Why Good Girls Don't Get Ahead_. But Gutsy Girls Do - Kate White [103]
5. A Gutsy Girl Walks and Talks Like a Winner
If you've always felt uncomfortable strutting your stuff in your job, you'll probably feel even more squeamish at the thought of doing it outside your company. In the thick of my good-girl days, I hesitated to toot my own horn on job interviews not only because it felt as foreign to me as playing the bagpipes, but also because I believed that it would be downright offensive. In the back of my mind I had this idea that modesty would actually work to my advantage. I'd speak of my accomplishments in a reserved manner and tell myself that once the interviewer heard via the grapevine or from my references that I was stronger than I'd indicated, I'd get extra points for not being a braggart.
I changed my entire viewpoint when, years ago, I interviewed a man for a position on my staff. This guy came into my office in an Armani suit and tie and spent forty-five minutes telling me what a fabulous job he'd done at the last place he'd worked (the other fifteen minutes he used to tell me what a fabulous job I'd done during my career) He made his current position sound as if it carried as much clout as Secretary of State. He'd recruited this writer and that writer and had brilliantly edited their copy. He even used certain words to describe himself, like rainmaker.
As he displayed his feathers like the yellow-breasted bower bird, part of me was thinking, God, this guy is too slick for words. But you know what? Another part of me was thinking how fabulous it would be to have somebody on the staff with this much gumption and passion and panache.
Take everything you've learned about walking and talking like a winner in your job and apply it to your job hunt.
6. A Gutsy Girl Asks for What She Wants
Asking for what you want is tough no matter where you do it, but at least when you ask in your current job you know the lay of the land and you have a sense of how much someone has to give and how likely they are to give it. When you're up for a new job, you're working in almost total darkness. There are a couple of principles that should guide you:
• Always, always ask for more. Good girls fear that if they push too hard, they'll end up losing everything. The key is to ask for more while sounding totally enthusiastic about the job and making a deal happen. Tell them, “I'm thrilled you're offering me the position and I'm very, very interested. However, I'm looking for X amount and I hope there's a way to make that happen.”
• Ask now because you won't have nearly as much leverage later. What a good girl tells herself—as an excuse not to be too assertive—is, I can always get more once I get there. Well, once they have you, they are far, far less generous. Go for everything now.
• Ask for what isn't there. In her job, a gutsy girl knows that just because no one else has it doesn't mean she can't get it. The same principle applies in your job campaign. After my boss left Family Weekly and I'd lost the editor-in-chief position to an outsider, I knew it was time to get my act in gear and go elsewhere. The new editor seemed happy with me and I didn't feel in any immediate danger, but it was time to capitalize on my position while I still could.
The ink on my résumé was barely dry (this was before the personal computer) when the editor-in-chief of Mademoiselle, whom I had written freelance articles for when she was at Ladies’ Home Journal, asked me to join the magazine as articles editor. It was a terrific position, with the opportunity to work with fabulous writers, and yet it didn't seem like the right next step for me. I turned down the job and she asked me to think about it some more. Finally I realized what was bothering me: the title, Even though Family Weekly didn't have the same stature as Mademoiselle, I would be going from a title of executive editor to a less prestigious one. I went