Battle of the Sexes Redux

A new study by the Harvard Business Review of over 3,000 executives, about three-quarters of them women, puts gender differences in stark light. The survey suggests that highly qualified women are significantly less ambitious than their male counterparts and that women are much more likely to leave jobs for family reasons than men are.

"The bottom line is men and women are different," said Carolyn Buck Luce, a partner at Ernst & Young and a co-author of the report. In some areas, the study seems to confirm controversial statements made last month by Harvard President Lawrence Summers in which he hypothesized that women may lack "innate" abilities in some scientific disciplines. But the authors of the study say those comments don't track from their research. They contend that perceived shortcomings of women have more to do with the structure of the workplace than women themselves.

What do you think?

Read more online: Boston Herald: http://tinyurl.com/bxerd

Salary Increases

Salary Increases Help Companies Hold On To Top Performers: Hewitt Associates surveyed 1,056 large organizations throughout the U.S. and found that employers were offering salary increases for salaried exempt employees to help retain top performers:

Atlanta: 3.6 percent increase
Boston: 3.6 percent increase
Chicago: 3.6 percent increase
Dallas: 3.7 percent increase
Denver: 3.7 percent increase
Houston: 3.9 percent increase
Los Angeles: 4.3 percent increase
Milwaukee: 3.6 percent increase
Minneapolis/St. Paul: 3.6 percent increase
New York: 3.7 percent increase
Philadelphia: 3.7 percent increase
San Francisco: 4.0 percent increase
Washington, D.C.: 3.9 percent increase

Source: Workforce Recruiting Newsletter

College Grads and Career Choices

I’ve had the chance to work with several new college graduates lately. A common thread among them is that they can’t articulate what their strengths are and what makes them unique – in other words, their value to the employer.

Even more concerning is that so many college grads don’t really know what they want to do – or if they know what they want to do, they don’t have a clue how to get there!

If you have are in college, or the parent of a college student, NOW is the time to do some work on yourself. Here are some suggested steps:

1. Personal Branding – go through the process so that you know your strengths and how others perceive you.
2. Co-op or intern in your chosen profession – before you’re a senior
3. Conduct field research interviews with people in your chosen profession. Ask them about their average day, their favorite part of the job, their least favorite part of the job.
4. Have a back-up plan – especially if your primary plan involves an advanced degree or if your career field is difficult to get into.

New Job Stats

Why New Hires Fail
In a study by Leadership IQ of why new hires fail in the first 18 months on the job, results showed that one-in-two (46%) will fail and only one-in-five (19%) will achieve undisputable success.
Why do they fail? The reasons covered almost everything except their skill to do the job. Here are some of the statistics from the survey:

• 26% didn't have the ability to accept and implement feedback from bosses, colleagues, customers and others - (personal branding is a remedy for this).
• 23% were unable to understand and manage their own emotions, and accurately interpret others' emotions
• 17% lacked sufficient motivation to achieve their full potential and excel in the job* 15% had the wrong attitude and personality for the particular job and work environment
• 11% had insufficient functional or technical skills required to do the job

The real kicker was that in follow up interviews with hiring managers, an unexpected 82% said that, in hindsight, clues to such problems were uncovered during the employment interview. What caused managers to hire these candidates anyway? Two reasons cited were being too distracted by other matters or too pressed for time to pay attention during the interview.

Source: http://www.leadershipiq.com/news_whynewshiresfail.html