In this monthly column, Step Up CEO Jenni Luke shares her take on mentorship through role modeling.
The study I noted in last month’s column about how men and women approach professional opportunities (and perhaps life opportunities) differently really stuck with me. To refresh your memory, “Hewlett-Packard conducted a study about how to get more women into top management. They found that women applied for positions only when they had 100% of the qualifications, men applied when they met 60% of the qualifications.”
I definitely went through this math with myself when I applied for the CEO role at Step Up. The opportunity was fantastic and three different people from three different networks of mine sent the job description my way. Clearly my peers felt I was the one for the job. I was not so sure.
When I read the job description, here is initially what went through my head:
- This is pretty great, but . . .
- I’ve never had the top job before
- I’ve never been a CFO before
- I’ve never run HR before
- Running a national organization and managing multiple programs sounds exhausting
After a few days, here is what went through my head:
- This job is still pretty great and the more I look into it the more I like it
- I may never have had the top job before but I’m ready for the challenge
- I don’t have financial background, and that may end up being a deal breaker, but I’ll let them tell me that
- I’m a quick learner and I’m interested in learning the parts of this job I’m not familiar with
- The first year of any job is going to be a huge learning curve and lots of time and energy to devote, I might as well have it be for something I’m excited about
In those few days where I shifted from an absolute ‘no way’ to ‘I can do this’ I asked myself a lot of questions. What it boiled down to was determining if this is the work I wanted to devote myself to – the mission, the day to day, the hard and soft skills I would learn – and whether I had a vision to move the organization forward. This personal inventory was great preparation for the interview process. I was honest with the Step Up team about skills I was bringing to the table and what I needed to learn on the job, with their support. The conversations that stemmed from that honesty made both parties feel more informed about the choices we were making. We each had investments to make in the other.
At our recent Power Hour event in NYC I brought this up with two recruiters in technology who happened to be men. They said that honesty about skill sets in the hiring process is something they wish they heard more. Both recruiters said that no one is 100% right for any job. Hiring is about choices. If a candidate can clearly state what they are bringing to the table and what they are excited about learning on the job, that goes a long way to determining whether they are the right fit. It also demonstrates a key quality that is hard to interview for: an employee who is willing to admit what they don’t know and seek help. By the way, the only thing they were surprised by in the Hewlett-Packard study was that they assumed the percentage of qualifications that men felt they needed before applying would be lower, like around 20%. Perhaps they were only kidding. But they did go on to say that recent openings at their company had been difficult to fill. Opportunities are being left on the table.
Like our Step Up girls, your opportunities may not be about applying for the right job. Maybe you are considering starting your own business or even trying something just for fun. Recognize that confidence in your ability to learn new skills and enjoy the challenge is part of what makes you ready to take on anything. It is confidence in action.
