Promoting their achievements and using assertive language will help women move up in the workplace.

By Allana Akhtar

Despite high-profile executives like Sheryl Sandberg and General Motors CEO Mary Barra provingwomen can lead just as well as men, many young women are still being overlooked in the workplace. According to a 2011 article in the Harvard Business Review, many women do not speak up or feel confident at work, leading them to be passed over for potential promotions and raises.

Kathryn Heath, one of the article’s authors and managing partner at the consulting firm Flynn Heath Holt Leadership, says this insecurity could stem from a lack of female colleagues or bosses.

“If you are the only woman in the room, it is hard to be confident,” she says.

Michele Gelfand, psychology professor at the University of Maryland​, suggests the discomfort women feel when ​negotiating for higher salaries and promotions in their careers occurs because they are trained to be nonconfrontational. It’s not enough for women to simply be good at their job, she says – standing up for themselves is also key to becoming the boss. ​

Here are eight pieces of career advice for young women who want to beat the boys and become the boss:​ ​

Promote yourself. Although self-promotion is a key step for women who want to get noticed in the workplace, many of them feel uncomfortable speaking out about their accomplishments. ​
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“[In]​ their early life, girls have been rewarded for following the rules and not speaking out,” says Jane Finette, founder and executive coach at The Coaching Fellowship, a coaching center for young women leaders. “It’s just not something girls have been trained to do.”

Working hard at your ​job isn’t enough to get noticed, ​says Peggy Klaus, author of “Brag!: The Art of Tooting Your Own Horn Without Blowing It.” Young women should take initiative and tell their colleagues and bosses about tasks they’re working on, upcoming projects, obstacles they have overcome and their overall value in the organization, she says.

​​”You really do need to let your boss, your boss’s boss [and] your colleagues know what it is that you are doing,” Klaus says.