Economists have been sounding the alarm about ashecessionfor nearly a year. (The term was used by C. Nicole Mason of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research in a May 2020纽约时报article为了描述经济衰退对职业妇女的不成比例的影响。
妇女参与经济的参与近35年来最低。去年9月，女性是男人的四倍leftthe workforce. The pandemic is decimating jobs, and industries that are dominated by women are disproportionately affected as many women leave the workforce to fill familycareneeds. Reversing these losses at scale and for the long term will require serious conversations among lawmakers and employers.
But as the U.S. economy starts to show signs of recovery, there are steps women can take to get back to work, or to keep their current jobs. I recently spoke to several women leaders who offered advice to women navigating the new world of work (and family).
Life is not binary
谈判从家里开始。许多妇女，尤其是妈妈，发现自己在家庭中扮演了经典的性别角色，即使在受雇时也要承担更多的家庭和儿童保育职责。这常常有助于女性underemployed. Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, former CEO of StubHub and founder and chairman of theBoardlist, advocates negotiating inside和outside the home. If you are thinking about leaving the workforce because nonwork obligations are interfering, consider whether there is an alternative to leaving entirely.
卡西迪（Cassidy）说：“人们认为一切都是二进制的。”首先与您的配偶或伴侣进行谈判。在家中创建一个环境，使您能够在家外面取得成功。一旦进行了对话，下一步就是与老板做同样的事情。她说：“妇女离开劳动力是因为她们觉得自己别无选择。”“在您离开之前，请对工作中的所有内容进行谈判。与离开相反，要求休假一年。要求较短的日子或工作周较短。知道你想要什么。如果您擅长做什么，那么失去的成本就很高。”
准备出售自己
归根结底，您仍然必须说服力，并清楚地传达出您最适合位置的原因。
“You have to make the compelling point honestly that you are just as qualified, if not more, for this particular role,” says Sarah Hofstetter, president of e-commerce platform Profitero. “And if you can’t convince them through honesty, then you shouldn’t be there. And if they aren’t going to accept it through honesty, then that’s not the culture you want.”
Hofstetter recommends that candidates consider repackaging their skills and learning some new ones. “If you ran the school’s parent-teacher organization, you are skilled at business development, project management, inspiring and influencing others, and multitasking—just be transparent that you did it for the PTO.”
If your tech skills are rusty or you feel underqualified, find an online class or a volunteer position that can keep you current. Do it today. It is more powerful to say you learned Excel tips, tricks, and pivot tables than to say you plan to take a class.
Take control
Did you take off five years to care for a child or family member? Or maybe you lost your job and never found the perfect position. It may seem daunting, but you must share your story with confidence and tell employers why you are driven to return to work.
“Take control of the conversation,” says Linda Holliday, founder of Citia, a digital, multi-channel publishing tool. “My philosophy is don’t let them ‘think it’ about you, address the gap straight on. It takes the power out of it.” If there are any gaps, “talk about the gap and tell them how you’ll crush it. And let them know that no one wants to come back to work more than you do.”
Prepare for the worst but hope for the best
“Do not tell yourself the story that no one’s ever going to want you because you have this gap in your résumé,” says Tami Forman, executive director of Path Forward. “It isn’t that there不是discrimination, but if you focus on that, it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
Forman helps women address this very issue every day at Path Forward, where she creates “returnships” for women wanting to restart their careers and guides them toward rejoining the workforce.
做一点事！
“如果您以增量的方式思考，那么可能会有更多，” TheBoardList的Cassidy鼓励。觉得您可以从事全职工作吗？没问题。最后给那个侧面的想法一个真正的镜头。开设一家Etsy商店，并出售所有邻居想要购买的手工制作的圣诞节装饰品。可能会发生两件事：您的在线商店成功，或者您在下一次采访中有最伟大的故事。
丽莎·曼（Lisa Mann）是执行搜索和领导咨询公司Raines International的董事总经理兼首席营销官。