Women@Work Network Meeting

Women@Work Network is hosting a networking meeting for returning professionals.

Earlier this year, Women@Work Network launched a networking meeting for returning professionals. Our definition of a returning professional is a woman who opted to leave the paid workforce for a period of time to raise a family, care for ill or aging relatives or pursue personal interests. At the meeting we will identify your particular interests and divide attendees into smaller discussion groups. Most likely there will be one group of women not quite ready to dive back into the work world (who keep thinking that “at some point” they want to get back to work, but have actually been saying that for months or even years). Another group will be less interested a full-fledged “career” but ready to look for for a full-time or part-time “minimum commitment”, low stress “job”. Still another group may be actively engaged in a job search and looking to return to the career they once left behind. Whatever your particular situation might be, this networking meeting will be an opportunity to share insights and ideas about the return to work process.

Registration Deadline:
July 9th, 10:00 a.m.

To participate contact Kim Britto at kbritto@womenatworknetwork.com

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These Times They Are a Changin’

Recently, as I sat in my Chicago apartment listening to my iPod, Bob Dylan’s famous verses prompted me to consider the changing times for women in business. I started to think of the significant advances that have been made over the past 20 years, resulting in the ever-increasing pool of talented female professionals. I believe these advances are due to in no small part to the increasing availability of resources for women in business, including the growing number of organizations dedicated to helping female professionals succeed.

One such organization, Chicago Financial Women (CFW), was established to support Midwest women in the fields of finance and financial services through professional development, education, and networking. Originally a chapter of the Financial Women’s Association headquartered in New York, Chicago Financial Women became an independent organization about three years ago. I sat down with Deborah Canale, the president of the organization, to discuss the activities of the group, as well as the current state of women in finance in Chicago.
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Peeking at Corporate Culture Through the Glassdoor

by Heather Cassell

What if you could provide your employer with a constructive review? How about knowing what your male co-workers are earning in the same position that you hold? What if you could tap into market trends in your career?

This important career information is available—if you are willing to take the time and energy to dig for it or pay your assistant to keep you abreast of industry vicissitudes. Or you can simply open Glassdoor.com, a new free consumer-based tool launched last month for executives and employees to post, review, rate, and monitor corporate culture, top company officials anonymously, and the golden egg—salaries—all sorted from industry to career field in a user-friendly format.
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Ask-A-Recruiter: Career Planning For The Content Employee

Contributed by Caroline Ceniza-Levine of SixFigureStart

I actually like my job but given the current market I want to stay marketable without interviewing for other jobs. What can I do?

Career planning is not the same as looking for another job. This is a common and serious mistake. Career planning includes maximizing your current job and setting the foundation to springboard into other opportunities both externally and internally. Even if you are completely satisfied with your job today, you need to develop and grow your skills, network, and personal foundation.
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Positive Politics for Powerful Female Leaders and Better Buyer Relationships

Positive Politics for Poweful Female Leaders – One Day ClinicFacilitated by Michelle Brailsford, Co-Founder of Jupiter Consulting Group, this one day seminar helps female leaders learn to be political whilst maintaining their integrity.

Catalyst, a leading business research organisation, found that 55% of women compared to 57% of men aspire to CEO-ship. Women have the drive and talent. They simply need to refocus their views on what it means to be politically savvy and to compete effectively in the business world.

To Register: email Michelle Brailsford: michelle@jupiterconsultinggroup.com

You will learn:

• how lack of political awareness can derail your career

• a model for diagnosing political style

• how to manage the four P’s: Power, Presence, Perceptions and Politics

• some key strategies for managing politically sensitive situations

For more information

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Are You Ready to OnRamp?

Contributed by Catherine Clifford of YourOnRamp.com

Are you a woman who took a career break and is now eager to find your next path? Are you looking for career inspiration and flexible work options? Is the thought of brushing up your résumé and going on an interview overwhelming? You may not want to return to your prior career, but do you know how to move from the playground into a new fulfilling career?

The journey does not need to be a struggle. It can be an exciting, rewarding experience, but you do need a plan.

10 Step Plan to OnRamp: Read more

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Women CEOs and the Husbands Who Work for Them

Last week’s New York Times article in a series on female entrepreneurs focused primarily on women running cottage craft businesses out of their homes (and overdid it, in this blogger’s opinion). In contrast, this week’s article on female entrepreneurs profiles women who are running large-scale successful companies, and employing their husbands too. The article by Geraldine Fabrikant, entitled “Would You Hire Your Husband?” profiled women like Laura Udall, former AT&T executive and currently CEO of Zuca Inc., a company that manufactures ergonomically correct luggage. She hired her husband to work as Vice President of design and manufacturing.

