch the cabin crew go through the emergency procedures with tuned-out indifference. We know the drill because we’ve seen it possibly hundreds of times in our lifetimes. Despite the commentary that all should pay attention, we dutifully turn off our electronic devices as instructed, read our books and magazines, chat to our colleagues and fellow passengers or simply settle in for a good movie, a nap and perhaps an inferior meal. After all the odds that anything will happen to us are slim. Right?

Workplace parallels
Sadly, despite the pace of unwelcome change which has become a hallmark of our economies, this is not too dissimilar to the view many take of the workplace. We have all seen many excellent people blindsided and ill-equipped to make an emergency landing which causes us to flail around in search of life-vests and oxygen masks.  This can be because of redundancy,  a merger, a take- over or any other unforeseen business circumstance. As the cold winds of recession blow through our economies, the reality is that having a professional emergency landing procedure in place is now taking on increased significance.

This is the professional equivalent of knowing the exact location of the emergency exits.

So how can we do this? Here are 7 strategic career contingency measures:

•  Up to date professional skills – it’s important to be current in this area. Many people take their feet off the pedal in terms of professional development , quite often in mid-career and find themselves lacking particularly in relation to newer (read cheaper) employees. It’s important not to become complacent and to view education as an ongoing exercise.
•  Work on your network – many job seekers tap into their networks only when they have a need, by which time it’s too late. Networking should be an ongoing effort.
•  Pay it forward – the more you can do for other people when you are in a position to do so makes it easier to ask for reciprocation at a critical time.
•  Create a financial reserve – it’s hard to define in precise terms how long it could take to find another job. You could be lucky – but generally executive searches take about 3-6 months. Today the suggestion is that it can be as much as 9 months. So although it is hard in today’s economic climate, sound advice would be for all of us to have a reserve  “disaster fund“ of a minimum of 6 months to cover critical  expenses. One of the most terrifying aspects of job loss is the gnawing anxiety of how to meet fixed overheads.  It’s a good idea to make sure that key financial contact details are in your address book.  How well do you know your bank manager?
•  Invest in professional support – many individuals seek career support when they are desperate: it might be when they have already lost their jobs or are facing any other sort of career blip. It is important to treat a career with the same strategic analysis as one might any other housekeeping exercise. In the words of John  F. Kennedy “ The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining”. 
• Look after you –  Job seekers with family or other obligations worry about letting down their families and their ability  to support their nearest and dearest.  But just as a cabin attendant will exhort  passengers to put on their own life jackets and oxygen masks first and then look after their dependents,  the same is true for the person looking for a job. Putting your own needs first will ultimately be in the best interests of the people who rely on you.
• Leave your luggage behind  – this is always one I imagine I might struggle with if tested,  but the logic resonates nevertheless. Sometimes our baggage gets in the way and we have to let it go and take that step into the unknown to protect ourselves.

So are you ready for a professional emergency landing?

Women and salary negotiation. Do you know your own market-value?

No one would dream of putting their houses on the market without checking out the value, then why do women do that to themselves?

Price awareness
We live in a culture where most women know the value of their homes on the property market. We are reminded daily of minute percentage movements on global stock exchanges and unemployment figures.  Women know the price of most things from the cost of a business suit to a plumber or a baby sitter and account for 85% of consumer purchasing decisions. What most don’t bother to check out is the value of possibly their greatest asset. Themselves.

I have had two contacts this week from women who have discovered signficant salary differentials either between themselves and their male colleagues, or general market benchmarks for their job.

Women and negotiation
There is much information in the public domain to suggest that women don’t negotiate hard enough, or even at all, in the area of compensation. This insidious differential starts across the world at entry-level in a wide variety of sectors and stays with many women throughout their careers. This is true,  even for those who have invested in their personal development to acquire an MBA. Research shows that women generally earn 80% of men.

And when they do try to negotiate, unlike their male counterparts instead of being viewed as enterprising dynamos, they are seen in much less favourable terms, frequently as money grabbing b$x*£€s. At a time of economic austerity many are reluctant to step up and re- negotiate.

Basic minimum
The most important thing for women is to have an idea of their own value on the open market. If they decide they don’t want to negotiate their compensation package, this decision should be taken from a position of being well-informed. No one would dream of putting their houses on the market without checking out the value, then why do it to themselves?

How to check?

