I’m not implying that you should seek jobs for which you are obviously not qualified. What I’m saying is that the best way to expand your skills is to take on a challenge. That may involve working in a different department, function, or industry, or supervising a larger number of people.
For many women (and in my experience, Latinas in particular), it’s extremely hard to do something for which they don’t feel 100% ready. Some call this lack of confidence. I prefer to say that we suffer from a generalized “perfect little girl” complex, which was probably instilled in us very early on in life. This tendency is partly responsible for us passing up opportunities for which we feel we don’t qualify. We fail to realize that, given a similar skill-set, most men would take that job and learn what they don’t know as part of the new position. That’s exactly the attitude you should adopt.
