Raising the self confidence and self esteem of final year female students prior to job interviews

ABSTRACT

Published research and anecdotal evidence suggest that women may be disadvantaged when seeking employment. This paper describes a one day seminar on handling job interviews, conducted for female computer science students at the beginning of the final year of their undergraduate degree. Initial evaluations completed by the participants at the time that they participated in the seminar and a survey some six months later have been extremely positive. It appears that, if women are prepared for the interview process, they approach their first interviews with greater confidence and consequently are better equipped to deal with one of the most vital series of interactions that will occur in their lifetimes.

REFERENCES

• 1: Clarke, V.A. and S.M. Chambers Gender-based factors in computing enrollments and achievement: Evidence from a study of tertiary students.Journal of Educational Computing Research, 5 (1989) 409-429
• 2: Karen A. Frenkel, Women and computing, Communications of the ACM, v.33 n.11, p.34-46, Nov. 1990 [doi>10.1145/92755.92756]
• 3: Heatherington, Laurie and Judith Crown, Heidi Wagner and Scott Rigby, Toward an Understanding of Social Consequences of 'Feminine Immodesty' About Personal Achievements, Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, 20, 1989, pp. 371-380
• 4: Horner, Martina S. Feminity and Successful Achievement: A Basic Inconsistency. In Judith Bardwick, et al, eds. Feminine Personality and Conflict Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing Co., 1970, pp. 45-74
• 5: Amy Pearl , Martha E. Pollack , Eve Riskin , Elizabeth Wolf , Becky Thomas , Alice Wu, Becoming a computer scientist, Communications of the ACM, v.33 n.11, p.47-57, Nov. 1990 [doi>10.1145/92755.92757]
• 6: Pomerleau, Andree, Daniel Bolduc, Gerard Malcuit, and Louise Cossette, Pink or Blue: Environmental Gender Stereotypes in the First Two Years of Life, Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, 22, 1990, 359-367
• 7: Rowe, Mary P. Barriers to Equality" The Power of Subtle Discrimination to Maintain Enequal Opportunity, Unpublished and undated report by the special assistant to the president of MIT
• 8: Sandier, Bernice R., The Campus Climate Revisited: Chilly for Women Faculty, Administrators, and Graduate Students, Copyright 1986 by the Project on the Status and Education of Women, Association of American Colleges, Washington, DC, 1986
• 9: Sandier, Bernice R., The Campus Climate: Chilly for Women?, in Dedeef, et al, (eds.) The Academic Handbook, Durham" Duke University Press, 1988, pp. 146-152
• 10: Schwartz, L.A. and W. T. Markham, Sex Stereotyping in Children's Toy Advertisements Sex Roles: A journal of Research, 12, 1985, pp. 157-170
• 11: Sidner, Candace L. On Being a Woman Student at MIT or How to Miss the Stumbling Blocks in Graduate Education, Unpublished report, 1980
• 12: Ellen Spertus, Why Are There So Few Female Computer Scientists?, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 1991
• 13: Stewart, Elizabeth, Nancy Hutchison, Peter Hemmingway, and Frank Bessai, The Effects of Student Gender, Race, and Achievement on Career Exploration Advice Given by Canadian Preservice Teachers, Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, 21, 1989, 247-262
• 14: Tannen, Deborah, You Just Don't Understand, Ballantine Books, New York, 1990
• 15: Teague, Joy and Valerie Clarke, Fiction and Fact: Students' and Professionals' Perceptions of Women in Computer Science, in Anna-Maija Lehto and inger Eriksson (eds.) Proceedings of the conference on Women Work and Computerization, Helsinki, 1991, pp. 377-390
• 16: Weinraub, Marsha and Lynda M. Brown, The Development of Sex-Role Stereotypes in Children" Crushing Realities, in Franks and Rothblum (eds.) .The Stereotyping of Women" Its Effects on Mental Health, New York: Springer Publishing Co., 1983, pp. 30-58
• 17: Widnall, Sheila E., AAAS Presidential Lecture" Voices from the Pipeline, Science 241 Sept. 30, 1988, 1740- 1745

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.1 MODELS AND PRINCIPLES
      H.1.2 User/Machine Systems
          Subjects: Human factors

Additional Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.3 COMPUTERS AND EDUCATION
      K.3.2 Computer and Information Science Education
          Subjects: Computer science education
  K.4 COMPUTERS AND SOCIETY
  K.7 THE COMPUTING PROFESSION

General Terms:
Human Factors