In many companies, there is a glass ceiling that prevents you from advancing as far as your skills would dictate. However, it isn't just the ceiling, it is the door as well.
While answering questions during your interview, remember the following things are aggressively or passively running through the mind of your male interviewer whether H.R. policy says they can think these things or not:
1. A potential loss of a 9-18 weeks of direct productivity depending on your age and current life status. This is compounded by the training and adjustment costs of dealing with your absense. There is also a sizable probability in loss of direct training dollars should you decide to be a full-time mom.
2. One bad office joke away from a sexual harrassment suit. This can result in direct financial loss either via legal result, loss of job, reduction in rank or position, or stagnation in career advancement. Whenever you are around, they can never let their guard down and act as they normally would if there were just men around.
3. A future discrimination suit just waiting to happen should you not get that week of vacation approved or that promotion to supervisor because the job was given to a male. Qualifications aside, the male supervisor will need to carefully document literally every business interaction with you in order to "prove" that the other candidate was more qualified. Simply providing a few basic examples or their own opinion or judgement as to whether you are ready or not is just not enough in today's suit happy society. Do you like spending your days trying to fend off potential law suits?
4. The current number of women in your organization in similar roles. If there are a legally "acceptable" number of you, there is no pressure to hire you and expose himself to items 1 thru 3. If the opposite is true, then he'll scrutinize items 1 thru 3 even more.
While it is true that in a perfect world, none of these things would come into play. You don't live in a perfect world and I can guarantee you that they do, in fact, come into play either consciously or unconsciously. So, you can either attend that next N.O.W. (National Organization for Women) meeting and let your rant begin or you can digest your situation and find ways to deal with it.
Do you want the job or just something to gripe about?
Assuming you want the job, here are a few tips that can reduce the affect of the male versus female equation. I have seen these brilliantly executed in group interview settings in the past:
When given the opportunity to elaborate on your work experience with your most recent employer, specifically mention in a non-chalant way whether your immediate supervisor was male or not and the percentage of your co-workers who were male and female. Discuss not only the work oriented experiences but also social outings (if none make them up) and how well the group "got along". If your office had sports pools or other male dominated activities, mention that you took part in them.
Why do this?
Without explicitly saying so, you've communicated to the interviewer that you can "fit in" and don't go looking to create problems where no "real" problems exist. Women who interact in this manner (and most do), are far less likely to be a legal or career threat if someone slips up.
Typically, if a male were to say or do something mildly offensive, the female would deal with it directly rather than "going up the chain of command". Thus, allowing the male to correct the behavior without resulting in a career penalty just for uttering the wrong words at the wrong time.
You want your male interviewer to think that this is you. Not only does this lessen the notion that you are likely to create problems in this arena, it also lessens the notion that you are a discrimination complainer as well (which most women are not).
The whole pregancy issue is something you'll have to size up with your interviewer. You may get a sense that the company takes family matters seriously and wouldn't penalize you for it. However, not all companies or even just the interviewer think this way. You tend to see this with a very small business where the scene is hectic on a normal day. Trying to picture you not being there just screams out "expensive employee".
If you aren't planning to have children, use the one or two opportunities during the interview to make passing comments about your family status and the likelihood of that being left unchanged. If you are planning to have children, you'll need to reenforce your desire to be a career woman and that you've got your child care worked out.
Of course, this is not a complete list of things that you need to think about. The intent was to open your eyes to how you are seen by potential employers who are male and prepare to overcome the challenges associated with being a female. If you aren't sure how to do this yourself, sit down with a couple of male friends and ask them to list all of things they could say or do on the job concerning females and what the consequences are. It may surprise you.
If your blood is still boiling, then you've missed the point of the discussion. If you are thinking "wow, I hadn't really thought about it that way", then you are well on your way to a great interview performance.
I wish you the best with landing that job. |