Five things Every Woman in Business should do to Self-Promote

We all know the story of the two people looking at the same job advertisement. The man eyes up the spec and reckons he has at least 70% of the skills needed and whoops whoops off to apply. The woman sees she is missing 30% of the competencies needed and stays her hand.

I told this to a colleague recently and he updated me on the story. We have our two protagonists now in the hypothetical interview, the women being persuaded to apply. During the interview with the man, he is asked about a project. Yes he can do it he declares with confidence. The same question is posed to the woman who takes her time in answering, drawing on reservations but ultimately coming to a positive conclusion. Who gets the job? The man of course as he is seen as being confident and capable. The very reasoned caution of the woman is seen as a weakness. Yet, if given the job, she would already be halfway there.

You know the drill. Men are authoritative, women are shrill. Men are capable, women are bitchy. It is hard for women to be direct and assertive without being cast as bossy and manipulative. All words but all still lingering in the workplace     .

Men are socialized to be much better at self-promotion; they tend not to second guess. Women are less so. Even when they get to the board room, women are not as vocal as their male  .

So, we need to change this. It is not a ‘man bad, woman good’ argument but a “we need women to put their hands up more often” thing. Women need to claim their inner Spartacus.

With 30 years’ experience across large multinationals, small companies, fast growing startups, IPOing companies, small one man bands and even running in the European Parliamentary Elections, I know it does no one any good to hide their talents under a bushel.  In fact, it is quite the opposite. Why would you take your talents and not use them? You should honour the gifts you are given, to do otherwise is to disrespect yourself.

It’s not about being shouty, loud or boastful, but raising your hand: saying I do, I will, I am.

Here’s five quick things you can do to self-promote in a meaningful, authentic manner:

1. Linkedin (and other social media)

Keep you profile up to date, add articles you have written or have appeared in, and update any new positions

2. Awards

Apply for awards, accreditations, professional memberships and add them to your profile

3. Events

Get out and meet people at events from conferences to meetups: but don’t just attend, offer to speak, moderate, network and /or volunteer.

4. Join Groups

Follow your passion and join like-minded groups. If you can’t find any, set up your own.

5. Ask

Ask questions, ask for mentoring, ask for coffee (virtual or real), ask for meetings, ask for help… then offer help.

Remember – She is Spartacus.

I am Spartacus.

And in light of this argument I wish to invite you to vote for me in the Uptrennd Blockchain Journalist of the Year. I am passionate about writing. I am passionate about Blockchain. I believe I am worthy of this accolade and would be humbled if you would vote for me.  Check out some of my writing here

And vote for me here

Thank you

Jillian

More about Irish Tech News and Business Showcase here

FYI the ROI for you is => Irish Tech News now gets over 1.5 million monthly views, and up to 900k monthly unique visitors, from over 160 countries. We have over 860,000 relevant followers on Twitter on our various accounts & were recently described as Ireland’s leading online tech news site and Ireland’s answer to TechCrunch, so we can offer you a good audience!

Since introducing desktop notifications a short time ago, which notify readers directly in their browser of new articles being published, over 30,000 people have now signed up to receive them ensuring they are instantly kept up to date on all our latest content.

Desktop notifications offer a unique method of serving content directly to verified readers and bypass the issue of content getting lost in people’s crowded news feeds.

Drop us a line if you want to be featured, guest post, suggest a possible interview, or just let us know what you would like to see more of in our future articles.

We’re always open to new and interesting suggestions for informative and different articles. Contact us, by email, twitter or whatever social media works for you and hopefully we can share your story too and reach our global audience.

Irish Tech News

If you would like to have your company featured in the Irish Tech News Business Showcase, get in contact with us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie or on Twitter: @SimonCocking