Women often don't back themselves when it comes to applying for jobs. Photo / Getty Images
A lack of self-belief is stopping too many women from applying for jobs they could get.
Speaking to The Front Page podcast in the lead-up to International Women’s Day, Dress for Success executive manager Robyn Moore and board chairwoman Andrea Hardy say many of the women who come to them for help simply don’t understand the value they offer.
Moore says this problem often manifests in the job-hunting phase.
“Women tend to not apply for jobs because they think they can’t do 100 per cent of the job, so that means they’re ruled out,” says Moore.
“A guy, typically, will look at a job and go: ‘Yeah, I can do 50 per cent of that. I’m going to apply.’ Whereas a woman looks at it and goes: ‘I can only do 50 per cent. No, I can’t apply.’”
Moore says that one of the biggest challenges for them is getting women to understand that they don’t necessarily have to tick every box in order to be considered for the role.
She says that this problem is evident across clients ranging from the age of 17 to 70.
She points to an example of an older client, who had worked in the same job for 30 years to the point of being made redundant.
“She came to us and she was destroyed from a confidence perspective because she felt she had nothing to offer. But one of our career coaches sat with her and talked about what she’d been doing for 30 years, and they put together an amazing CV. All it took was looking back, because sometimes when you’re in a job, you don’t actually think about your skills and what you have to offer.”
In another story, Moore recalls a young woman who walked into Dress for Success and just asked for a pair of black pants and a black top because she was trying to get a job as a roadside stop-go operator. She believed this was the only type of job she could get.
One of the stylists brought her the clothes that she requested, but then suggested that the young woman should perhaps try on a few other items.
“She came out of the changeroom, looked at herself in the mirror and she just went: ‘Wow, I don’t think I want to be a stop-go person anymore. I want to try to become a receptionist.’”
Hardy says that examples of this confidence gap run from entry-level positions all the way to the executive ranks in the workforce, with many women questioning whether they have the skills to deliver what’s required.
According to Hardy, this contributes to women often being under-employed – particularly among those who have had to leave the workforce to care for children or the elderly in their communities.
“There are a number of big barriers they face,” says Hardy.
“Sometimes you feel you’ve been off work for such a long time that you’re not going to be relevant anymore. You’ve got kids, so you might have to take time off. So, they face a level of discrimination from potential employers, which is a real barrier and knocks their confidence.
“So they just keep looking for casual or flexible work. And that goes back to the theme of under-employment, which just becomes cyclical because they just can’t get free of the perception they have of themselves.”
So, what can be done to rectify this issue? Can men do more to help? And will the upcoming recession make things even worse for New Zealand’s women?
Listen to the full episode of The Front Page podcast to hear Brady and Moore dig into the big issues affecting women in the workplace.
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