Too Short to Succeed?

 

     'Employers seem to think that because I'm 4 feet 6 inches tall, I don't look capable of handling bigger responsibilities,' a reader writes. Plus, the dreaded interview question: 'What is your greatest weakness?' and more about listing computer skills on resumes.

May 24, 2004

By Anne Fisher

Fortune.com

 

     Q. I am a woman who is 4 feet 6 inches tall, and I really believe that one reason I keep getting stuck in clerical positions (despite having a bachelor's degree) is my height. Employers seem to think that, because I'm ultra-short, I don't look capable of handling bigger responsibilities. Obviously I can't make myself taller, so what else should I do?

     A. Lois Frankel, Ph.D., president of Corporate Coaching International (http://www.corporatecoachingintl.com) and author of Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office (Warner Books, $19.95), has coached many petite women and has a few suggestions for you.

     First, she says, make sure you dress the part: Darker colors and more tailored lines, rather than "cute" or "feminine" clothing, may help create a subliminal message that you are to be taken seriously (As may wearing glasses, even if the lenses are just clear glass. Apparently, the stereotype persists that people who wear specs are smarter than people who don't. Go figure.). Then, says Frankel: "Be sure your body language is congruent with your verbal message. I remember one petite Asian engineer in a training program who stood up and said that no one took her seriously but she said it with a huge smile on her face. The whole room laughed and she didn't know why." How you speak matters, too. "I coach more physically imposing people to use more words, to soften what they're saying, but petite women need to be crisp and concise," Frankel says. "Keep your messages as brief as possible and get to the point quickly. Short sentences sound more confident." Beyond that, speak up. If you continually ask for more challenging work and bigger assignments, and then excel at them, bosses with any brains at all will learn to look past your height and see your contributions.

     Q. Can you tell me what is the appropriate response to the question, "What's your greatest weakness?" My husband is interviewing for jobs and is asked this quite frequently. It's hard to come up with an answer when your main goal is to present yourself in a positive light.

     A. How true and since nobody's perfect, if you say you have no weaknesses, you'll just come off as arrogant. This question has always struck me as singularly unfair. After all, interviewers aren't expected to reveal the weaknesses of the people who'll be your colleagues (or your boss) if you get the job, which would be really great to know, wouldn't it? I've discussed this with a number of executive coaches and career counselors over the years, and to be honest, I have yet to hear a really good answer. What most people do is to state a "weakness" that could be viewed as a strength for example, "I'm a perfectionist and tend to obsess over details to make sure I get everything absolutely right before I sign off on it." Uh-huh. But this kind of response (which basically says, "Gee, I'm just too conscientious for my own good") is so common that I'm sure interviewers are wise to it by now. So, readers, can you help us out here? If you've recently tackled the dreaded greatest-weakness query in an interview, and got the job anyway, tell us: What did you say? I'd like to include your answers in a future column, anonymity guaranteed!

     Folks, thanks for all the comments on last week's column of resume tips. I'd just like to add a couple of insights from Pete Madrano, college relations manager at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (http://www.jhuapl.edu), where 3,350 engineers and scientists do research and development for NASA and other government agencies. Madrano, who has been a campus recruiter for 13 years, seconds the point about not using fancy paper: "I once got several resumes on green marbled paper. You can imagine what happened when I photocopied them for distribution!" On the matter of whether to list all of one's computer skills, he writes that candidates should list everything, whether or not all of the skills are relevant to a particular job. The reason? A given skill "may not apply to my specific opening, but it may be matched via an applicant-tracking system to another manager's opening, and you don't want to miss out on that." Thanks, Pete!

Send questions to askannie@fortunemail.com.

 

From:   Ask Annie <annieadm@TIMEINC.NET>