What It Took to Get and Keep a Job in 1937

Jane McKimmon didn’t address one of her usual a farm or home issues in the following article. Instead, she gave advice for the young woman seeking a business career. Here’s what the Roy H. Park, editor of the Carolina Co-Operator had to say about the need for this article in the magazine.

“Perhaps no other person in the State is turned to more for advice as often as Dr. McKimmon. Hundreds of farm girls who have secured or plan to secure training and want to take up business as a career have asked her advice for getting ahead. This article is being printed with the hope that it will be of value to farm girls and farm women who either by choice or necessity are entering the business world.—R.H.P.”

“Going Forward in Business” by Jane S. McKimmon, State Agent and Assistant Director, North Carolina Extension Service, N.C. State College, Raleigh, as published in the February, 1937 issue of the Carolina Co-Operator

Just the other day I heard a man from the West say how much he was impressed by the type of women who served as stenographers in North Carolina. He spoke of their dignity and self-respect and said good breeding was evident in the way they conducted themselves and in the standards maintained to their social relations.

Training means much, but it is not all. A woman does not get far unless she has the tools which her work demands and a good stenographer must be able to take dictation easily and record what her employer says understandingly.

Speed? Well, speed may be desirable, but the number of words a stenographer types per minute is of far less importance than her ability to use those words in their proper sense and to be careful that she records them correctly. Here is an occurrence which may illustrate something of what I mean:

Accuracy—A manufacturer of toilet goods received a most puzzling letter from a firm who whom he had written and whose patronage he was most desirous of securing.

“Dear sir,” said the letter, “We appreciate your remarkable frankness regarding your product and of course shall not give you the order.”

When the manufacturer reread the letter he had dictated to find out what “remarkable frankness” referred, this is what his stenographer had made him say: “Frankly, we have made a study of the best powders and creams, and perfumes manufactured in Europe until we are able to fake them perfectly.”

Of course he meant to say “make” them perfectly. The stenographer struck an “f” for “m”—a little thing!—but it was carelessness that cost her employer a much desired customer.

Attitude—The attitude of a stenographer or secretary in a business man’s office is a factor in maintaining the good will of his callers and goes far towards determining the attitude of possible clients. It also has a noticeable influence on the atmosphere of the whole office. Good manners and courteous and fair treatment of all associates is essential if the morale of the office is to be high.

Sometimes I think it would be a good thing for any business man to pay well for a pleasant mannered person to answer his telephone. You can’t help judging the office by the kind of voice that comes over the phone or by the manner in which civil questions are answered.

Being Discreet—There is, too, the matter of discretion. An office woman who can “keep quotable,” who watches her words and furnishes no leakage of what her employer has said in confidence is more to be desired than gold.

Perhaps there is no one thing more disastrous to a well conducted business than an indiscreet confidential clerk, and it is good to see such a large number of Southern women measuring up in filling acceptable positions of trust.

If I were choosing a clerk or stenographer, coming right along first with technical training would be dependability and right attitude, and perhaps in these I would include cheerfulness. A person spends one-half of his waking hours at his business, and life is not worth living if, day by day, one must struggle with a grouchy, disagreeable person, or tread lightly for fear of hurting her feelings. Isn’t it good to be greeted by a cheerful, efficient assistant who brightens the whole office by her cheery smile and eases your responsibility by her self-confident manner in attacking her work.

Good English—Next to dependability and right attitudes comes the use of good English.

In hurried dictation any employer may be careless of his diction or may make useless repetitions. A good stenographer will not let these pass and here is where a knowledge of English will stand her in good stead.

A woman is well equipped who has had the advantage of a good education with emphasis on rhetoric and who has not neglected the study of spelling. Fortunate indeed is she who comes from a family whose every-day English has a background of the proper usage of words.

I would advise much time spent in English courses for the girls who wishes to become proficient in her profession. When one is writing to the president of a university regarding qualifications of a possible entrant, it is not pleasant to be made to say, “She did beautiful,” no matter how contrite the unlearned stenographer is when charged with misunderstanding what was dictated.

Dressing the Part—The North Carolina business woman’s standard of dress, I think, is high. It is a pleasure to walk through the Capitol Square in the morning and see the neatly dressed, well groomed girls on their way to work. Even the shoe heels have come down generally and are more fitted for standing than they used to be. I notice also that there is very little old finery worn to the office.

It is part of a business woman’s stock in trade to look the part. Not only must her dress please by its evident fitness for the job she must do, but it must hold its freshness through the long hours of the day it is worn before a change can be made. Flimsy, elaborate clothing will not do this and business women have discovered this.

Perhaps more emphasis might be laid on dressing for health, and the girl behind the counter could keep a pair of sport shoes for standing even if she changes before she goes out on the street. There is, too, the question of looking after shoe heels to prevent that run-down untidy appearance. Frequent visits to the shoemaker for leveling will prevent this.