The weekend before classes resumed from Spring Break, an opportunity of a lifetime came across my e-mail … literally. My sister, who is a senior consultant with Navigant Consulting, e-mailed me an invitation to accompany her and some of her fellow coworkers to the 23rd Annual Women's Leadership Conference in Tysons, Va. To be honest I love attending conferences, but on the other hand, I am very picky about the ones I do attend; thankfully however, my sister attached a link that provided more insight on this particular conference. After reviewing the list of speakers for the day, I immediately knew I had to attend and see what kind of advice and networking I could obtain.
The 23rd Annual Women's Leadership Conference, which was hosted by The Women's Center, is an annual conference where women leaders gather from all parts of the United States to share insight, advice, and motivation to women working in corporate companies. Of course, while the majority of women at this conference worked for Fortune 500 Companies, such as AOL, Cisco, and Cox Communications, college aged women also attended.
The conference's headline this year was "The Power To Transform"; the message that women can transform the world to be a better place and accomplish great tasks were just some of the messages the conference iterated to all that attended. Women speakers such as Tory Johnson, the founder and owner of Women For Hire, Dee Dee Myers, who served as press secretary during President Clinton's first term, and Children's Defense Fund founder Marian Wright Edelman were just three speakers at the conference.
Tory Johnson, who I was able to personally network with, had great ideas regarding job searching. She urged everyone not to become the overqualified candidate, but to become good job seekers. Tory stated that networking is the key to finding almost any job. Though networking is not a skill most people learn in school, it is imperative to learn how to network for your future. Don't be afraid to just ask someone if they know of any open positions or contact information - the truth is, Tory suggests, the person helping you will get a better reputation if they are able to recommend a great candidate, and you, the job seeker, might be able to obtain a great job. It's a 2-way street that not many people realize. Secondly, Tory states that you must go out of your comfort area to network with anyone and everyone. Do not just rely on friends and family, but strike up conversation with your professors, coworkers, and classmates. You might be surprised to find out that your classmate's friend works for that Fortune 500 Company you want to get a job with - anything is possible.
Dee Dee Myers was another favorite speaker at the conference. Myers suggested that women are great because we ask the opposite kinds of questions from men, and it's often these questions that find the solution to the problem. Moreover, she commented on her life as the youngest press secretary in history for President Clinton. With her funny anecdotes, she said that having a positive appearance and constantly being prepared day-to-day helped her with the job. She also noted that women's appearances are just something that one needs to get over - looking back on a particular day when she had a TV appearance, her friends noted that they were not paying attention to her speech because they were so focused on why her hair looked bad. Thus, Myers said, "A bad hair day becomes a virtual mute button for women in public life." Finally, Myers urged all women to stand up for their accomplishments, or ideas.
After attending this conference, I highly recommend others attend next year. If you would like more information, please go to The Women's Center. Hope to see some Notre Dame ladies next year!
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