Carol Kotewicz-Dencker hired her future husband as a manager at her $7 million staffing services company based on Oakland, California. They married five years later, and today he is COO and she is CEO. The combination works because he focuses on growth and bugeting, and she focuses on sales and promotion. Ms. Kotewicz-Dencker credits her success with being an only child who was raised to believe there were no restrictions on what she could achieve based on her gender.
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Ms. Fix-it: Barbara Desoer

By: Pamela Weinsaft

Just as military promotions are offered as a reward for dangerous missions, the key to success in the corporate world may lie in the willingness to take on the challenge of turning around struggling companies or divisions of companies. When women succeed in meeting these challenges, they blaze a trail, advance to senior ranks, and may even shatter that fabled glass ceiling.

Barbara Desoer, bumped from her position of 47 on the Forbes 50 Most Powerful Women in Business in 2006 has been catapulted back into the spotlight this week with her promotion to the rank of President of the new Bank of America mortgage, home equity, and insurance services business. The Wall Street Journal reports that with the acquisition of Countrywide on July 1, 2008, Bank of America became the largest mortgage originator and servicer in the U.S. Ms. Desoer has been given the challenge of pulling Bank of America’s new problem child—Countrywide Mortgage—back into the family fold.
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Movers and Shakers: Maria McLaughlin, Marketing Director at Appro

By: Bailey McCann

Recently, Glass Hammer spoke with Maria McLaughlin, the Director of Marketing for Appro International, a technology firm in Milpitas, California. Appro specializes in high performance computing for the oil and gas and financial services industries; government labs, energy and defense departments; electronic design automation; digital content creation; education and manufacturing sectors.

According to the company website, Maria McLaughlin joined Appro in 2002 and has responsibility for all Appro’s marketing, which includes branding, market analysis, perception improvement, marketing communications, and demand creation. She is also responsible for coordinating the product-definition and Go-to-Market Plan activities across Appro. Prior to her role at Appro, Ms. McLaughlin worked at Hewlett-Packard and 3M Corporation.

Ms. McLaughlin is the only woman on the 8-member executive team. When she started at Appro, there was no marketing department, a deficiency that relegated the company to serving a niche market. But before she could help take the company’s message to a larger consumer base, she had to prove her own value, as well as the value of marketing, to the company. During our interview, she offered insights on how she successfully created a now-thriving department and overcame any negative preconceptions of a woman in technology marketing.

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Happy Independence Day

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The US members of The Glass Hammer team are enjoying our BBQ’s here on Independence Day and are observing the holiday.

Happy Friday to our readers in the UK and the rest of the world.

We do have exciting news to tell you about what we are up to here at The Glass Hammer. Later this month you will be able to join our community group online. Watch this space.

The Glass Hammer job section has some great jobs from the best employers in the business. Bookmark the url www.theglasshammer.com/jobs or access it from the home page via the Jobs tab.

Robin Barone is an occasional contributor and regular reader of The Glass Hammer and when she asked me to publish her invitation to go sailing this summer I hesitated. We always talk about networking and about being a community, so I decided to publish the invitation on her behalf. Incidentally, I met Robin while skiing in Whistler and when I told her about The Glass Hammer she instantly became a reader. Friends, clients, vendors and mentors can be found in such situations, living proof that The Glass Hammer facilitates a natural community and that we are all connected with common interests, work related and otherwise.

We also want to hear from you in the trenches as guest bloggers.

The trip- Sailing around Croatian Islands hosted by Robin Barone

For the week of August 31st our home will be the Oceanis 473, a 47 foot sailboat based out of Dubrovnik. Our sail boat is a part of a flotilla leaving Dubrovnik the week of August 31st. (Essentially our boat is a part of a group of boats with a leader!) I have hired a captain to taking care of the trip. Assistance is voluntary. We are able to board our new home by 6pm on Sunday. On Monday morning we awake for orientation, safety discussions, and then head out until Saturday evening. Our current itinerary includes visiting the island of Sipan, Mijiet, Korcula, and Kobas. Mornings are spent sailing. Afternoons are spent lounging and exploring. Evenings are for dining in the local tavernas and socializing with other flotilla members (optional).

The current shipmates are a group of fun loving, adventuresome women between the ages of 28 to 36 years. Coincidentally we are all avid travelers, skiers, and life lovers! Everyone is connected through me and their interest in this trip. It wasn’t intended to be all women but two of the men fell overboard when it was time to commit. As for myself – I am a Philadelphia turned NY’er, the ever doer, thinker, and creator. I currently work in real estate finance.

We are currently searching for 2 more shipmates to complement our group. There is a cost and I would be happy to talk directly with you about that. The four of us have booked tickets to arrive in Dubrovnik on August 29th.

If you are interested in joining please contact me at curlyrobin@yahoo.com and I can send you full details.

Disclaimer: this is an offer made by a reader of theglasshammer.com. The Glass Hammer does not endorse this trip and is not liable for it in any way. This is merely notification that it is taking place.

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