Thriving As A Woman In a Male-Dominated Industry: Ineke McMahon of Path to Promotion On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman In a Male-Dominated Industry
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Be less agreeable. Agreeableness is the trait that comes with the most significant negative and positive aspects. It’s associated with compassion and typically women are higher in agreeableness — I’m not advising that you become less compassionate, but you do need to stand up for yourself.
In the United States in 2022, fields such as Aircraft piloting, Agriculture, Architecture, Construction, Finance, and Information technology, are still male-dominated industries. For a woman who is working in a male-dominated environment, what exactly does it take to thrive and succeed? In this interview series, we are talking to successful women who work in a Male-Dominated Industry who can share their stories and experiences about navigating work and life as strong women in a male-dominated industry. As a part of this series, we had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Ineke McMahon.
Ineke McMahon has two decades of executive recruitment experience, and a large portion of her work has been in typically male-dominated industries such as property, infrastructure, construction and government. Ineke was last year awarded the National Association of Women in Construction Businesswoman of the year award for her commitment to diversity outcomes with 56% of her placements being female over the last three years.
Ineke is the co-founder of the Path to Promotion — an online learning development academy which helps people at all levels to accelerate their careers.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood “backstory”?
My bachelor degrees in psychology and human resources have assisted me in the career path that I have chosen. I have always been passionate about seeing women succeed in their chosen industries. I am not sure why I have always been attracted to male dominated sectors, but I do enjoy them!
Can you tell us the story about what led you to this particular career path?
I have always had a strong interest in people. I kind of “fell” into recruitment early in my career, but was lucky enough to start in an organisation that specialised in executive recruitment, in the fields of Construction, Engineering, Building Products and Electrical. Being a young female in these industries provided an extra level of challenge! I found it rewarding to succeed in a space that had mostly middle-aged men as my competitors.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
Interviewing people always come with really interesting stories! I have been blessed to be able to recruit some of the country’s leading roles including CEO roles, Board members and Panels for governments. I remember one of the most interesting roles that I recruited was for a CEO of a consortium that was delivering billions of dollars of infrastructure (specifically light rail). What I love about my job is that I am constantly learning. Every time that I take a brief, I learn about all of the challenges facing the organisation, the strategies and what’s happening in that industry. Then I get to interview the best people in the country and learn about why they made the decisions they made and what made them successful. It’s like doing a life MBA! This experience is what was the ignition for starting the Path to Promotion because I wanted all of the information that I have learned from the most successful people in their industries to be available to everyone.
You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
- Accountability. One of my favorite sayings that a previous Chairman of ours used to say all the time was “If it is to be, it’s up to me.” I have always taken responsibility for my own learning, for achieving the outcomes that I wanted and for my self-development. You are never going to be perfect, and you should be investing in your skills each and every day. Constantly ask yourself “what do the best do differently” and make sure you are investing in yourself. Warren Buffett is one of the world’s best investors, but he says: “Investing in yourself is the best thing you can do. Anything that improves your own talents.” I have been a lifelong learner. I invest in myself with courses, reading, lectures, pod casts….. this was another reason for starting the Path to Promotion!
- Initiative. Being prepared to go the extra mile, to think ahead, to do the over and above things are what set you apart from your competitors and peers. Don’t be happy with average performance! Constantly seek feedback on what you could be doing better or differently and implement those things.
- Hard-working. I have never been afraid of working harder, or longer than anyone else. I might not be the smartest, I might not be the most talented, but if I am getting on a treadmill against someone else, I know damn well that they are getting off before I do! Go the extra mile.
My general rule for recruitment is that the best performers have the following characteristics — they are competent, they show initiative, they are hard working and they have great team skills. Don’t neglect the softer skills when you are investing in your own personal development!
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Can you help articulate a few of the biggest obstacles or challenges you’ve had to overcome while working in a male-dominated industry?
I think the biggest obstacle to overcome as a woman is often in our own heads. As soon as we focus on competence and confidence, we will see ourselves just as successful. One of the things that I come up against a lot as an executive recruiter is a lack of confidence in amazing women. I committed to diverse shortlists many years ago, but receive over 90% of my applications are male.
My main role in the industry is as a champion for women, but especially in the area of confidence. The Harvard Business Review has repeatedly reported that a man will apply for a role if he holds 40–50% of the skills, but a woman will hold off unless she has 80–90% of the skills. This is definitely my lived experience. In 2015 I personally committed to delivering diverse shortlists, which means that the majority of my role is “headhunting” women and convincing them that they have the skills for a particular role that I am recruiting. Often, the women that I “headhunt” are surprised when they get the role, but it often involves me doing a fair bit of “pushing”, or what I like to call “encouragement”. In our Path to Promotion business, our success accelerator course has had incredible success with women. So far, 42% of our graduates have received a promotion in the 12 months after completing the course, and a whopping 72% of our female graduates have received a pay rise.
I have personally championed several women into roles that had never had a woman in it before. I am proud of the fact that I deliver close to 50% women on my shortlists (I am currently sitting at 48.9% for the last 12 months — so close!) in industries that are typically male dominated.
Can you share a few of the things you have done to gain acceptance among your male peers and the general work community? What did your female co-workers do? Can you share some stories or examples?
Definitely just getting amongst it! The property industry is one of my areas of expertise, and I started going to industry functions where there would often be up to 500 men, and only one or two women. Personally, I like to wear bright colors to stand out a little bit more! It is a LOT better now!
What do you think male-oriented organizations can do to enhance their recruiting efforts to attract more women?
Wording in advertising is important. You don’t want to exclude the best talent by saying things like “must have five years of experience” because a woman with four-and-a-bit years of experience is less likely to apply. In your advertising you should emphasize opportunities and minimize the requirements.
Ok thank you for all of that. Here is the main question of our interview. Based on your opinion and experience, what are the “Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman In a Male-Dominated Industry?” (Please share a story or example for each.)
- Focus on competence. Being good at your job is really important in a male-dominated industry.
- Be less agreeable. Agreeableness is the trait that comes with the most significant negative and positive aspects. It’s associated with compassion and typically women are higher in agreeableness — I’m not advising that you become less compassionate, but you do need to stand up for yourself.
- Work on your confidence. It’s essential that you understand your strengths and play to them. Remember that your male counterparts will feel confident enough to put themselves forward for a role when they have 60% of the skills — be prepared to do the same.
- Don’t be afraid of a little bit of competition. Put yourself forward for opportunities. Be prepared to put your hand up for projects where you know there might be a stretch for you.
- Surround yourself with great mentors and a tribe. It’s important to have mentors for your skill gaps, mentors who will champion you within your organisation and mentors who can challenge and develop you. In addition, you need a network of great women in your space who you can turn to for advice and support.
If you had a close woman friend who came to you with a choice of entering a field that is male-dominated or female-dominated, what would you advise her? Would you advise a woman friend to start a career in a field or industry that’s traditionally been mostly men? Can you explain what you mean?
I have done this recently! Commercial leasing in the property space is typically very male dominated and I recently encouraged a friend to leave her highly successful career to join this space. I will make sure that I support her and give her everything she needs to be successful!
Have you seen things change for women working in male-dominated industries, over the past ten years? How do you anticipate that it might improve in the future? Can you please explain what you mean?
Definitely! We are seeing increases in women in many typically male-dominated industries, and women continuing to support women will just see this increase.
We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.
Jordan Peterson, Simon Sinek or Shawn Achor.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Thriving As A Woman In a Male-Dominated Industry: Ineke McMahon of Path to Promotion On The Five… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.