We asked Carrie Williams, AVP of HR at Platinum Mortgage Corporation for some advice as a woman in her field. #SSOWomen is an initiative to bring women together with potential mentors and to encourage a network of support and information sharing between professional women. To be featured on out blog and social media, please reach out to carson.bunting@iqpc.com for campaign details. 

Five years ago, is this career/role what you envisioned?  

"Pretty much as I am at the highest level I can go with this company, and I was aware of that several years ago."

 What do you think is the biggest challenge that women currently face in the workplace?  

"I think this is going to vary greatly depending on the company/people you work for and how they view women’s contributions to the workforce. I do think being heard and being taken seriously as a contributor and professional needs to improve in some arenas."

How do you view/handle failure in the workplace?  

"As a learning experience. Everyone has failures  at many points in their life. You need to look and find the takeaway to improve and learn from whatever caused the issue so you can move forward and continue to grow as a person and a professional."

 How do you go about encouraging innovative ideas in your workplace? 

1)      We have a “GOT Team” (Growth Opportunity Team) that allows all employees to submit suggestions/ideas to improve practices, social responsibility, the workplace in general, etc.  The team meets monthly and addresses any issues submitted to see if they are viable and, if so, implement solutions.

2)      The GOT Team also collects give anonymous kudos for co-workers that have gone above and beyond that are published monthly on the company Intranet

3)  Managers are encouraged to meet regularly with staff members and their departments to keep the creative juices flowing and address items on a recurring basis to keep teams functioning at a high level and improve productivity and employee engagement.

 What is the most important career advice you’ve gotten in the last 10 years? 

"Don’t be complacent and always strive to do your best."

Have you had any female mentors in your career and if so, what wisdom did she impart? 

"Don’t be afraid to be yourself, bring your best self to every difficult situation, listening is key, and don’t take things personally because they usually are not about you."

What, if anything, do you and/or your SSO currently do to foster female empowerment in the workplace? 

"Try to give recognition where recognition is due personally and say PLEASE and THANK YOU on a regular basis-those small words have a big impact.   At present, we are also evaluating HRIS system providers and services to be able to make things easier for employees to utilize, eliminate redundancies between HR and Accounting for payroll processing, and provide a more collaborative environment for employees and managers."