I'm currently reading Monkey Business by John Rolfe and Peter Troob that describes about their lives as Investment Bankers once they were out of the top B-schools. Let's just say it reminded me about my worry of why I do not want to do IB: long hours, making tedious changes to pitch books, lots of booz and men and possibly MCP (male chauvinist pigs), boring works, crazy bosses.
But then again, I can't judge if I have not tried it so let's still put that IB in for my summer internship.
Reading this book, however, has reminded me of what I'd learned from working at my previous company. It was a predominantly men company at the analytical division. We do have a consulting division which I would say is composed of 60%male-40%female ( if not 65-35). Down at the analytical division though, female is a scarce commodity. My team had never hired a female until me and so that is 7 years without any female in team. To think further, in the analytic departments, there are only 3 finance-women. Me as an analyst, 2 others as senior associates. I'm not counting the MDs.. there are a few women MDs. I'm also not counting the few female programmers who work in my floor.
SO WHAT HAVE I LEARNED FROM THIS PREDOMINANTLY MEN WORLD?
1.YOU CANNOT BE HUMBLE! Tell others what you have done
I read an article that says female tends to downplay their works as compared to male. Which I feel is true. Before working here, I felt that people will always notice what you do and so you don't need to say that you've done so.. WRONG! If you're not putting in those extra hours after work, people won't know that you're working hard.. it's all about perception.
So I learnt to not be humble at work. If you know how to do it, TELL THE OTHERS YOU KNOW! Even if you don't, say you know and go find out afterwards ( that's what MEN DO!)
If you don't do this.. you'll be churned by the others ( Lesson well learnt by me )
2. BE SELFISH ( To a certain extent)
When your team members do not do their work, don't cover for them.
If a member is not in the office during a sudden meeting, too bad...
selfish? more like survival
3. PERCEPTION
I notice that people who were rewarded as hard-working in my office are those who SAY that they're busy all the time..
Q:"Hey wanna go for lunch?"
A:"Sorry busy"
Q: "Hey how are you?"
A:"Life is hell. I need to finish this project bla bla bla"
Seriously, act busy!
Okay that's all I can think of right now.. anyone wanna give some tips?
This reminds me of that book :
Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office
Actually, you know what I'm going to get that book right now along with Play like a Man, Win like a Woman book.
Another tips I read from the review of Why Good Girls Don't Get Ahead but Gutsy Girls Do
-Don't always need to be liked
-Don't smile too easily
-Don't apologize too quickly
-Don't clean up after other colleagues (especially men)
-Don't be a perfectionist at the expense of innovative thinking or getting things done
I'm going to second the first 4 tips!
But then again, I can't judge if I have not tried it so let's still put that IB in for my summer internship.
Reading this book, however, has reminded me of what I'd learned from working at my previous company. It was a predominantly men company at the analytical division. We do have a consulting division which I would say is composed of 60%male-40%female ( if not 65-35). Down at the analytical division though, female is a scarce commodity. My team had never hired a female until me and so that is 7 years without any female in team. To think further, in the analytic departments, there are only 3 finance-women. Me as an analyst, 2 others as senior associates. I'm not counting the MDs.. there are a few women MDs. I'm also not counting the few female programmers who work in my floor.
SO WHAT HAVE I LEARNED FROM THIS PREDOMINANTLY MEN WORLD?
1.YOU CANNOT BE HUMBLE! Tell others what you have done
I read an article that says female tends to downplay their works as compared to male. Which I feel is true. Before working here, I felt that people will always notice what you do and so you don't need to say that you've done so.. WRONG! If you're not putting in those extra hours after work, people won't know that you're working hard.. it's all about perception.
So I learnt to not be humble at work. If you know how to do it, TELL THE OTHERS YOU KNOW! Even if you don't, say you know and go find out afterwards ( that's what MEN DO!)
If you don't do this.. you'll be churned by the others ( Lesson well learnt by me )
2. BE SELFISH ( To a certain extent)
When your team members do not do their work, don't cover for them.
If a member is not in the office during a sudden meeting, too bad...
selfish? more like survival
3. PERCEPTION
I notice that people who were rewarded as hard-working in my office are those who SAY that they're busy all the time..
Q:"Hey wanna go for lunch?"
A:"Sorry busy"
Q: "Hey how are you?"
A:"Life is hell. I need to finish this project bla bla bla"
Seriously, act busy!
Okay that's all I can think of right now.. anyone wanna give some tips?
This reminds me of that book :
Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office
Actually, you know what I'm going to get that book right now along with Play like a Man, Win like a Woman book.
Another tips I read from the review of Why Good Girls Don't Get Ahead but Gutsy Girls Do
-Don't always need to be liked
-Don't smile too easily
-Don't apologize too quickly
-Don't clean up after other colleagues (especially men)
-Don't be a perfectionist at the expense of innovative thinking or getting things done
I'm going to second the first 4 tips!
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2 comments:
thats a great list of things to keep in mind!
check this one out:
http://news.efinancialcareers.co.uk/JOB_MARKET_ITEM/newsItemId-5436
hey i enjoy reading your blog too! great site.
-TheLadiesChoice
http://ladieschoicemba.blogspot.com/
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