Forget the style, give us substance
- an article written by Sarah Knight and printed within the Soapbox section of the Recruiter Magazine. 20-January-2010
There is far more to getting ahead in recruitment than heeding advice on dressing for success
Initially I was amused by the ‘Tips for women at the top' article recently featured in the Personal Development section on recruiter.co.uk. Then I started to feel a little irritated, then insulted.
Don't get me wrong; dressing for success is something most women consider and I most certainly ‘dress for the day' - a sharp suit and killer heels for important meetings. Maybe something softer if I am planning a day in the office registering candidates and therefore looking to create a more ‘open and approachable' persona.
Having worked in the recruitment industry for the past 12 years, the last six at director level, I would be hard pushed to recall an instance where I have seen a representative of our industry looking anything less than suitably smart and professional.
Do I feel advice about ‘what coat/colour/accessories to wear' will help improve my success in the local recruitment market? Or maybe this article is implying that successful women are not stylish and is therefore making the point that ‘we' can't have it all? Equally this is not gender specific; we all need to look, sound and act credible if we are to maximize our potential and be truly successful in our respective fields.
Am I the only one that thinks this topic is probably more suited to a woman's magazine as opposed to a leading industry publication?
I am wondering how many women who seek styling advice are just out of a long-term relationship or dealing with a change in their personal lives which see this ‘counselling' as part of a repair to self-esteem or the start of a new direction.
I am sure most of us have taken a ‘low' girlfriend out shopping or encouraged a new haircut. Style is relevant to us as women but as a pointer for us recruiters to get ahead in business...? Personally, I don't think so.
I think most would agree that the starting block in terms of dress code for professional women of dark suit and heels is a well accepted ‘norm' within most industries.
Those of us ‘at the top' are under increasing pressure to work for longer and to network outside of standard office hours to get ahead of the competition, often with a need to work on strategy, make decisions or consider difficult situations outside of office hours.
Female recruiters are masters at juggling multiple projects and complex situations within tight timeframes and to a successful conclusion with humour, skill and initiative. We are a confident group of professionals that work long and hard within a competitive arena. Most of us are also juggling children and running a home; struggling to maintain a work/life balance.
There are 1.9m single parents in the UK, 90% of which are women, most of whom are struggling to cope with around 13 weeks of school holidays per year, with an average entitlement of 28 days per year, as well as issues at home affecting stress levels, attendance at work and self-esteem — all, of course, that have direct and indirect repercussions to our working lives.
Our working days often see us tackling issues with staff, clients and candidates that might make people who are working in other industries hair curl, such as discrimination, employee rights and other related legislation. And that's all on top of the duties associated with running and/or being involved in running a profitable and busy desk/business.
I would suggest that dresscode and style would figure much lower down the list of things that we actually want to know more about or need support with in terms of our professional lives.
Being at the top can be a lonely place to be, especially for the smaller agencies among us. We often look to outside resources for support.
Recruiter is a first stop for industry information for many of us. With all this in mind, surely the space given to this article would have been better focused on an uplifting and inspiring interview with an industry ‘supermum' or practical advice associated with work/life balance or any of the other daily issues that affect us ‘women at the top'?
Sarah Knight, director of South-West based commercial recruiter Sarah West Recruitment
