Women Becoming More Successful Than Men

Women Becoming More Successful Than Men

 

Women are passing men in their abilities to get a degree, handle families and garner success at work.  As men are falling behind, women are making huge strides.  CNN reported that, “For the first time in history, women are better educated, more ambitious and arguably more successful than men.”

Over half of college degrees are now being awarded to women. “In 1970, men earned 60% of all college degrees. In 1980, the figure fell to 50%, by 2006 it was 43%. Women now surpass men in college degrees by almost three to two. Women’s earnings grew 44% in real dollars from 1970 to 2007, compared with 6% growth for men.”

Women are becoming stronger entrepreneurs as well.  Forbes recently reported:  “As of 2011, it is estimated that there are over 8.1 million women-owned businesses in the United States. Overall, women-owned firms have done better than their male counterparts over the past 14 years. The number of men-owned firms (which represent 51% of all U.S. firms) grew by only 25% between 1997 and 2011—half the rate of women-owned firms.”

A study by Barclays Wealth and Ledbury Research may have some of the answers to why women are surpassing men.  One of the reasons they found is that women are less likely to take unnecessary risks or make rash decisions.  The Huffington Post backed up this point stating, “A 2005 study by Merrill Lynch found that 35% of women held an investment too long, compared with 47% of men. More recently, in 2009, a study by the mutual fund company Vanguard involving 2.7 million personal investors concluded that during the recent financial crisis, men were more likely than women to sell shares of stocks at all-time lows, leading to bigger losses among male traders.”

Women Dominating Sales Positions

 

Women are becoming a dominant force in sales positions.  In the article 10 Most Lucrative Industries for Women it was noted, “A recent study found that women are coming to dominate certain areas of sales, a traditionally lucrative field for those who excel. In fact, the study seemed to show that women tend to have better selling skills than men, translating into substantial earnings for saleswomen.”

When women were asked what their top 10 more desired sales careers would be, they chose:

1.    Pharmaceutical Sales

2.    Biotech Sales

3.    Dental Sales

4.    Insurance Sales

5.    Healthcare Sales

6.    IT Sales

7.    Medical Sales

8.    Advertising Sales

9.    Medical Equipment Sales

10.  Real Estate Sales

This is good news for women in the current questionable economy. Monster reported, “In 2010, more employers were willing to invest in their sales forces, having some faith that customers could be cajoled into buying. In October 2010 there were 145,000 more workers employed in sales and related occupations than a year earlier.”

For additional resources about women and sales positions, check out some of the following links:

Women Turning to Cosmetic Sales

Community of Women in Professional Sales

50 Best Careers of 2011

Sales Jobs for Women Search Site

Related Articles

10 Most Important Steps to Obtain Dream Job

 

I often speak to students and career groups about how to obtain a dream job or reinvent a career.  I have listed some of the most important points from my lectures, with appropriate links to articles, to explain the process.  Be sure to click on the links listed under each step to watch videos and read the articles to get step by step instructions.

  1. Define Your Goals:  People fear making mistakes.  Although it can be argued there are no mistakes, only learning experiences, part of avoid mistakes is to have good goals.  The goals must be measurable with timeframes listed for when you wish to achieve those goals.
  2. Analyze “You” as the Product:  To get a job, you must showcase your talents by thinking of “you” as the product.  When you are networking and interviewing, you are “selling” a product and that product is you.   Be sure to analyze your online reputation.  You can be sure that companies will check on this.
  3. Create a Personal SWOT Analysis:  SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.  By creating a personal SWOT analysis, you can work on capitalizing on your strengths and find solutions for any weaknesses or threats.
  4. Analyze Your Competition: When you are interviewing, you must remember there are a lot of others that are competing for the same job.  Think of those things that you bring to the table that your competition does not.  What do others have that you need to be working on in the meantime?  Have you done your research?  If an interviewer asks you the question: “Why did you pick our company?” . . . do you have a good answer?  Know the answers to difficult job interview questions.
  5. Capitalize on Personality Skills: Part of finding the right job is based on understanding your personality preferences.  Personality tests like Myers Briggs MBTI can be very helpful in leading you to the right job.  It is also important to work on developing emotional intelligence. Find out why employers are placing as much value on EQ as IQ.
  6. Analyze Jobs:  Find out what jobs pay:  One of the first steps is to find out what a job is worth.  Consider what types of jobs motivate you.  Check out top 10 ways to find a job or have a job find you.
  7. Showcase Your Talents:  Use social networking to get noticed.  Find out how you can use a simple PowerPoint presentation and Camtasia to showcase your abilities.  If you are not on LinkedIn, you should be.  Use Google Docs and LinkedIn to get noticed.  Rev up your business card by adding a QR code to it.  Avoid putting these top 10 wrong things on resumes.
  8. Ace the Interview:  Once you are able to obtain an interview, use personality skills to wow them.  Deliver information in the job interview based upon understanding introverts and extroverts.  Keep in mind the proper answer to tough interview questions.
  9. Follow up on the Interview:  Always follow up with a thank you note.  It is important to stand out from the crowd and having manners is very important.  It is important to realize that millennials have unique job expectations and may not come across as respectful at times.
  10. Use what You Have Learned to Succeed: Continue to use the things you have learned in order to obtain the job.  Don’t stop setting goals.  Stay connected through social networking in case the job doesn’t work out.

