Monthly Archives: March 2011

Women’s pay: Bill collector and baker among the best; most earn 81 cents

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In honor of International Women’s Day, I’m looking at women’s pay.

Women on average earn 81.2 cents for every $1 men make in the United States, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That ratio has climbed on and off for years, yet by some estimates it could take decades before women reach parity.

Women working full-time earned $679 a week, while men took home $51 a week more – though the disparity grew to hundreds of dollars a week in some occupations.   Here’s five where women are underpaid compared to their male counterparts:

  1. Personal financial advisors only 58.4 percent
  2. Property and real estate managers  65.3 percent
  3. Insurance sales agents 66 percent
  4. Human resources managers 69.3 percent
  5. Lawyers 74.9 percent

Even in the most common occupation for women, elementary and middle school teachers, the 1.98 million women earn 85.7 percent of their male colleagues, according to the BLS. The gap is much less for high school and post-secondary teachers, however, in part because the ratio of men to women is less lopsided.

I won’t get into all the reasons for the pay gap here, in the interest of time and brevity, though clearly, discrimination, unintentional and deliberate, still plays a role.

Yet a few jobs pay women more. Here’s a look at five with a positive ratio to men’s weekly earnings:

  1. Dining room attendants, 111.1 percent
  2. Bill collectors, 109.5 percent
  3. Life and social science technicians, 102.4 percent
  4. Teacher’s assistant, 104.6 percent.
  5. Bakers, 104.0 percent

I can’t help but note that the jobs where women earn more than men are among the lower paying occupations while in big paycheck jobs, whether CEO or pharmacist or surgeon, men take home 15 to 25  percent more than women. One possible exception: Women who work part-time – usually 30 hours a week – make the same or slightly more than men. That’s 100 percent of men’s wages for shorter work weeks and mostly modest paying jobs.

Yes, women have much to celebrate and a strong need to support each other – and press for more and better salaries too.

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Internships are in bloom – start cultivating yours now

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Interns are the bellmen of Corporate America. They open doors, fetch and carry items of value and may end up knowing how to get many things done. So how do you open the door to an internship this summer? And is it even too late to find one? Not a bit, especially if you are not seeking one of those major league internships at the Smithsonian or Google.

The high prestige ones sometimes have earlier deadlines than others – some expected to hear from candidates by December. Yet the largest number of internship job postings usually show up this month, according to Indeed, the big search engine.

Either way, it could pay to introduce yourself now and apply enthusiastically, or offer to serve as a stand-by in case their first picks decide to spend the summer in India.

Look now. Don’t delay your search or you’ll end up at the summer camp for the fifth year in a row.  March is the biggest month for internship job postings, and has been regularly since 2005, according to Indeed.com. (One year, in 2006 April had a higher number, but you can’t count on that happening again.)  Use your spring break time to search, as my Glassdoor blog suggested.

Look widely. Some employers are creating new internships this year, according to Internships.com . Some may add more interns to their plans if business continues to be strong, so be open to the new possibilities as well as the established internships.

Among the sites I’d recommend as resources for locating internships:  Indeed, which is so easy to use, LinkedIn, Vault.com, Facebook (corporate recruiting pages) and Twitter, where you’ll find HR directors and recruiters regularly sending out information. Also look at the employer website – many spell out details on their internship and may even give you the director’s bio or email. Check with local business development organizations and yes, your college career center. (At some colleges and universities, alumni or even anyone who has taken any classes will be welcomed in.)

Look professional. This means spending a few hours on your resume, and getting someone else to proof read it. Leave your rad T shirt and your bad attitude at home. It also means watching what you say on Twitter and all social media sites – employers check those before deciding whether to interview you. So do your own checking too:   Research both the employer and the hiring manager ahead of time. “Be the consummate professional,” Internships.com suggests in tips gleaned from employers on its site. If you’re not sure what that means, ask someone who has a vice president in their title or who hires a hundred people or more a year.

Here’s some more advice from Marriott’s university relations director Stacey Veden, who I profiled in the Washington Post Capital Business:

  • Head to the careers office and find out what employers are coming to campus in the next three or four weeks. Show up at their sessions. Ask questions. Be helpful. (At some colleges and universities, alumni or even anyone who has taken any classes will be welcomed in.)
  • Take initiative. With most internships claimed by juniors or seniors, start developing your skills with other work or volunteer work. Show your interest in the sector by finding a job in it, even if it’s a part-time job setting up for conventions or cleaning rooms on weekends.
  • Be flexible on what and where your internship is. Now is not the time to insist on a major city or a certain type of hotel.
  • Stay in touch with the recruiter. Tell her about your successes. Share your plans. Express hope for an internship next year if you don’t land one this year.

It’s about a positive attitude, professionalism and persistence, though having a professor or two squarely behind you certainly will help open internship doors too.

More resources:

Read more about competitive internships and how to get one in my Washington Post piece.

My new blog post on Glassdoor.com shows how to identify and land an internship with a startup.

Watch for Vault.com’s best internship lists, including one showing the most unusual internships and those with the best perks.

Indeed’s blog offers a few tips for an internship hunt, as well as many internship postings.

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