Currently, I’m the only male working at Staffing Solutions Enterprises (SSE). Rumor has it, I'm the 4th or 5th ever in the company’s 45-year history. While performing my due diligence on the company I talked to several people who knew SSE well. Everyone spoke very highly of SSE, but they all had one concern for me – I’d be the only male in the company.
Now let me be clear – when I say they had “concern” the context was more of a, “hey this will be very different working with all women” vs “you might die.” My thought was, whatever - people are people. I’ve worked with pretty much every kind of human (as you probably have too) and I think we can probably all agree that being a good co-worker/teammate is not determined by sex, gender or race.
Throughout the interview process, I met and spoke with five different individuals at SSE and felt a very strong connection in being able to work with them. Obviously, they felt somewhat the same because I’m here writing this.
So, what’s it like working with all women in a woman-owned company? Well, since I just got done agreeing with you that being a good co-worker/teammate is not determined by sex, gender or race I won’t be able to answer that question. I can, however, speak to what it’s like to work at SSE.
Yes, it’s certainly been different for me. But different doesn’t always mean bad. It just means different. I’m thankful for being afforded this different experience. I’m thankful for being able to work with this group of kind, funny, passionate and badass women. I’m sure it’s been just as different for them having me around too.
But when it really comes down to it, I don’t think about being the only male here and I don’t think they do either. I believe we consume our thoughts and actions by developing and delivering the services our clients need to get the job done while building meaningful relationships internally and externally. And that, I would say, has been the most different aspect of working at SSE.
