Groundbreaking research
By Sandy Reed
n a cartoon published recently in The New Yorker, a middle-aged man is sitting across the desk from a young male applicant.
"So," the middle-aged man says, "I see that this résumé covers the last 45 minutes." As I read over the results of the survey that we used as the basis for this issue of WITI FastTrack, this cartoon came back to mind.
But it's not because the survey respondents, all members of Women in Technology International (WITI), are likely to personally identify with the cartoon, although, like the rest of us, they are likely to encounter this attitude from prospective hires. In fact, nearly 28 percent of respondents have been at their current company from three to six years, nearly 19 percent have spent seven to 15 years at the same company, and more than 10 percent have been 15 years or more with the same company. And nearly 85 percent have been on their current career path for more than three years. (See chart below.)
Although time-in-grade doesn't count as much as it did a few years ago, loyalty and dedication still matter for anyone serious about his or her career. Carolyn Leighton-Tal knows all about the rewards of being loyal to a profession. Since founding WITI 10 years ago, she has built it into a global organization, dedicated to advancing women who have chosen careers in science and technology industries.
Nearly 35 percent of the respondents are in executive or senior management positions, and another 30 percent are in middle management. They're at companies of all sizes -- on the one end, nearly 25 percent work in companies with 99 or fewer employees; on the other, more than 27 percent work in companies with more than 20,000 workers. More than 15 percent are self-employed, or own all or part of their company.
From a number of outside experts, we learned that our survey results are applicable to women in various roles within science and technology industries everywhere, not just WITI members. We also sought out the people behind the numbers, putting faces to the facts and figures. This issue of WITI FastTrack examines the professional lives of those powerful women, with an emphasis on what motivates them to do what they do. The survey, created jointly by InfoWorld and WITI, generated many enlightening solutions for recruiting and retaining women workers. For instance, we learned that financial compensation matters, but other benefits, such as flexibility and challenging work, can be just as important.
This is our fourth special report with WITI in 1999, we welcome your comments on this issue or previous issues, as well as topic suggestions.
WITI/InfoWorld Survey
Editor in chief Sandy Reed (sandy_reed@infoworld.com) has followed the high-tech industry as a journalist for 15 years.
