THE BUSINESS GIRL.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 205, 1 September 1916, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE BUSINESS GIRL.

What makes it so hard for the sweet girl graduate from business school to g.et her first job? Thousands of her feel ready to tackle high salaried jobs m a few week'-. !u;t the (Tsillusionments Mid discouragements will lie many, and the years long before they achieve it. To add to her annoyance, she will hear repeatedly during the years that "there is plenty of room at the top : business >.s full of opportunity for the intelligent, the ambitious,'' etc., °^ c '- Well, why on earth won't business give her that opportunity now? Yes. yes, '■he's 'ntclligent and ambitious, she tells you inipateritly, and there's a postscript to her diploma that proves it. It will tako the average mi sines? M-hocd graduate many years to discover why she had to struggle so hard at the beginning: why it was so hard for her to make good. But here are some points from the experiences of other women, and the girl who can truly absorb and accept llrs and take action accordingly will do a great deal toward eliminating li«r beginning handicaps. The first ami heaviest handicap which the young business woman brngs wit'i her into the commercial world is .cr ewn mont&l attitude. She lin< the "get" rather than th.e "give"' viewport. iTer mind '- usually filled with tales of girl, who now earn big satires, doing exactly the same kind of work for wire l ; -he trained. She knows she is just as devil, mid of wiilm! sh<> expects To achieve the same results. She is determined to get a <:nod, refined job that pay* well and offers Jots of advancement*. In fact, sometimes she compromises a bit, and in fonvent : nll./ worded let tors of application announce* that she is temporarily indifferent *<» the amount of pay she will receive, but ishp is ins : stent thtii there he plenty of "opportunity for advancement." That is the typical school-like point ol' view. Thfl gwlunte pxpect* that ther • ,',-ili he rewards and eood marks a plontv ; and so the graduate scholar demands that business be a sort of adult tchnol where a watchful preceptor will

dole out rewards to th,e deserving as often as possible. 1 hope it will not discourage ;tny ono to realise that "opportunity for advancement" isn't packed away in the (lies of I'Vicry business, waiting for an employee to pick it out. When a firm promises ''plenty of opportunity for advancement" it usually means that there .;r<> plenty of opportunists waiting for advancement nud that you have to be alert and alive to capture your share in the grand scramble. On the other hand some of the best opportunities didn't exist at all, but were created I))' rhe "think" capacity of an employee flho developed a brand now idea. And this load- on to the second point which is tlie great handicap of tho young business woman. That is, her mental indifference to business. A wise man once told me that the greatest prod to advancement in life is—mental turio-'ty. Business is an illuminating proof of this idea, for all around us we Me advancing men and women who have been mentally curious and have investigated and studied and expen tnonted move and more, until they developed a new plan and launched themselves Miwssward. For business women are apt to forget about invest'gating deeply into their work and into business generally. And only those women sue. cced who are mentally curious • who read books, take advanced courses, join clubs for business contact just as men do. Very few of the schools that turi? out business graduates instill nto the minds of these graduates the meaning 'of business. To some girls "business" means stenography and type-writing and they are not interested in anything else, for did they not .study these arts in ouler to earn money in business? What good will it do 'them to learn about anything else? The man's attitude is different. He i» kei 11 to learn business at any and every angle. To a man business n tremendously big game, and every bit of ammunition he can pick up anywhere is eagerly gathered and stored up lor possible future use. Every man and every wonran in business has the same experience, in greater or less degree. At the beginning, full of tho "get" attitude, thov

demand and expect certain rewards from business. They're dolefully disappointed when these rewards are not forthcoming. But as soon as they iv spond to the spur of mentaj curiosity —as soon as they begin to study business more deeply ana specialise, perhaps, so as to develop some distinctive oxpertness, their attitude changes unconsciously. They begin to have the give ate tude- they have something to off/T at the shrine of business, and business rewards them in cold-blooded but honestly businesslike fashion. To sum up, these arc the brief counto the sweet business girl graduate : Make your business course the foundation of. further business study. iJcvelop the "give" rather than the "get 1 attttude towards business. Get bu.sv creating an opportunity through your "think" capacity-and your pay will Ink.■ cire of itself!