Ask The Corporate Latina

A reader asks: “I have an interview coming up this Friday 5/13 for a position I’ve been trying to get for over 6 months. The opportunity looks promising but the interview questions will be on my time management skills and how I work under pressure. How do I make sure I answer these questions the best way possible? I have over 20 years of service and have a very strong work ethic and I know I qualify for this job. I want to make sure I give my best. Do you have any suggestions on how to best interview?”

The Corporate Latina answers: Hello reader! Thanks for your question. In today’s economy, employers are concerned about productivity and how well employes handle multiple tasks and pressure. As we all know, the job situation is pretty tight and companies are expected to produce same and better results with less resourcers, i.e., people. Therefore, it is no wonder that this employer is focusing on questions related to time management and work under pressure. My advice is that prior to the interview- you spend some time analyzing and thinking back to your 20 years of work experience and pinpoint at least two instances where you managed a project or task well under pressure and/or under time constraints. I would be very specific about the project, the time pressure and/or task that required your time management, what obstacles you had to overcome and how YOU achieved the success of the project. You only need two examples. Also, when you do this- be prepared to tell it like a story. People like stories. For example, I would start my answer like this: “Thank you for asking that question. Over my 20 years of work history., I have been confronted with many situations that required I utilize my time management skills in order to be productive and efficient.. (or required that I worked under pressure….) Let me tell you about two of those instances and how I was able to help my team ( employer). And then you launch into your story. Make it short and interesting. Don’t go on forever. Just short and to the point. The enormity or complexity of the task does not matter. It could be as simple as “I had to make copies for my boss and he was on his way to the airport”, or whatever task it is. What matters is that you provide an example(s) of how you handled the situation in a productive and efficient way. I would also try to interject anything related to you working with a team and how you helped the team effort at achieving a project when the team was under pressure and/or under time constraints. Employers always like to hear how well potential employees work in team situations. Hope I was able to help you.

Last May, I spoke at the HACE Career Conference in Houston. HACE which stands for the Hispanic Alliance for Career Advancement, is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of Latino professionals. I serve on that Board as well.

I spoke on the topic of “Latinos in Corporate America- Understanding The Rules: Achieving Victory”. The presentation was videotaped and after some work, we divided up the one hour presentation in small 5 to 9 minutes video clips. I will be posting these clips on my blog every week in succesive orders so if you are interested, you get to see the entire presentation or if you rather see only a portion you can go directly to that clip.

The clips will be posted in this order:
Clip 001: What is The Corporate Latina?
Clip 002: The Rules
Clip 003: Corporate Facts: Obtaining the “Right” Preparation
Clip 004: Statistics: Information on Latinos in Business
Clip 005: Statistics of Latinos in Corporate America
Clip 006: Latino Wallet Power and Corporate Business
Clip 007: Challenges of Latinos in Corporate America
Clip 008: Latina Challenges in Upper Levels
Clip 009: Executive Branding
Clip 014: Opponents and Sense of Timing

Here is the first Clip. Please let me know what you think!

Read more…

Just recently, I delivered a speech at the HOPE National Latina Action Day Conference in Los Angeles, CA. This was a wonderful conference with over 850 women in attendance! It was such an impressive group of women that it almost brought tears to my eyes and I felt an immense pride swelling in my chest. The organization kindly asked me to help them unveil the results of a ground breaking study ” Missing in California- Latinas in Corporations”. As this topic is just right up my alley, I gladly accepted. The study results showed that of the 400 corporations that are headquartered in California, none have a Latina at the C-Level. With California being the most Hispanic populous state in the country, those are certainly hard facts to digest. Sadly enough, the statistics are not much better for the rest of the country. Read more…

Sponsors? Wait, I have heard of mentors, but sponsors?  What is that and why do I need one?

This is a common response that I get whenever I counsel corporate Latinas and other women executives about the need to have a sponsor. I, like them, was not aware of the concept of a “sponsor” in corporate America until actually quite recently when I was working at a major Fortune 100 company and someone made a reference to my “sponsor”. At that point, I knew that the colleague was referring to another high level executive that I had the fortune of developing a good relationship with and who I knew had made some phone calls on my behalf and had recommended me for some high visibility projects. I thought that was quite nice on his part and obviously I had communicated my gratitude, but it wasn’t until my colleague referred to him as my “sponsor” that I actually started to think about this issue. Of course, I had a mentor, but my mentor had never made any phone calls on my behalf ( at least not that I knew of ) or volunteered me to work on a major project. For the most part they were not in a position to do so or more likely that simply was not their role. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that my mentor was not hugely important- she was- but the sponsor was different. Read more…