The article provides some interesting results from a national (U.S.) survey regarding emotions in the workplace.  The most commonly experienced emotion at work is frustration.  Based on the survey results and other research, it is more acceptable for men to express anger at work than it is for women.  Men can yell and pound their fist on a table to release tension, but women aren’t supposed to do that.  Nor is it OK for women to cry, even though they are biologically predisposed to express strong emotions by crying.

“…it’s no wonder that more than 50% of women reported being angry at work during the past year–for the moment, there is simply no socially acceptable way for women to express legitimate anger in the workplace.”

So, what’s a woman to do?   When I was extremely frustrated or angry at work, I would go outside and pace until I cooled off.  There were other times when I went to the parking lot, got in my car, and had a good cry.  In other words, I hid my emotions from my co-workers.  The few times that I did cry in front of co-workers, I felt embarrassed afterward.  And, I could tell that my emotional display made them uncomfortable.

The survey data suggests that things may be changing and it is becoming more acceptable to bring your whole self to work.  “69% of respondents felt that when someone gets emotional in the workplace, it makes the person seem more human, and a whopping 88% of all workers (93% of women and 83% of men) felt that being sensitive to others’ emotions at work is an asset.”

Are things changing?  Do you think it’s OK for women to show anger and frustration at work?

Do you consider yourself lucky?  I do, but I don’t believe in luck in the traditional sense of some sort of random and mysterious force.  Instead, I believe in making my own luck by being ready, willing, and able to take a chance at success.  There is a famous quote by Seneca that expresses this same sentiment: “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”

In my experience, the preparation part of this equation is easy.  In fact, most of my clients are already ‘baked’ or well on their way.  The challenge is in spotting and seizing opportunities when they arise.   Why is this so challenging?  One reason is because we have a fixed idea of what a good opportunity looks like, so we can’t see the myriad of possibilities that surround us every day.  My advice: look for opportunities in disguise and believe in happy accidents.

Another big barrier to making our own luck is failing to act when an opportunity presents itself.   This failure to act is almost always related to some kind of fear.  Fear of failure, fear of looking stupid, fear of being found out, fear of rejection, fear of  you fill in the blank.   When you find yourself in this situation, remember the old saying, ‘nothing ventured, nothing gained.’  You have the choice to face your fears or stay safely and firmly stuck in the status quo.

So, go out and make your own luck this month!

Did you know that women account for only about a third of graduate business students in the United States?  Why do you suppose men in the majority in MBA programs?  It isn’t because women are being rejected by the schools.  It’s because women aren’t applying to MBA programs at the same rate as men.

Given the fact that women are working outside the home in greater numbers than ever before, I was curious as to why more women weren’t seeking advanced business degrees.

I found an answer to that question in an article on cnnmoney.com by Anne Fisher.   Fisher interviewed Elissa Sangster of the Forte Foundation to find out why women are reluctant to pursue MBAs.  The Forte Foundation’s mission is to encourage women “to substantially increase the number of women business leaders by increasing the flow of women into key educational gateways and business networks.”   The Forte Foundation was launched in 2001 after a study by the University of Michigan and Catalyst found four main reasons that women were not seeking MBA degrees.  According to the article, these four reasons are still in play today.

• Concerns about being about to handle responsibilities of home and work if they returned to school
• Lack of female role models who have successfully managed this balancing act of home life, work, and school
• Questions about whether they had the advanced math skills and quantitative background to handle MBA coursework
• Little to no encouragement from employers to pursue an advanced degree

As I read this I couldn’t help but wonder if men have any of these same concerns. What do you think?

Preferred Employers

Both genders selected Google as the most desirable employer.  But, the sexes did not agree on the second and third preferred employers.  Males selected McKinsey & Company (#2) and Goldman Sachs (#3), while women chose Johnson & Johnson (#2) and Apple (#3).  That difference is likely explained by the industry that survey respondents selected as the one they’d ideally like to work in after graduation.  Men choose management consulting, while women ranked marketing/advertising at the top of the list.

