In the competitive nonprofit sector, charitable organizations constantly have to prove themselves and their relative merit, to the general public and to funders, just to survive. Some believe that this requirement to prove worth especially reflects what women in business do every day. And it may explain why many of America’s charitable organizations are (and historically have been) driven by female leadership.
Despite the fact that 85 percent of all brand purchases — a total of approximately $7 trillion annually, or more than half of the American GDP — are made by women, men still dominate the leadership, branding and product development decisions at most consumer brands. At advertising agencies, a paltry 3 percent of all creative directors are women, according to the Marketing to Women Conference, and men also firmly dominate investment decisions in consumer-facing ideas at venture capital firms.
Something in Bentley’s PreparedU study caught my eye: About a third of business executives and recruiters surveyed disagreed that a college degree is a sign that someone is ready for the workforce.
Each year, more than 95 percent of Bentley seniors have jobs or are in graduate schools within six months of commencement. And Bentley’s Career Services Office is ranked third in the nation by the Princeton Review.
And somehow they felt they had to do better.
There’s no set formula or clear-cut “solve-for-X” equation that can propel recent female college graduates to success in their careers, even though more than half of the corporate recruiters surveyed in Bentley University’s PreparedU research say that women are better job candidates than men.
In the end, I believe that moving ahead depends on the individual, and on so many other variables — like mentors, timing, opportunities and company culture.
As we reported a few weeks ago, millennials now account for more of a third of the workforce, and are projected to comprise nearly half of all working Americans by 2020. Still, 66 percent feel misunderstood by older generations, according to our PreparedU survey.
As the 11th employee of Waltham-based startup Care.com, reporting directly to CEO Sheila Marcelo, I had a front-row seat to the company’s early history and its mission to create a bias-free, progressive corporate culture where every single employee — regardless of gender, age or diversity — could thrive.
Females in the business world still need just as much encouragement and mentorship as ever, as Bentley executive-in-residence Toni Wolfman pointed out — with some staggering statistics about encouragement, mentorship, and skills/ambition perception from our recent PreparedU study — in a recent Fast Company article.
Editor’s note: In recent weeks, the PreparedU Project has invited successful and accomplished executives to share insights into how women can help themselves and each other achieve success in the workforce. PreparedU research gave young millennials high grades for their skills, and what follows elaborates upon how to put them to good use.
New genetic “multiplex” testing reveals the risks for multiple health conditions, but little is understood about the psychological factors that affect whether healthy young adults will undergo the test. Research by Professor Samuel Woodford and colleagues assessed the multiplex genetic testing model (MGTM) — which delineates worry, perceived severity, perceived risk, response efficacy and attitudes toward testing — as a predictor of interest and ultimately actual participation in multiplex genetic testing.