Читать книгу New Girl On The Job - Hannah Seligson - Страница 6

I don’t want to tell you this, but I have to. I got fired from my first job.

Even though it was more than a year ago, I still remember the postfiring twinges of shame, feelings of inadequacy, and certainty that my life had ended before it had begun. The disappointment and despair I felt during my nine months of employment is what ultimately inspired me to write. Now you know how painful it was. It was in this undertaking—in the monumental effort to hone my craft, interview over a hundred amazing women about their experiences in the workplace and cull their wisdom in order to share it with others—that I discovered there are even more valuable lessons about what it means to be the New Girl on the Job than I had originally suspected.

Writing this book helped me put my first job experience in perspective. I see now that I was mismatched for my job, and bullied by my boss. I didn’t want to spend the whole day making PowerPoint presentations and doing busywork, yet I had never bothered to ask what my job description was! I was so inexperienced: I wondered, like so many other young people starting out, was my office the way all offices were? Was my supervisor’s constant nitpicking the only humanity I could expect from my boss? No one had told me what to expect or how to handle the range of situations I was about to encounter, many of which are common to young people of either sex when they are starting out. But equally as many are specific to young women.

Over the past year, I have had the enormous privilege of interviewing women from a wide range of industries, professions, and backgrounds. My sample consisted of one hundred women aged twenty-two to about thirty, from four major cities—New York, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Chicago. While women from these four cities were the bulk of my sample, I also spoke to a smattering of women from a variety of other locations. Twenty percent of my sample were women of color. Location, race, or job title, however, was not the defining factor in what young women were experiencing at work. Whether I was interviewing financial analysts in New York, assistants at talent agencies in Los Angeles, junior aides to politicians in Washington, D.C., or employees at nonprofits in Chicago, young women were all encountering the same types of workplace issues. Everyone was struggling with the basics (Is it okay to be friends with my boss?) to the more complicated (How do I avoid becoming a doormat?). The women at the lower rungs of the ladder were instrumental in shaping the topics addressed in this book. The voices of Gen X and Y are the fabric of New Girl on the Job, as they provide the real-life examples and provide the palpable context to discuss what would have otherwise been theoretical Jane Doe prototypes.

I also interviewed seasoned professionals. They are my “panel of experts,” a group of women who have made an enormous impact in their respective field, some of whom have very recognizable names, such as Bobbi Brown, founder and CEO of Bobbi Brown Cosmetics; Soledad O’Brien, the host of CNN’s American Morning; Fern Mallis, the vice president of IMG Fashion; Gail Evans, best-selling author of Play Like a Man, Win Like a Woman; and Tory Johnson, the CEO of Women for Hire and career expert for ABC’s Good Morning America. In addition, I interviewed other high-level women in every field, ranging from finance to television to the nonprofit sector. I asked these women such questions as, “What did you do at the beginning stages of your career to get you where you are today? “What are the three pieces of advice you have for young women starting out in the twenty-first-century workplace?” “What are some the pitfalls you see young women fall into at the office?” “How do you think this generation of women can break the glass ceiling?” Fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg boils her “New Girl on the Job” advice down to, “I think it is most important for a girl to work. Even when you have a family, it is recommended to have an identity outside of your family. My advice to women is to pay attention to details, put your heart and enthusiasm into work, and just go for it! Enjoy the ride!”

Interviewing such a wide range of women—from those who have “been there”—to those who are “there” in the trenches right now, figuring it out as they go along—gave me the perspective I wish I had had during my short tenure at my first job and perspective that has helped me get where I am today. Perspective I want to pass on to you.

Based on my research, I’ve also identified lists of takeaways, do’s and don’ts, and other helpful guideposts to give you the information you need in quick, concise doses. In addition, I’ve coined terms (here in italics) for many “New Girlisms” defined in a glossary at the back of the book.

What You Can Expect to Find Inside

So what will you find in this book? New Girl on the Job asks and answers tough questions like:

How can I learn not to take things so personally?

What’s the best way to go about getting feedback so I don’t get slammed at my year-end review?

How do I develop a thick skin?

How can I bounce back after I make a mistake?

How do I stand up to a difficult boss?

What are the professional boundaries with co-workers in social situations?

How do I handle my supervisor’s sexual innuendos?

What do I do if I keep getting all the administrative tasks?

How do I assert myself when I feel like I’m being undervalued?

How do I self-promote without being obnoxious?

How can I negotiate my salary or get a raise?

What’s the deal with mentors, and how can I find one?

How can I quit my job without burning bridges?

What do I do if I get fired?

You Need More Than a Nice Suit and Black Pumps

In the November 2006 workplace issue of Glamour magazine, editor-in-chief Cindi Leive wrote, “When I started working eighteen years ago, pretty much the only advice I received was this, from a friend’s mom: ‘Buy black pumps.’ So I strode into the working world with good shoes…and no clue about anything else.”¹ Although Cindi started working two decades ago, her experience of preparing for the workplace is not much different from today; in fact, the majority of young women interviewed for New Girl on the Job said that buying a suit was the extent of their career preparation.

But we all know that in the highly competitive twenty-first-century workplace, you need resources beyond the salesperson at the department store. This is not to say that young women can’t survive and flourish in their first couple of jobs without a book—many have and will continue to—but New Girl on the Job will empower young women intent on building a successful career. It’s time to give the next generation of women moving through the workforce the potent combination of knowledge and tools to make their first steps on a career path positive ones, setting a precedent of success in these formative years.