Five tips for women at the top

Readers' comments (9)

• Michelle McKendrick | Tue, 17 Nov 2009 8:01 pm

  I think that there are a lot more important tips for women in business than what to dress! There is still a lack of women in top jobs within the recruitment industry and what to wear or not what to wear clearly undermines the roles of women in business that this is the best tips for career women today!!!
  
  In my opinion it is the men in our office that need the dress tips!
  
  Please let's have some articles that take women seriously in business.

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• Claire Barrow | Tue, 17 Nov 2009 8:07 pm

  I was disappointed in reading this article - what women say is far more important than what we wear and surely there should be some advice for our male counterparts???
  
  As a director of my own recruitment business I am used to working in a very male orientated work environment and it saddens me to see a real lack of women at senior management level still and more so that we are still belittled by articles stating that what we wear can be as important as what we say.
  
  Let's get some real advice on how women can break through to the higher levels of management in the recruitment industry and challenge the factors preventing them from doing so.

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• Gillian Small | Tue, 24 Nov 2009 10:46 am

  It is sad to see that what a woman wears is deemed more important than how we conduct business. Our business acumen should be of more importance. I am sad to see such an article in Recruiter.
  
  I am a director of my own recruitment business, just as Claire Barrow and fully agree with her comments above.
  
  We need to have advice for women on how to achieve in a male-dominated environment. We need to have advice from women that have made it to the top, their experiences and their suggestions on how to make it possible for other women to achieve.
  
  I think there are enough programmes, etc. on how to dress well. Women are not typically of the Barbie-ilk. Serious articles that are beneficial, informative, and relevant to the recruitment industry today for women, please.

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• Sarah Knight | Mon, 7 Dec 2009 11:45 am

  I am also the director of a successful recruitment business and can't believe this was published as a serious article! Have we gone back to the 50s where women should look 'pleasing to the eye' in order to be taken seriously?
  Don't get me wrong, wearing a fabulous fitting suit adds to your confidence in an important meeting - but my success, I would like to think, is attributed to my knowledge of the industry and my market, confidence, tenacity, management/servicing and negotiation skills - not to my style.
  More useful tips for 'Women at the top' would be about health, work/life balance, management skills, how to get ahead of the competition – the list is endless.
  Come on Recruiter, you can do much better than this!

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• Katherine Montgomery | Tue, 8 Dec 2009 1:16 pm

  I am a manager with a large recruitment company & it saddens me to see that assumptions are still being made, based on how a person looks rather than their ability to do the job at hand.
  I understand that business clothes can add a certain air of authority, however I still believe that confidence & skills shine through no matter what.
  However, on a serious note, an article giving tips on how women can break through the glass ceiling would be better. I have been in recruitment many years & sadly the top jobs are still very male biased. I have seen male directors rise through the ranks, from branch level within very large organisations, in a matter of 3-4 years, whereas a female counterpart is locked in the branch network for many years longer.
  Come on Recruiter, I look forward to receiving you in my in-box every week, but would rather see an article helping me to be taken seriously, rather than one that lets my male counterpart think that at heart all we women worry about is shoes & handbags and whether our colours are right!

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• Fay Thompson | Wed, 9 Dec 2009 12:22 pm

  How disappointing to read an article about how we should dress. I don't see anything on here for men. Surely, as long as you are smart, clean and professional it shouldn't matter.
  
  In this day and age of equality I would rather see an article about management from the top and tips to drive your team and your business forward. Not whether you should be wearing pastel colours!!

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• Dave Arthur | Thu, 10 Dec 2009 2:23 pm

  I agree with the points above but can I just make a slight observation. You HAVE all achieved in a male-dominated environment as you are all directors or managers, so what are you complaining about!?
  
  I agree that it is a male-dominated environment. However, a successful woman in recruitment is far more likely to get a top job as she will have had to overcome much more than her male counterparts.

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• Katherine Montgomery | Fri, 11 Dec 2009 3:54 pm

  Dear Dave,
  
  I think you have misread my point. In larger agencies the top positions are attained more quickly by males... I am not saying it isn't possible. Sadly females find themselves locked into the branch networks... as managers/area managers etc. In my experience that is why many women leave and start their own agencies — hence becoming directors. I would like to see more of us as big fish in big ponds, rather than having to create our own little ponds to attain that position.
  Regards

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• Esther | Sun, 13 Dec 2009 11:06 pm

  You seem to have missed the point Dave — these successful women managed to overcome an unfair system, but that doesn't make the system any less unfair.
  
  According to your logic, because they have made it, they don't have a right to point out how much harder they had to work than their male peers, and how galling it is not to be taken seriously once they have reached a high level.
  
  In fact, if women DON'T point these things out, the situation will never improve.

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