How to Reinvent Your Career

Due to changes in the economy, many people have been forced to change jobs and learn how to reinvent themselves.  Sharon Simpson, aka The Reinvention Diva, contacted me recently to ask me if she could review my book How to Reinvent Your Career.  Sharon is a speaker, consultant and self-help guru who assists those that want to change habits and behaviors.  The following is the article she wrote about my book.  For more information about How to Reinvent Your Career, click here.  For The Reinvention Diva site, click here. 

How To Reinvent Your Career – Book Review

How to Reinvent Your Career – by Dr Diane Hamilton PhD

Dr Diane Hamilton’s book How to Reinvent Your Career is a holistic approach to finding and doing the job you love.

The first great thing I notice about this book is Dr Hamilton’s willingness to share personal experiences of how she reinvented herself (several times) to the position which she now holds.

Dr Diane Hamilton is a writer and a college professor teaching bachelor, master and doctoral-level business courses for six online universities. She kindly responded to my request to read and review her book in line with our focus here at The Reinvention Diva magazine on Career Reinvention.

The second great thing I found in her book is the systematic way she covers almost every aspect of change that would be involved in reinventing your career. There are ten chapters that cover everything from educating yourself to the right foods to eat to keep you healthy. From what to wear to your interview and taking a personality test. It is a well rounded 360Âş approach to the most important thing involved in change: YOU!

This book is about YOU, if you are serious about investing in your life, moving forward and learning whatever it is you need to live the life you want, I would suggest Dr Diane Hamilton’s book as an excellent place to start. And here’s why:

Dr Hamilton uses space at the end of each chapter to:

  • Ask you important process questions
  • Get you to do an exercise
  • Conduct research
  • Do some introspective questioningThis book is a manual for reinventing your career, Dr Hamilton has cleverly used her personal experiences to take us through the different stages of change. It is both practical, providing useful tips and suggestions and personal in that it encourages you to examine your emotional wellbeing, your fears, your health and life.I highly recommend this book. This book is written for the US market but applies on every level to any English speaking country.

    Thank you Dr Diane Hamilton.

    We hope we have provided you with what you need to reinvent your career. If you require further assistance, please contact mary@thereinventiondiva.com, our career advisor here at The Reinvention Diva magazine.

    With love

    Sharon
    The Reinvention Diva

    Further reading

    What Color Is Your Parachute? 2012: A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers: 40th Anniversary Edition by Richard Nelson Bolles

    Career Transition – Make the Shift by Deborah Shane

    10 Laws of Career Reinvention – Essential Skills for any Economy by Pamela Mitchell

    Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway – 20th Anniversary Edition – How to Turn Your Fear into Confidence and Action by Susan Jeffers

    Finding Your Perfect Work – New Career Guide to Making a Living and Creating Life by Paul and Sarah Edwards

    The 80/20 Principle – The Secret to Achieving More with Less by Richard Koch

    The 4 Hour Work Week – Escape 9to5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich byTimothy Ferris

    We Are the New Radicals: A Manifesto for Reinventing Yourself and Saving the World by Julia Moulden

Female Career Choices That May Surprise You

On the first day of work as a pharmaceutical representative in the 80’s, I was struck by the similarity of my newly-hired peers.  There were about 10 of us that started at the same time.  Nine out of 10 of us were women.  I hadn’t given much thought as to whether women dominated in the pharmaceutical business at that time.  However, sitting at that long table full of women, most of whom had business degrees, made me realize that things were changing for women and their career choices.

Since I currently teach for many different online universities, a recent article about women and their online degree choices caught my eye.  In the article 10 Majors That Are No longer Male-Dominated, the author pointed out, “Historically, women have dominated majors like education, English and psychology, while men were more likely to study engineering, computer science or math. Although this may ring true at some schools, it isn’t the standard at every traditional or online college. More than ever, college women are opting to study traditionally male-dominated majors and are breaking enrollment records while they’re at it. As the line between male- and female-dominated academic fields continues to fade, there will be less segregation in the job market and more opportunities for both sexes.”

The article lists the following online majors as currently female-dominant:

Computer Science

Business

Engineering

Agriculture

Biological Science

Construction Management

Fire Science

Criminal Justice

Information Technology

Sports Management

For more information about the increase in women majoring in each of these areas, click here to read the full article.