Sexual Harasssment in the Workplace

When I was 18 – 21 years old I was a waitress making money for college. It was one of two jobs I held each summer. Every evening I drove over to my favorite Italian restaurant in my polyester uniform and worked with friends/co-workers serving, for the most part, lovely customers. Every once in a while an unruly patron came in and made suggestive comments to the servers. Once, and because I didn’t know any better, I twirled for a $20.00 tip from a drunk guy who hit it big that day at the race track. One of the owners of the restaurant, seeing the exchange rushed over and put the guy in his place (Thank you Marie).

Fast forward a couple of years and I was working at my first professional job at the corporate headquarters for a huge retail firm. The VPs would wander the halls late in the afternoon prowling for fresh young things to ask to dinner. Some women went and came back the next day with stories of how the men would tell them that they could pull a few strings and talk to a couple of people, possibly offering a bait of a raise or promotion IF the young woman would spend the night. I was asked to go on those dinners a few times but said no (even before knowing what went on) because those guys were creepy and about as old as my father.

This type of harassing behavior was common place and I saw it in every company in which I worked until one day, someone, somewhere sued a company and history was made. Finally.
In the early 80s I was a learning and development program designer and I was asked to write an anti-harassment program to help stop this intimidating nonsense within my own company. Human Resources put policies in place that said that in no way, shape or form would sexual harassment be tolerated. It went on to state that words, actions, pictures, threats, bribes, jokes would not be tolerated. If someone felt they were being harassed they were to tell the harasser to stop and if that intimidated them, they should go to the Human Resources department. I designed the training and presented it to the teams within the division. While the policies and training didn’t work all of the time, it tremendously cut out the harassment. The training was eventually rolled into an anti –discrimination/harassment training that is the standard for those companies today.

Lately I’ve read that a couple of the newscasters at Fox News are suing the organization for sexual harassment. I wonder why the boorish behavior of Roger Ailes wasn’t immediately handled. Was it because of his position of power and authority? No man or woman should put up with any type of harassment. Whatever the case, men and women today who feel as if they are discriminated against or harassed should thank the men and women who came before them to write the very policies and programs used to stamp out this crude, ignorant behavior. 

For further information or to learn the history of the policies please see https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/sexual_harassment_guidance.cfm at the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Resume Basics

Today I am meeting with a woman with whom I volunteer to talk about the very elementary parts of a resume. Resume writing isn’t her thing but in a pinch she may be asked to step in and assist someone prepare a basic resume. As I look at all of the resumes that I’ve created over the last eight years, a few areas stand out and captured the attention of the hiring companies.

1. Along with the name (that matches the LinkedIn profile), the heading should include a personalized LinkedIn URL and the candidate’s town and state. No more street address is needed.
2. A Summary Statement that makes an impact on the reader and encourages them to read on. This statement is a mini elevator speech and shows someone what the candidate might do for them.
3. A list of six or so key words that describe the candidate’s strengths. They should be a mix of soft and hard skills and they should reflect some of the key words in the job description.
4. The Work History must include measurable accomplishments that accurately describe how the candidate smashed through his or her goals at his or her previous position(s). This means how many, how much, at what savings, purpose, meaningful statistics and can even answer who, what, why. Everyone has them and everyone needs to include them.
5. Bullets and open space are pleasing to look at.
6. A job history of 10 – 15 years (of course if the person stayed with company for more years than that, capture all the years).
7. An education section is important. If the candidate didn’t receive a degree, the number of credits towards a degree can be listed. If the candidate didn’t go to college, the section can be reworded to Trainings and Certifications and a listing of work related course should be noted.
8. There really is no need to add Microsoft Office skills since almost everyone has these skills. If the job description asks for them, add them.
9. Include a header or footer if the resume exceeds one page. It should list the candidate’s name, phone and email.
10. Either a one or two page resume are fine. If the company requires a one page resume, look through the accomplishments and select the most impactful. Populate the LinkedIn profile with the other meaningful detail.