To worry I won't be taken seriously at work?

[Ruggersnduggers]

I'm a relatively recent university graduate, i finished university about 2 years ago. I'm on a grad scheme and I am the youngest person on my project by several years. I am also the only female on my team. The industry as a whole is very male dominated.

I was recently promoted at work and I will now be given 3 people to manage. The problem is, these people are all 5+ years older than me and male. I've heard from some other women at my company that they have had issues with older men not respecting them or taking them seriously. The industry is known for having a problem with sexism.

I suppose I feel a little intimidated by the thought of managing people that are older than me, especially when I'm so inexperienced. Do you have any tips or advice?

Be confident, be assertive but polite. If you aren't sure say you'll get back to them.

I don't have experience of this but I think just play everything by the book, no loopholes or favours for them. Act very professionally and know your job well so you always appear to have the upper hand.

Think before you speak and mean what you say. Be assertive and don't make any of their insecurities your problem. Be fair, be kind, but don't take any shit. You're the boss, not them, and their age or sex is irrelevant.

Remember you are no longer “one of the guys” and keep relationships professional, especially at the start.
Keep calm, don’t rush into decisions, it’s perfectly reasonable to say “I’ll get back to you about xxxxx.” (Don’t forget to get back to them though ).

Don't say sorry! I wish I could remember the name of the book or article I read. But it totally changed how I email and talk.

I employ 4 men and the whole article was about how women always say sorry.

"Sorry for the delay" "sorry but we have charge x" "sorry I don't get back to you sooner"

I sat and read back my emails all of the above were to my dismay there.

So I made a tiny shift to "there has been a delay, but" "our rates are x per day based on x" and "thanks for your email, I'll review and respond shortly"

And it made such a difference to the responses the company and my confidence.

And you'll do great, I've only worked in male industry and it's amazing how easy men are to manage, they really are funny and easy company and will respect you, secretly.

I agree with all the above apart from men being easy to manage. I had a team of 17, 6 men in a woman-dominated workplace, and they couldn't be arsed to do a good job. The women all mucked in and just got on with it and were generally harder working and more committed. The only capability issues I had were with men who were proud of the fact they just came in to work to get paid and were ticking over until they could retire. Be fair, be consistent and be clear - hopefully they'll be more motivated than my lot!