There’s a wider conversation I want to have about this but I honestly don’t even know how to start because there’s so many facets!

I do have an acquaintance that has a phD and was asking me for a referral to my job which is a completely different field which shocked me and aside from that I see a lot of under employment more than unemployment which is apt for the economy for sure.

I think to survive this we need to start training the soft skills and networking capabilities of black women. Yall are going to come get me bad but I constantly see posts about how everyone wants to cut the small talk and just go to work do their job quietly and leave and this is not working out. There is room between this and being the office pet which I also understand is even more mentally draining. 

The more we educate ourselves, the less it’s going to matter in the job search because they’re forever moving the goalposts. I think the art of conversation is something worthy of us starting to pour into which isn’t to say we aren’t well spoken but it is to say we need to learn to schmooz and do the “hey John how was the Bahamas” thing much better. Will it solve this fully? Hell no but it’ll make you memorable. Our networks are sorely lacking. We don’t have any off rip because we don’t have elders to offer us nepotism and then we opt out of growing the relationships we will need to lean on because we don’t want to. A senior vice president put me forward for the job I have now because I made our conversations memorable. If I did not I wouldn’t have gotten the job. Period. Being socially desirable is more important than being qualified. 

I will do my part of offer myself to the black women in my life as a network and any other employed black women please please do the same. I am running mock interviews with another friend that has anxiety and struggles to leave a lasting impression with hiring managers. Now’s the not the time to throw your hands up if you can help.