• Network :  with people in your field and sector.  Asking people what they earn in many cultures is considered to be indiscreet and on par with asking a woman about her weight, age or credit card number. However it is possible to get ball park figures and salary range via sensitive discussion.
• Advertisements : many job advertisements carry salary scales. Keep a watchful eye on job boards and the press in the same way you might monitor house prices.
• Online resources:  there are many free salary survey resources online. Check out  salary.com, glassdoor.com and payscale.com which has a  global reach.
• Overview :  It’s always useful to have an overview of what’s going on in terms of salaries (especially as they’re being frozen). Most business media carry regular pieces on this topic and  LinkedIn has a Compensation and Benefits Forum where general compensation issues are discussed from a management perspective.
• General package : get up to speed not just on the salary segment of your compensation, but on where your total benefits package lies on the market spectrum. If your salary is lower, do you have other perks which are just as important such as remote working or flexi-time?  Perhaps you can’t leverage a higher salary, but are there other benefits that might be useful?

We would never consider buying or selling anything without being aware of its value. We simply have to stop doing this to ourselves.

What do you think?

Personal Branding Conflict: Ownership of Online Connections

Storm brewing over online connections

 A problem waiting to happen.

Personal Branding  as a career management tool for all employees and job seekers has been strongly encouraged since Tom Peters urged us all to become our own Chief Marketing Officers.  Today,  many employees network strategically in both their personal and professional lives to create an effective career strategy and now have strong personal brands.But could it be we are headed for a clash?

Personal vs Corporate
This  recent development is proving to be challenging for some businesses, as they are becoming aware of a growing need to manage employee individuality within the context of their own organisational structures. Some are now playing catch up.

I had two interesting conversations this week. Both made me think that there ‘s trouble brewing out there in cyber space, the ramifications of which we have yet to fully understand. And according to a report by DLA Piper, Knowing your Tweet from your Trend,  I am not alone in these concerns.

Complex
Many column inches have been given over to employee content on social media, where the nature of some tweets and Facebook updates has resulted in disciplinary action and even dismissal. But what about the unchartered territory of the ownership of contacts and connections with whom employees are engaging? Whose are they exactly? Organisations are struggling to exercise control between an employee’s business and personal life on social media, where the  divide is often indistinct. This is particularly true on LinkedIn, which now has 130 million members globally.

Who owns your LinkedIn contacts?
The first chat last week was with an executive search associate who told me that his company was now using LinkedIn as a date base and had all but stopped using their own in-house applicant tracking  system. It was simply easier to keep up with changes in potential candidates movements on-line and saved a huge amount of time for all concerned, cutting data inputting costs totally he told me. Little warning bells jingled in my ears.  “What happens if the consultants leave?”  I asked. The response was that the  connections would be transferred to the practise partner. At that juncture, the little tinkles, became massive gongs, as the company had no contractual legal procedure in place to cover this.

Fast forward to the end  of the week. Simon was a Business Development Director with a Financial Services Consulting organisation. On Friday, he was called into his bosses office and although he was clearly aware that business was slowing down,  he was shocked to find that within  2 hours he had been “let go” and cut off from the company server. Amongst the mountain of paperwork he has been asked to sign,  is a clause asking for his LinkedIn password to transfer his connections to another sales person in the company.

Now Simon is a very strategic and creative networker. He invests a significant amount of time cultivating a meaningful network, both physically and virtually. He feels that his associates and superiors  never  committed to online networking. He maintains that his contacts have been developed over his entire career and have nothing to do with his employer. He is also well-connected personally via his family, high-profile school and university and is not about to hand those details over without a fight. The company differs and is arguing that many of his connections were cultivated as an integral part of his role with them, on their time and need to be returned. Both are seeking legal advice. How do we decide if a contact is a personal or a business one and what happens if those connections are inter-changeable?

Legal Action
According to The Telegraph, a British court has already ordered a recruitment consultant to hand over his LinkedIn contacts to his previous employer. In this particular case the consultant had started trading on his own account before then end of his contract, which muddies the water slightly. But if the data for all his connections is in the public domain – are they “his” in the first place?

Personal Profiles
LinkedIn profiles are indeed personal online resumés, reflecting individual achievements and success stories, rather than company branding messages. Some individuals are very savvy about the use of this platform and maximise the opportunities it offers both personally and professionally often times merging the two areas. Others are lethargic and disinterested, with incomplete profiles and minimal or no activity.

DLA Piper suggests that only 14% of employers have policies in place which regulate social media activity outside the workplace.  Failure to provide clarity on the ownership of connections will result in many unforseen ramifications. It will also cause confusion on the value of personal branding as a career management tool and  perhaps impact the energy individuals put into online networking.

So should employers be able to claim individual online contacts when an employee leaves? Would you take the time to build up your online connections and create these strategic alliances, if they become the “property” of your employer on departure?

For me, it’s no different than asking the employee of yester year to hand over his/her Rolodex or Filofax on departure. When a client interfacing employee resigns or is fired, there has always been a commercial risk of them taking their contacts with them. This is why many organisations have non competition clauses in their contracts.

Whether contacts are actual or online in my book, will not make any real difference.

Or will we see a return of the adage – ” Never mix business and pleasure” ?

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