This past Tuesday I attended an event run by Digital Eve Israel and Gangly Sister Productions titled “Everything a Girl Needs to Know about Making It in High-Tech.”
Here’s what I learned.
Digital Evers together at long last. Photo credit: Miriam Lottner
The room was filled with about 50 savvy women working or seeking employment in the digital world in some capacity. Many were entrepreneurs. Some were recruiters or consultants helping businesses grow and develop. I am not usually overly sensitive to disparaging remarks made about my gender, but I do take some issue with the word “girl” in the title. As my mom pointed out when I mentioned it to her, “you wouldn’t call a men’s’ event “Everything a Boy Needs to Know about Making It in High-Tech.” I actually thought the event was going to be about how we can help our daughters prepare for a career in high-tech. I kid you not. Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed the morning and gained a lot of insight, tips and tricks.
I go to networking events like these with a few different goals, one being to leave armed with at least one new suggestion, bright idea, resource, or connection I can pass on to the Olim I try to help find employment. Today I came out with several.
Miriam Lottner, CEO of Tech-Tav Documentation, the largest documentation company in Israel, and co-founder of Gangly Sister Productions, is a salesperson. Not in the slimy way we unfortunately think of when we hear the word “sales,” Miriam seems to really get that sales is about relationship building. She never uses PowerPoint to sell her services. She doesn’t believe you can build a relationship with the lights off. She says sales is like a poker game; you should never walk into a room unless you know what the other people in the room are going to say. She looks for “tells” and tweaks her presentation in real time according to the non-verbal feedback she receives from her audience.
We did an exercise where we turned to the person sitting nearest us whom we had never met, and pitched them. We had to sell ourselves to them in less than 45 seconds. It was an interesting experience and what I learned is that we women spend too much time on the lead up to our pitch; almost apologizing for who we are, stumbling as we try to gain our footing, and maybe finally coming up with something clinching way past the 45 second mark.
My takeaway for job-seekers? Be prepared. Practice your pitch with a friend, in front of a mirror, into a tape recorder. Practice until you have it down pat, by heart, and it becomes second nature so that when you meet someone with the potential to introduce you to the right people, offer you a job, or invest in your project, you can do that thing you do without hemming and hawing. You must capture their interest in the first 45 seconds of meeting, just as the body of your email (a few sentences, NOT an attached cover letter) needs to interest the hiring manager enough to open the resume which must inform and excite just enough to get invited for an interview. After listening to you speak for 45 seconds their eyes glaze over, they see someone else they need to talk to across the room, and you’ve lost them. The confidence you exude will be the difference between being lost in a sea of wannabes and sealing the deal.
Rebecca Rachmany, CEO of Gangly Sister Productions and CMO of Tech-Tav Documentation, describes how she has stopped trying so hard. In the beginning, she says, she used to wear button down shirts because she’d walk into a room full of men and want to fit in, not to mention command the same salary as her male peers. She has since come into her own and suggests we do the same. Rebecca implies that as soon as you know who you are and what you want, you can stop trying to be like the men and just get the work done. She also states that woman are paid a whopping 30% less than men in Israel (and similar in the States). Rebecca maintains that we can close this gap by asking for the salary we want. When doing your research, don’t ask women what they make, ask men and then state that is how much you’d like to be paid. I was once told in a public forum (one of Digital Eve’s first events) by a speaker that I had recruited (the HR manager of the company I worked at) that I was a great example of someone who could be making a lot more money than I was currently had I only asked for it. It still stings to this day, but lesson learned. The hard way. On the other hand, employers have also fallen off the face of the earth never to be heard from again after hearing the salary I asked for. The salary negotiation is a tough one to finesse. A recruiter in the room and another Digital Eve co-chairwoman, Leemor Machani, CEO of Machnai Weiss & Partners Ltd., an executive search and business coaching firm, tries to impress upon us that every one of us could be making 40, 50, 60KNIS a month. Everyone around me looks unsure about this. I’m unconvinced. I am sure a few of us could, but the Israeli salary pendulum swing in extremes. Maybe I need to experience it to say it can be so.
The same way we learned that the 45 minute pitch is crucial, we learn that we need to drop the apology. Apologizing for ourselves before beginning to speak or in an email when sending a resume is not only ineffective but hazardous to our potential employment. Miriam Lottner, who sees hundreds of resumes in any given week, said that she receives many resumes from women apologizing for sending her their CV which is ridiculous because she’s a recruiter for goodnessake! So, cut the apology. It isn’t cute or endearing and only undermines your credibility. Just state your purpose. This applies to sales pitches, meetings, and when negotiating salaries.
Susan Fisher, Digital Eve co-chairwoman, managing director of First Class Training, a leading vendor of personal effectiveness, global communication & cross-cultural training to Israeli high-tech companies, extols the virtues of networking, as anyone who has ever had an employment consultation with me knows I do, too. I always say that native Israelis have an organic network of people they grew up with, served in the army with, studied and traveled to South America with. We Olim need to forge our own networks, as artificial as it may feel. We need to be vigilant about letting those around us know we are looking for work, an apartment, a roommate, a date. You can send your resume 1000 times into the black hole that is the Job Board, but taking the extra step to find a contact at the company on one of the social media platforms (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google+) or even at a IRL (in real life) networking group (found on Meetup.com) will increase the chances of forming a relationship and landing the interview and then the job. Groups like Digital Eve, Jerusalem Business Networking Forum, Microsoft Ventures Academy, StartHub, BeerTech Modiin,The Junction, countless LinkedIn and Facebook groups all serve to facilitate real connections. And from real connections we can make miracles happen.
Digital Eve is one of Israel’s largest communities of professional women, with over 3000 members subscribed to the active Yahoo group. Online and face-to-face, our members share knowledge, resources, opportunities and insights. With a vibrant daily interaction among over 3,100 members, Digital Eve has strengthened the businesses and career paths of countless professional women in Israel, contributing to our respective and collective successes.
SharaLoSara 