Meeting Notes

Posted by . February 7th, 2009 at 5:01 am. Leave a comment.

Meeting Notes is a weekly feature. Here we will dish on tidbits, news, and important things we think you Working Girls should know. So scroll down to hear what we think you should glean from this work week.

  • As more and more layoffs begin to occur in industries such as manufacturing and construction, it seems that women are climbing further and further up the nation’s payroll. According to this New York Times article, because women are usually employed within industries that survive economic hardships (such as healthcare and education), women are on the brink of being the majority in the workplace. 
  • A lot of people have been asking me recently about finding a job in a different state. I stumbled recently upon this step-by-step process on MSN.com. It has some really good suggestions such as registered with a large staffing firm and offers tips on how to tap into your network to help you make that out-of-state dream a reality.
  • Update! Kelly Cutrone’s new reality show has been picked up by Bravo and is set to revolve around “strong women in the workplace”. Sounds right up our alley. 

  • Nursing, computer information science, engineering, economics, and education. What do those 5 degrees have in common? Apparently they are the 5 most marketable degrees for anyone who is about to graduate in the upcoming class of 2009. Read on to learn how to make your degree more marketable in today’s market! 
  • Do you dress to impress for work? Well if you want to work at the Bank of England you have to. Women’s Wear Daily recently obtained a memo from the prestigious bank that dictated what their female employees should be wearing on a daily basis. Some of my favorite requests included being “careful with perfume”, “always wear a heel of some sort – maximum of 2 inches”, and not to be associated with “overstuffed bags, an overload of rings, or double-pierced ears”. If I worked there I would officially have been fired on my first day. 

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Ask Working Girl (and Awards!)

Posted by . February 5th, 2009 at 1:09 am. Leave a comment.

Today I bring you another installment of (insert trumpets blaring) Ask Working Girl! But before we get to my oh-so-experience answers to your lovely questions, WG1 and I would like to say thank you for a few awards we’ve received recently. 

Symphonic Discord, Dreamweaver and She’s Got the Gift of Gab awarded us with the The Lemonade Award (which makes me want to drink lemonade out on my porch even though it is currently 12 degrees outside). Thank you! 
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Little Woman, Little Home awarded us with the Proximidade Award. Her 101 Things in 1,001 days list makes me want to get off my ass and do it too, so read her blog for inspiration! 

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These Are the Days of One Gemini and Relish gave us the Honest Scrap award. Thank you very, very, very much! We honestly love our award!

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And last but not least, Sunny gave us the Premio Dardos award. And I just read that Sunny can speak in four languages and write in six. To which all I can say is damnnnn. 

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And now on with the show, which includes me answering questions to the best of my abilities (while simultaneously watching a bad Lifetime movie). 
Melly asked: I’m a therapist, but I’m sure there’s quite a few of us who have to set-up/decorate an office to meet with prospective clients. Can you give us a DO and DON’T list? 
WG2 answered: I cannot boast of my styling skills. Some of you might remember my recent post where I admitted I would like to use PB Teen to style an office if I ever get one. 
But if I were going to give some do’s and don’ts, I would say “less is more” is always a good styling go-to especially when styling an office. You don’t want minimalist, but you do want simplistic. Plants and flowers always make an impression on clients and also make you feel like you’re in a homey environment (I’m a big fan of orchids myself). Works of art can also spice up the work place and can even get be a conversation starter. I would check out etsy for some good finds or even hit up an art fair – just don’t get too crazy on this one, you don’t want anything that is NSFW. 
Anonymous asked: How do you manage to juggle between personal and professional life? Has your personal life ever suffered? 
WG2 answered: Juggling between the two has always been a hardship of mine…which is funny because I’m only 23 (almost 24!) and I don’t have children or a husband (or even a boyfriend), so it really shouldn’t be that hard, but for me it has been. See once I leave work, I usually hit a dead zone where all I want to do is order in Chinese food and veg in front of my favorite TV shows. I am also poor, so going out after work usually takes a toll on my bank account. 
Since I moved to Chicago, I have definitely seen a difference in myself though. I really think it’s just a matter of pushing yourself beyond that limit of tired and frustrated. What works for me is making a schedule of what I plan on doing each day after work. Like this week, I went to the gym on Monday, had dinner with my dad on Tuesday, vegged out tonight, and tomorrow is the gym again. You’re more likely to do something if you have a set plan. 
Luckily, my work has never really prevented me from plans in my personal life. I’ve worked a few weekends and late nights here and there, but I usually compensate somehow by leaving work early one Friday or taking a day off. It’s all about finding a perfect balance. 
Diaries of an Insomniac asked: I just started a blog and am wondering, what are some good ways for me to get my blog noticed? I’d really like some feedback, and to know someone is reading it. Do you have any advice? 
WG2 answered: One great way to get feedback on your blog is by joining 20sb’s. It’s a great forum for 20-something’s to post discussions, participate in forums, and get feedback on what they are writing and put out on the web. 
Another great way to get feedback is just to ask for it! Sometimes some of our favorite bloggers can be intimidating. I mean there are some bloggers out there who I think of as celebrities! But it never hurts to ask what they think. So just be blunt and ask. 
MY asked: How about getting a job you love in your field? Regardless of how much effort you put into your college career it seems as if none of it has paid off when it comes to finding the first job. Any of us who have graduated last year could not have picked a better time in history to graduate! 
WG2 answered: It’s true that the economy is horrible right now. And I can’t be anything more than thankful that I found a job during these tough times, but I think my finding a job is living proof that it is possible. 
The only piece of advice I can give anyone looking for a job right now is perseverance. You just have to keep going. I think I probably applied for about 30-50 jobs a week when I was looking for a new job last year. And to be honest I started looking for a job in the summer and didn’t get any real interviews until November. The problem with this economy is that finding a job in our dream field might be hard, so taking something that we like (instead of love) might be the best bet. But never stop looking. You never know when the perfect opportunity might pop up. 