Salary Expectations

I was particularly struck by the differences between men and women on the subject of first-year salary expectations.  I see this as evidence of our tendency as women to undervalue ourselves.  Given the current state of the economy, the numbers are down from last year’s survey for both genders.  However, the drop is much greater for the women than the men.  Women expected $87,599 in annual base compensation, down from $91,142 last year – a difference of $3,543.  Men expected $99,142 – a whopping $11,543 more than the women!  And, it seems the men aren’t letting the bad economy put too much of a damper on their expectations.  The drop from last year’s survey was a mere $818 for the male MBAs.

Career Goals

According to the survey, the top three career goals for the female MBA students are:

• Work-life balance
• Intellectual challenge
• Opportunity to lead people

Note the absence of a competitive compensation package in that top three.  Hummm…  Maybe the students just assume they will be paid a competitive salary.  Or, perhaps they are willing to give up some cash in exchange for meeting other career goals.  I haven’t seen the full text of the Universum study, so I’m not sure where compensation ranked for the MBA students surveyed.

Defining Work-Life Balance

Work-life balance ranked at the top of the list of career goals in last year’s survey also.  Fortunately, Universum is interested in knowing what work-life balance means to the female MBA students they surveyed.  As it turns out, work-life balance means more than flex time and not having to work 80 hours a week.  Below is an excerpt from the Fortune article.

“Work-life used to be shorthand for a reasonable balance between responsibilities in the office and at home,” says Rachele Farri, global director of employer branding at Universum. “Today we hear women MBA students saying things like, ‘I want the ability to be myself,’ ‘I want to be appreciate for what I bring to the table,’ and ‘I want to work for a company that places social responsibility and community involvement high on its list of corporate goals.’”

I’m very interested in the notion of work-life balance and what it means to women (and men).  In future posts, I plan to discuss why women are reluctant to pursue MBA degrees and to share my thoughts on a new study from the Families and Work Institute and the emergence of the term “work+life fit.”  In the meantime, I welcome your comments and feedback.

To add some credence to this recommendation, I now have some evidence that hiring managers are using LinkedIn and other social networking sites to screen job candidates.   CareerBuilder conduced a survey of more than 2,600 hiring managers and found that the number of companies using social networking sites to screen job candidates has doubled over the past year.  Of those surveyed, 45 percent say that they are conducting research on potential hires using one or more social networking sites.

The most common sites checked by hiring managers and recruiters are LinkedIn, Facebook, and MySpace.  Additionally, a smaller number are checking out candidates’ blog posts (11%) and Twitter updates (7%).

Given the fact that more and more hiring managers are using internet searches to gather additional information about potential hires, everyone (regardless of their current employment status) needs to be vigilant about what they put out there in cyberspace.   In the previously cited survey, 35 percent of employers decided NOT to hire someone because of what they found out about them on a social networking site.  Their reasons included:

• Inappropriate photographs
• Negative comments about former employers or clients
• Content illustrating poor communication skills

On the flip side, hiring managers may be positively influenced to extend a job offer to candidates whose profiles support their qualifications and indicate a good fit with the hiring company.

So, what’s a person to do?

First, determine what a hiring manager is likely to find if he or she searches for your name using Google and other popular search engines.   If you find content that could leave a hiring manager with a negative or unprofessional impression of you, do what you can to remove or hide that content.  Most social networking sites have privacy settings that can be adjusted to limit access to your full profile.

Next, create or update profiles on popular social networking sites that highlight your professional qualifications, strengths, and differentiators.  In other words, build your personal brand.  Add content that you would be proud to have anyone read.

So, have your Googled yourself lately?

If you are interested in being a Job Angel or seeking assitance from a Job Angel, search for this group on LinkedIn and join!  Job Angels is also tweeting on Twitter.  While you’re at it, be sure to invite me to join your LinkedIn network and sign up to follow me on Twitter.

