Navigating Your Career w/ Michele Equale 3/29

Happy Wednesday!

We hope you enjoyed the community service crafts last meeting. Our next meeting on Monday, March 29 at 7pm EST will be hosted by Michele Equale. She will present on "Navigating Your Career," covering how to plan, how to adjust plans, how to restart, and how to celebrate milestones.

Zoom Link: https://umass-amherst.zoom.us/j/91211235853
Meeting ID: 912 1123 5853

Reminders:

  • Marketing committee meets tomorrow at 6:30pm.

  • Peer Mentorship Art Night 3/31 at 7pm.

Sticker Fundraiser: Global Fund for Women

Purchase the Fundraiser Pack: Global Fund for Women Sticker on our Redbubble website to support our fundraising efforts toward the Global Fund for Women.
Apply for WiB E-Board!

The Isenberg Women in Business Executive Board applications for 2021-2022 are now open! The applications will close on Monday, April 5 at 11:59PM.

Who can apply: Committed members who are passionate about WiB, devoting their time to helping WiB grow, and contributing new and exciting ideas for the club in their desired role.

E-Board Application

Position Descriptions

Additional Opportunities


Holdette Virtual Event 3/25
"Building Relationships w/ Your Manager and Coworkers" is tomorrow at 8pm. RSVP here.

Apply to be a Chase Career Peer
The Chase Career Center is looking for 2021-2022 CCPs. Find the official posting in IsenbergWorks. Application deadline 3/28.

Financial Literacy Event w/ ADB
The Advancement of Diversity in Business (ADB) is hosting a webinar on 4/8 with LGA. Zoom details soon.

Net Impact Boston Lunch & Learn
On 3/30 from 12-1pm, Net Impact is hosting a virtual lunch and learn for International Women's Month. The topic is female founders in sustainability. More event info here.

2021 Collegiate Summer Venture Program
A 10-week online summer program that is designed to support and accelerate student entrepreneurs. More info here. Apply by 3/31 here.

Meeting Tomorrow: Community Service Project!

Good evening,

Our meeting tomorrow, March 22 at 7pm EST will be led by the WiB Community Service Committee and members will have the opportunity to complete 1 of 3 community service crafts in 3 separate breakout rooms:

  1. Homemade Dog Toys with Julia

    • Items needed: An old T-shirt and scissors

  2. Handmade Masks with Hannah

    • Items needed: An old T-shirt and scissors

  3. Handwritten Nursing Home Letters with Dasha

    • Items needed: A pen and piece of paper

Once in the meeting, members can choose which breakout room activity they are most interested in doing. In order to choose your breakout room, Zoom must be updated to the latest feature, so make sure you have the most updated version downloaded!

Instruction sheets and slides to follow will be provided in each breakout room.

We strongly encourage everyone to attend the beginning of the meeting as we will be announcing our next fundraiser and e-board applications for the 2021-2022 school year. We can also treat the breakout rooms as a social event for members to get to know one another if people do not have materials or would prefer not to participate.

We will provide the addresses for an animal shelter and a nursing home where these items can be sent. WiB is happy to reimburse anyone for materials or shipping costs! Please email Alyssa Biscotti at abiscotti@umass.edu or Tyler Spellman at tcspellman@umass.edu for reimbursement.

We are looking forward to giving back to the community despite these virtual times!

Zoom Link: https://umass-amherst.zoom.us/j/98852348537
Meeting ID: 988 5234 8537

Reminders:

  • Community Service committee hosts the meeting tomorrow at 7pm.

  • Marketing committee meets 3/25 at 6:30pm.

  • Peer Mentorship Art Night 3/31 at 7pm.

Merchandise Updates

If you ordered WiB merchandise, you will receive it sometime between March 20 - 23. Also, check out our Redbubble site for other merch and stay tuned for the Women's fundraiser sticker sale!

Additional Opportunities


Interview and Resume Tips w/ Epsilon
Former Epsilon interns are hosting an interview and resume workshop on 3/23 from 6-7pm. To RSVP for Zoom link, email cehurley@umass.edu or ekdougherty@umass.edu.

Net Impact Boston Lunch & Learn
On 3/30 from 12-1pm, Net Impact is hosting a virtual lunch and learn for International Women's Month. The topic is female founders in sustainability. More event info here.

Combating Bias in the Workplace

By: Annette Sebastian 

Everyone has biases that have formed from our upbringings and life experiences. We’ve also formed biases from information portrayed in the media. Oftentimes the biases we have are unconscious biases. These biases can be especially detrimental in the workplace when it hinders someone’s ability to contribute to their career. 

Getting rid of biases should be a top priority in a company’s goals because studies show that a diverse and inclusive team brings more success. This is because everyone can show up confidently at work and use their voice to state their perspectives. When you have a diverse team, you have multiple perspectives that represent numerous communities. By incorporating ideas that are beneficial to a multitude of communities, a company can create goods and services that reach out to a larger demographic. 

Here are a few things companies can do to make the workplace more diverse:

Expand your candidate pool.

Companies often hire through referrals, but people in your social network will most likely be very similar to you. In order to create a diverse team, it is possible to hire from different organizations such as the Society for Women Engineers (SWE) or Black Career Network. Numerous organizations like these exist which can make your application pool diverse. 

Create a rubric.

Instead of simply looking through applications, it is important to create a list of objective qualifications that you are looking for in a candidate. With a rubric, the application process can be less biased by holding the same standards for everyone. It is also important to create interview questions that test the skills and qualities you are looking for. These techniques help evaluate everyone based on the same criteria.