Have a work-related question? Blog-related question? Or want to know something random about one of us? Ask! Send your questions to WorkingGirlOne@gmail.com or WorkingGirlTwo@gmail.com or just post a comment here. 

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Might be a Quarter Life Crisis

Posted by . February 3rd, 2009 at 3:15 pm. Leave a comment.
Last week, I said to WG2: “Is it bad that sometimes I think ‘I wonder if I’d be happier if I lost my job and could figure out my dream and then follow it?’”

To which she replied: “That was like when I would walk down the street be like ‘Hmmm, I think I would rather work at this Chinese restaurant than go to my job today.”

I know that my statement is an awful thing to say in this economy when people are losing jobs everyday but it’s honestly something that’s crossed my mind and I feel it has for valid reasons.

I truly have no idea what I want I really want to do with my life. In college, I wanted to be a psychologist, then a journalist, I wanted to study sociology or french. I landed in publishing by way of journalism. As a marketing intern for a women’s magazine, I thought I found what I loved, what I wanted to do for my career. I began setting goals to make that happen and I eventually landed my sales assistant job and eventually my marketing assistant job.

My boyfriend has known what he’s wanted to do since he was five. Both of his parents are journalists and he’s been preparing to go into the family business since he was a munchkin. He has late hours, works on the weekends, doesn’t get paid nearly half as much as he should for the work he puts into his job and works with some grumpy old men, but he loves being a sports writer. I don’t know anyone with the dedication and love for their job that he has. So you can imagine my frustration being around someone who knows exactly what they want to do, is doing it and loves it.

For a while, I thought I had found that when I moved to the marketing department at work. It was creative and fun. I thought that I was on my way to starting a long and successful career in publishing. But I’m growing more and more frustrated with this industry everyday. Because business is slow there is less for me to do and the projects I that I do have are unfulfilling. I could go on for quite a while explaining these projects and every frustration I have with them, but I’ll bore you with that another day.

These days, the smallest issue or slightest jab from a client sets me off. I used to be excited and inspired by the marketing department’s weekly status meeting, these days I’m bored and don’t contribute. I want out but there isn’t a chance I’d find a job and having no clue what I want to do next doesn’t help. The economy is somewhat of a blessing in disguise; I have a job and I can try to take this time to figure out what’s next for me. But I find it difficult to be inspired by anything else when I’m completely drained by work every night and weekend.

While one part of me wants to figure out my dream, another part of me thinks the practical thing to do is stick with what I’m doing and suck it up. I know what I’m doing here and I think I’m good at it. If I’m dedicated I can make my way up the ladder and be successful in the monetary sense. This practical part of me is strongly influenced by the fact that my boyfriend (who I’m pretty much in it for the long haul with) has his dream and it’s not exactly the most lucrative one. Let me just say that I’m by no means “all about money” but I do know what I would like for my future and that requires some money.

I feel like I’m in limbo with no direction and zero motivation…

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Chivalry Is Alive and Kicking in the Midwest

Posted by . February 2nd, 2009 at 2:34 pm. Leave a comment.

Back in July, I wrote a post about chivalry being dead on my morning commute. If you look back and read the post and then read the comments, you might see that the post wasn’t received too well.

And I think I now realize why. It’s because all our readers are from different parts of the country/world. When I wrote that post, I was making a sweeping generalization of all men being a-holes when commuting. So, I would like to revise my statement because back then I was commuting in and out of New York City on a daily basis. Since I moved back to Chicago, I’ve found my commuting experience to be completely and totally different than my experience out east. I have found that men in Chicago (and I’m going to guess most of the Midwest as well) are very chivalrous even in the mornings before they’ve had their coffee for the day. 
The one thing I have consistently told friends about how much I enjoy Chicago compared to NYC is how people here are so nice. I say this like I didn’t grow up here, but I think having been out east for 6 years made me forget. 
I get in cabs, and the cab drivers ask me how my day is going or talk about the weather. (I was in a cab the other day, and the cab driver asked me if it was okay if he used his phone! I was so shocked, I almost didn’t answer.) People smile at each other on the streets. People I don’t even know say ‘hi’ to me. This obviously did not occur on a daily basis in New York.  In NYC, you avoid each other’s eyes and if you do catch each other staring, you don’t say ‘hi’…you look away. 
But what has really shocked me is that all my gripes in my previous post on chivalry being dead have been proved wrong. On my commute in the Windy City, I have witnessed things I never thought I would get the chance to see. I have seen numerous (not just one, but many!) men give up their seats to elderly women, pregnant women, and sometimes women in general on the bus and on the L. Doors on the bus and at my office have been held open for me countless times. And at work, men make sure that women get on and off the elevator before them. 
This isn’t to say I haven’t seen some men not hold open doors, but for the most part I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how different men act during their commutes in Chicago as opposed to Hoboken or New York. 
And I have to say, I’m getting used to being treated like a lady. 

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