Five things Every Woman in Business should do to Self-Promote

We all know the story of the two people looking at the same job advertisement. The man eyes up the spec and reckons he has at least 70% of the skills needed and whoops whoops off to apply. The woman sees she is missing 30% of the competencies needed and stays her hand.

I told this to a colleague recently and he updated me on the story. We have our two protagonists now in the hypothetical interview, the women being persuaded to apply. During the interview with the man, he is asked about a project. Yes he can do it he declares with confidence. The same question is posed to the woman who takes her time in answering, drawing on reservations but ultimately coming to a positive conclusion. Who gets the job? The man of course as he is seen as being confident and capable. The very reasoned caution of the woman is seen as a weakness. Yet, if given the job, she would already be halfway there.

You know the drill. Men are authoritative, women are shrill. Men are capable, women are bitchy. It is hard for women to be direct and assertive without being cast as bossy and manipulative. All words but all still lingering in the workplace .

Men are socialized to be much better at self-promotion; they tend not to second guess. Women are less so. Even when they get to the board room, women are not as vocal as…