Gently interrupt.

Oftentimes, women and people of color find that they do not get credit for their ideas. This is because people tend to notice good ideas from people that you expect to have good ideas. It’s important to become aware of this bias and interrupt the conversation when you see it happening. You can politely ask the person who first stated the idea to further their thoughts and give the credit to them. Also, if you notice someone who is having trouble contributing their ideas, you can ask them to weigh in. 


Implement performance evaluation. Performance evaluations are beneficial because you can see an individual’s skills and development in work. But, women and people of color are often judged more and get comments on their personality. This should be avoided because evaluations are much more useful if they are based on concrete data. The evaluations can be critical details to the employees themselves if managers provide specific feedback on their performance. With the information, they can improve their performance and achieve their goals. 

There is obviously much more that a company can do to work on removing destructive biases and the above list are only a couple of options that a company can implement. 

Sources: 

https://hbr.org/podcast/2020/01/a-new-way-to-combat-bias-at-work

https://www.hrdconnect.com/2018/12/04/combatting-unconscious-bias-in-the-workplace/

https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/delivering-through-diversity#

https://www.benefitnews.com/news/how-to-fight-against-unconscious-biases-in-the-workplace




🌎 Community Service Project Next Meeting!

Hello everyone,

We want to thank Professor Jacques for being so honest while sharing her incredible journey last meeting. You can ask her more questions via her email.

Our next meeting on Monday, March 22 at 7pm EST will be led by the WiB Community Service Committee and members will have the opportunity to complete 1 of 3 community service crafts in 3 separate breakout rooms:

  1. A dog toy

    • Items needed: An old T-shirt

  2. A face mask

    • Items needed: An old T-shirt

  3. A handwritten letter to a nursing home member

    • Items needed: A pen and piece of paper

We will provide the addresses for an animal shelter and a nursing home where these items can be sent. WiB is happy to reimburse anyone for materials or shipping costs! Please email Alyssa Biscotti at abiscotti@umass.edu or Tyler Spellman at tcspellman@umass.edu for reimbursement.

We are looking forward to giving back to the community despite these virtual times!

Zoom Link: https://umass-amherst.zoom.us/j/98852348537
Meeting ID: 988 5234 8537

Reminders:

  • Community Service committee hosts the general body meeting on 3/22 at 7pm.

  • Marketing committee meets 3/25 at 6:30pm.

  • Peer Mentorship Art Night 3/31 at 7pm.

Self-Care Sunday DIY Face Mask Night!

Join us this Sunday, March 21 at 7pm to make DIY Face Masks with WiB! Please sign up here and start gathering ingredients. If you need reimbursement from WiB, send us an email.

Recipe 1:

  • 1 tsp. Turmeric

  • 1 tsp. Honey

  • 1 Tbsp. Yogurt

Recipe 2:

  • 1.5 - 2 Tbsp. Ground Oats

  • 1 tsp. Honey

  • 1.5 Tbsp. Warm Water (adjust to make a paste-like consistency)

Merchandise Updates

If you ordered WiB merchandise, you will receive it sometime between March 20 - 23. Also, check out our Redbubble site for other merch and stay tuned for the Women's fundraiser sticker sale!

Additional Opportunities


WiB Leadership Conference
UMass Lowell is hosting the first annual WiB Leadership Conference for all UMass WiB groups this Sunday, March 21 from 5-6pm EST. Registration and Zoom link here. Key speaker Noelle Lambert will share her incredible story of resilience and there will be a networking session. More info here.

How to Beat Burnout

By: Anna Martin

The middle of the semester is here and I’m sure we’re all feeling the pressure of our classes by now. With classes being mostly remote and not having as many breaks as we normally would, it’s very likely that you’re feeling burnt out. Burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress, (www.helpguide.org). Some symptoms are increased stress, over exhaustion, lack of energy and concentration, reduced performance, and can sometimes have headaches. Here are some ways to get you through burnout:

Take it One Day at a Time

If you’re like me, you like to plan your day ahead, which leads into the next day, which leads into the next week, and then the following next few weeks, which ends up leaving me stressed. If you have a lot on your plate, focus on your tasks one day at a time. If you have to, break it down task by task. This will be a lot easier on your mind and it will help you concentrate better. 

Prioritize

Prioritizing your work is the key to staying on track. If you like lists, make a list of all the things you have to do for that day and cross them off when you complete them. Finish the larger/more important assignments first so you don’t have to worry about them later. Then you can move onto smaller/less important assignments. 

Put Yourself First

Helping other people is great until it interferes with your goals and priorities. Remember to set boundaries for yourself. It’s okay to say “no” if someone asks you to do something for them, even if you normally oblige. Your needs are just as important as everyone else’s.

Take Breaks Every Now and Then

Allow yourself to take some breaks. After being in a few zoom meetings or studying for a few hours, your brain can get exhausted. Take a 10 minute break after every 30 minutes of studying, for example, or step back from technology for a little bit. You can also try meditating, going on a walk, or join a group fitness class through the Recreation Center.

This year has been a tough one for everyone, and if you’re struggling, it’s okay because you’re not alone. School can be stressful, but just remember that what you’re working towards will be all worth it in the end. There is always a positive to every negative. Just do whatever works best for you. YOU GOT THIS!!

Sources:
https://www.helpguide.org/articles/stress/burnout-prevention-and-recovery.htm#:~:text=Burnout%20is%20a%20state%20of,unable%20to%20meet%20constant%20demands.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ1pfaW4f6E&t=153s