Rising Fast
You’ve probably heard the following statistic: men apply for a job when they meet only 60% of the essential criteria, whereas women apply only if they meet 100% of them.
The finding comes from a Hewlett Packard internal report and has been widely quoted in dozens of articles usually invoked as evidence that women need more confidence.
The real barrier to applying wasn’t lack of confidence but the most common response was, “I didn’t think they would hire me since I didn’t meet the qualifications and I didn’t want to waste my time and energy.”
During my podcast interview with award winning diversity, equality and inclusion expert Siwan Smith she gave an amazing piece of advice about how to view the essential criteria of job adverts.
“If you meet all of the essential criteria then you can do the job already, there’s no growth available to you in that role.”
The finding comes from a Hewlett Packard internal report and has been widely quoted in dozens of articles usually invoked as evidence that women need more confidence.
The real barrier to applying wasn’t lack of confidence but the most common response was, “I didn’t think they would hire me since I didn’t meet the qualifications and I didn’t want to waste my time and energy.”
During my podcast interview with award winning diversity, equality and inclusion expert Siwan Smith she gave an amazing piece of advice about how to view the essential criteria of job adverts.
“If you meet all of the essential criteria then you can do the job already, there’s no growth available to you in that role.”
This is the tactic that has allowed Siwan to rise so quickly.
She looks strategically at the essential criteria for skills to develop and grow into e.g., if an essential criteria is having led a team of people and you haven’t done that before. Be upfront about that being one of the main reasons you want to apply for the role.
In her inspiring story we look at:
✔️ how a sexual attack age 17 and 2 brain tumours changed the whole trajectory of her career
✔️ Siwan’s amazing advice to help you think strategically about development opportunities at work
✔️ how to escalate ideas or concerns to safe advocates within a place of work.
Catch the full episode on your favourite platform.
🎧 iTunes
🎧 Spotify
🎧 Other platforms: http://hannahnikeroberts.com/
Let me know what you think of the episode and how this advice could apply to your next steps.
Keep opening up,
Hannah