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Show 1 Dorothy Dix Talks j ( HOW TO GET THERE By DOROTHY DIX, the Wo. id s Highest Paid Woman Writer A youtlg woman who is Just starting start-ing out in business asked a very sue jcessful business man the other day it b would point out to her the way to : success. "What must a girl do to get on in 'a business office'" she asked, "some girls stay put at the same salary and in the eanH- position year after war. he said, "while other girls climb up Jto private secretaryships, and to be i ins; heads of departments, and plaee? of importance with good salaries. When 1 talk it over with the girl? th. always speak of pull and favoritism, and hint at scandals between the boss und ih.- favored one. 1 don't believe this, and what I want to know is what a girl must do in order to advance herself. her-self. What qualities is it In hr tha attracts her employer's favorable no-I no-I tice?" ' There is no royal road to success, implied the man, "and this is true of a woman Just as much ns It is of a man. There is no sex in work, and fitness is the only thine that enables a girt to get a good place and hold It. Bhe mnsl know her job down to iru bottom. She must be reliable, and dependable, de-pendable, and she must have energy, and grit, and determination Sho must like her work for Its own sake, for I've never known am body, either man or woman, to make a success of 1 h t- thinj; thai his or her heat was not in If you do not like your work and jdo not take a pride in doing it, and In your craftxnanshlp, you had better get out and trj something cine. You will , never pet anywhere In it. "Aside from the fundamentals of 1 business, however, thre are a lot ci j points that are w orth the consideration considera-tion of every Elrl in business because they srore for her or against her. ! 'The first of these is time. The irl who works with hr eye on the clock never gets to the top of thf ladder In my office the work is supposed sup-posed to commence at a quarter to nine. Of the forty girls I employ there aro thirty-nine who never set in until the clock strikes nin Then they spend five or teu minut es in the Iressing room primping ;md powdering powder-ing their ncsea. "1 noticed that the fortieih g,irl was always at the office by half past 1 icht or earlier, and 'hat she never dreamed of leaving at njpht until the last bit of work was done. Her work Is really no better than thrt of several sev-eral of the other come-iate-and-go early ciris, but I have advanced tu r over all of their heads although 1 li has only been with me six months and the others have been with lu years. ' Another point I would call to the attention of the cirls is the necessity of working while they work, and shine: sh-ine: their whole attention to their Job, instead of half working, u-nd using only half of their minds A i pass through my big outer office a dozen timet .1 day I notice certain gir1- who nevei look up, who are never chat to: ni. who ar" engrossed with the thing they have jn mind. They are Riving me honest service Other girls are looking round, and chattering, and v, hispcrinc to each other about w hat '"he said' and "-he - -id," and the ; dates they have srot. Everyone of th? earnest workers is slated for a mo-up mo-up as soon as the opportunity prc-sentc prc-sentc itself, and the rlackrs will be the ones I will dispense with if business busi-ness gets a bit bad. "A third point that I would implore) girls to consider is the necessity of accuracy, and of establishing a record' of reliability. I hae two stenograph-J era who In speed and industry are about equal, but I pay one tn dollars a week more than I do the other, because be-cause I ran dp'-nd upon her letters beins. absolutely correct. I don't have to read them. I can sign them with1 the- assurance that the-y are Just as ij dictated them. "The other girl's letters may, or may not be just right. I don't dare 1 risk sending thein without readlnc il.i m because sh- may have quoted a price wrong, or made some vital mis-take, mis-take, and It's worth ten dollars a, week in tlmo to me to have a secretary secre-tary .who is accurate-. That's why one j cirl sets a better salary than the I other. Another point that I would call the; 2irls attention to is the fact that the average business man Is an over- worked, over-strained man, whose ' nerve? are on edge, and th.'it any little j peculiarity of a secretary can irritate, him to madness. For Instance, I haci ijust potten rid of a really efficient' stenographer because of the time It j took for her to eet ready to take a,' dictation. When I summoned her she w,uld stop to get a glass of water, then she would sharpen her p.-ncil, then she would have to hunt up her note book, then she would fuss with her hair, audi her waist, and by the time she got I herself settled I was swearing mad, and In no condition to civc my mind, to the work in hand Of course II know a sane, sensible man should not I let such little personal peculiarities in ; his stenographer upset him, but It I I does, and so 1 can give no more- earn lest piece of advice to a girl than this to dress herself before she leaves home, and comb her hair nnd let i' ' I go at that until working hours are over So shall her employer arise and .call her blessed. "Still another point for girls to con sider is the desirability of cultivating j j la pleasant manner, and looking alhi land alert, and Interested This doesr mean glqlins:, or kidding, or making goo-goo eyes, or flirting. Far from it. i II means for a girl just to look like) lshe amiable, and good uatured, and; enjoys her work, and is glad she's gut , a job Nothing on earth is so distasteful to 13 man as to have a girl around him .who looks as if she regarded hersell jln the light of an earh Christian 1 martyr because she has to earn her own livinc, or who is lackadaisical and ; r.ninterested, whil" as for the one who1, is temperamenl.il f:nd v.h, weep --! good night' The blue envelope for haer every time j 'These are only a few tips on how jto succeed, but if you will follow them I von can't fail " |