You can Keep your Good-ole-boy Card…Being Young and Female in the Workplace Rocks!

I know when I graduated college and entered the workforce I felt out of place. I started working for very large corporation and was surrounded by people that had children my age or close to it. Being the new kid on the block is never easy. It’s always a series of proving yourself, proving you deserve to be there, and proving your value without stepping on the toes of those that have been doing, what you are new to, for many many years.

Respect in a mostly 50 year old man work environment did not come easily. For the first year I was really put off by the fact that I was never going to be part of the good-ole-boys club no matter what I did. I was half their age in many cases, female, and a little blond stigma to top it off.

How could I fit in this world? The answer was I couldn’t. No matter what I did I would never be like them. These men had the 50 year old man card. They were golfing buddies, they had similar lifestyles, they were married, and had children. Not to mention the simple fact that they were men or their years of experience.

However, I had something even more powerful. The 23 year old female card. I just had to learn how to use it. As soon as I changed my perception of how I could get done what I needed to get done, work became a much happier place for me. Maybe I couldn’t look someone dead in the eye, put the fear of God into them, and say “get it done” with any authority, but ever notice how far a smile and a “could you please help me” can get you as a woman?

I had to learn to talk and act in a way that these good-ole-boys would be receptive to. I don’t think it’s sexist. I think men and women are just different on some levels and it’s about learning how to communicate so the other sex will hear you best. It’s just good sales tactics. I could use sex and ego appeal.

I know a lot of you are rolling your eyes at me right now. I’m not talking about wearing a cleavage shirt to work, short skirts or anything of the sort. I’m just talking about some different sales approaches. What 50 year old man wants a 23 year old woman telling him how it should get done? I learned two different approaches to keep everyone happy.

One of the best sales tactics is convincing the other party that the idea on the table is their idea. This worked amazing in my situation. Instead of presenting a solution, I could present facts that would lead to one sole solution and ask questions to lead others into my conclusion. I used their ego against them in a way. They felt better about the solution when they felt they helped to come up with it. Sometimes I have a hard time not giggling when I’m able to get this to work, because once you figure out how to do this, it generally works all the time. It fixed my issue of being 23, blond, and not “old enough” to have people want to pay attention to my solutions.

The second tactic was learning how to smile, ask questions, and ask for help. I had to stop being stubborn and use my cards! I could command the attention of these good-old-boys by owning the cards I had to play instead of fighting them. I’ve found in my career I can get meetings with people higher up the food chain than I’d normally meet with, have them be my mentors, get them in my corner, and have them back me in presenting whatever solution I believed was best. Your smile and an APPROPRIATE ounce of flirting can get you pretty far in life and in the work place. It can be a great card and pretty comical to watch work.

The biggest step is to stop looking at everything as sexist. Life is a series of first impressions. Own who you are and whatever cards you think you have to play. I bet you will find they are pretty great cards. Once you learn to treat your work like the sales pitch it is, tailor it to your skill set and, most importantly, tailor it to who your audience is, the sky’s the limit.

If some of this scenario plays true for you, if you are younger than your colleagues, or a minority as a female, etc., try picking up a book about selling as a woman or one that features the differences between how men and women think. We have some really great cards in our hands. We just have to remember we can’t always follow the example in front of us. A man selling to a man can be a very different pitch than a woman selling to a man or vice versa. Learning how you can sell yourself and ideas best, will be one of the most rewarding things you can do for yourself.

Never forget that your life is your choice. Only you get to decide what you will and will not tolerate. Click here to purchase Hear my Heels bracelets to remember to keep going towards the life you deserve. Please forward this information to all the women you care about.

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