For some people, the idea of reinvention seems huge, daunting, and a scary proposition.  These folks may be thinking, “I’ve put a lot of time and energy into building this career and I can’t just throw it all away and start over.”  That is certainly one perspective, but there are plenty of others.  Here’s one that might just help someone move forward instead of staying stuck in the comfort zone: “I’ve learned so much in this career and I’ve gained competencies and strengths that can help me successfully transition to another area that really interests me.”

Think about some well-known people who have reinvented themselves.  Every former US President has had to reinvent himself after leaving office.  The same can be said of famous athletes who retire from professional sports.  As they transition into philanthropy or business or whatever, they build on their existing foundation of experience, skills, and knowledge.  Imagine you are a one story building and you want to be a two story building.  If you have a strong foundation, you can build a second story on top of the first one.  You don’t have to tear down the house and construct an entirely new two story structure.

We all need to get comfortable with the idea of reinvention because the days of staying in the same job, same company, and/or same profession for a working lifetime are long gone.  In fact, young people entering the workforce today will likely have four or five different careers and dozens of different jobs over their working life.

Regardless of your age and career stage, you can reinvent yourself.  Enjoy the journey!

I’m always surprised when I meet people at a networking event who do not have a business card to give me.  It is also poor form to give out a card with out-of-date information on it.  For a small investment, you can have  professional looking business cards printed through an online service.  I use VistaPrint, but I’m sure there are other reputable printing companies out there.

Here are a few do’s and don’ts when it comes to business cards for job seekers:

• Don’t print business cards on your home printer – it just doesn’t make sense when you can get professionally printed cards for so little money
• When ordering your cards, do select heavy card stock
• If you aren’t seeking a job in the creative arts, do keep it simple by choosing a neutral background color (e.g., white, irovy, light gray) with dark print in a standard type font
• Don’t put your picture on your card unless you want people to think you sell real estate
• Don’t choose a slick coating for your card because no one will be able to write on it (by the way, this is something I always do with the business cards I collect. On the front or back, I write the date, where I met the person and any other pertinent information)
• Do list your full name, certifications, and phone number
• Do list your email address and the URL for your LinkedIn profile
• Do list your generic professional title, assuming you are seeking a job in the same field (e.g., Marketing Executive, HR Director, Senior Project Manager, Executive Assistant)

What are other do’s and don’ts for business cards for job seekers?

The first step in preparing an answer this interview question is to know what you are good at (AKA your strengths).  One of the best ways to do this is to take an assessment.  Most online assessments do a pretty good job of ferreting out your strengths.  Some assessments that I have used with my clients are DISC, Myers Briggs Type Instrument (MBTI), and the StrengthsFinder.  These and other online assessments are pretty accessible.  Just Google any of these and you’ll see what I mean.

After identifying some of your strenghts, you’re ready to answer that interview question.  Right?  No, not quite.  It isn’t enough to answer with a laundry list of words, especially the ones you’ll get if you take the StrengthsFinder assessment.  For example, when I took the StrengthsFinder, my strengths were Maximizer, Strategic, Achiever, Connectedness, and Learner.  Can you imagine what an interviewer would be thinking if you just rattled off a similar list in response to the question, “What are your strenghts?”

An employer wants to know if you CAN do the job (skills and abilities), if you WILL do the job (motivation), and if you will FIT in (cultural fit).  Instead of providing a laundry list of your strengths, you must sell the interviewer on the benefits of hiring you instead of someone else with similar skills and experience.  After all, you wouldn’t have gotten an interview if you didn’t already clear that first hurdle.  Let’s use the strength of Achiever as an example.  What does it mean to be an Achiever?  It means that you are driven to get the job done and to do it well.  You love to be productive and accomplish goals.  Does that sound like something that a prospective employer may want and need?

How would you answer this classic interview question?  What are your strengths?