Alexis Christoforous of Yahoo Finance and Alli Young, founder and CEO of Forem, discuss the impact of the pandemic on women seeking to expand their professional skills.
Video transcription
ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on women compared to men, especially with regard to the workplace. After a year of crisis, is that changing? Joining me now to talk about it is Alli Young. She is a former Google executive, also founder and CEO of The Forem, a career coaching company for women. Alli, good to see you here. Why did this pandemic disproportionately affect women this time, especially when you look at it compared to the Great Recession, which many people call sexual cession, because it affected men so strongly?
ALLI YOUNG: Yes, hi, Alexis. Thank you very much for having me. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Listen, the COVID-19 crisis has been extraordinarily difficult for women, and we women have, many of us are mothers, we have children at home, they are not at school, there are no options for us to really take care of work, as well as children.
So it was extraordinarily difficult. Pressure on women is often insurmountable and very difficult to give within parallel organizations, so organizations still need to grow, they have revenue targets that need to be met. None of this has changed for companies and, at the same time, they need all their employees to be as productive as before, but at the same time, we have children who are at home and we have demands that are at home, who are also not giving . And these same demands are often not made of men.
So women are absolutely bearing the brunt of it. And then, of course, there are certain sectors of the industry, of industries that have been affected more than others, as in the service and healthcare industry, where the majority of employees are women, and these industries are hit very, very hard.
ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: So, what are you hearing now on your platform there in the Forem of women who are looking for a change, maybe jumping into a different job, maybe moving up to their current job, during this very difficult time when many people are having to do this and work remotely, and are they not necessarily with their bosses or the people who are going to make those decisions?
ALLI YOUNG: Yes. It’s a new type of skill that many of us are learning, so suddenly, everyone is distant. So, the women we work with, we really work with women, as well as underrepresented talents in large organizations, as well as small startups. Especially in the technology sector, in many financial services companies and in the people we work with, they still want to move forward.
Just because we are all distant, just because all of these things are happening, does not mean that your goals and career aspirations are set aside, but we have to find ways to work smarter, not harder, because of everyone’s demands that many of us have, as well as things like the tiredness of the Zoom that we’re all feeling.
So the way we often work with people who join our platform and our program is to teach them, it is not just about doing your job and doing it extraordinarily well. We have to do our job very well, but in the end, that is at stake. We also have to make sure that our work is seen, our work is visible and we are able to connect it with career stakeholders and people who open doors for us and sponsors.
So, how do we identify these sponsors in our careers and door openers, and how can we be sure that our work in which we are spending an extraordinary amount of time, that is visible to these people, that can propel our career forward.
And suddenly, when we are remote, everything becomes much more difficult. So, what we do is we work with women in very large groups of cohorts, so we separate women based on their level in the early career stage, middle senior, and then we have a community within each of these stages, and then we teach them exactly how you can progress in your career, how you can ensure that, again, your work is seen, how we ensure that those interested in your career are opening doors for you and are well aware of your work and its impact, even if you are not in the office, even if you are not in a large meeting room or at a conference together, even when we are all behind our computer.
ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: So, you’re talking about really interesting things. You are providing these women, it seems, with the tools they need to make this happen on their own. But if you could give the women listening to this interview a practical thing that they could do today or tomorrow, in their careers, wherever they are, what would it be?
ALLI YOUNG: Therefore, 85% of all our opportunities come from people we know. And if we’re just a handyman and we’re beating out of the park every day, but we’re not connecting with new people and we’re so busy that we can’t create new relationships, or a network, then we won’t go as far as someone else who’s very good at her job, but she may not have a network as good as we are.
So my recommendation is to really spend time with other people, cultivating new relationships. One of the things we do at Forem is to connect our members to each other. So, do we have matching algorithms so people are constantly networking, and then we teach people how to network? How do you connect with other people?
And Alexis, the trick to this is to be generous. That is why we always say: when you have a relationship with someone and connect with that person, ask them, how can you help them in their career? What are your goals? And how can you help them achieve these goals? And when you do, those same people will be rooting for you and trying to help you achieve your goals.
So, if your career is going very well, you are happy, you are in exactly the place you want. We recommend networking at least once a week. But if you want to change, if you want to do something new, want to pivot, want to go to the next big promotion, you really need to network and cultivate new relationships two to three times a week, maybe four. But it’s really one of the most impactful, high-ROI activities you could do besides just doing your job and being great at work.
ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: Great advice. And I know it can be challenging during those remote times, but also, you can probably get people a little more easily than before the pandemic. Alli Young from Forem, thank you very much. I appreciate your time.
ALLI YOUNG: Thanks.