VOLUME XII

$4.95 / womenforhire.com FALL 2008

Meet

ELENA
GEORGE
Stylist to the Stars,
on the Business of Beauty

11
Make it Happen:

Women Explain
How to Negotiate
Advancement at Work
Whoa! Sarah Palin’s sizzling hot
on our Be Gusty blog
See what women like you are saying

Work at Home Resources

Revealed
(legitimate ones, of course!)
Accent on
people.

At General Dynamics C4 Systems we place the accent on people. We realize

that only through our people can we raise the bar for systems integration and
implementation, and provide our customers with winning solutions – core to edge.

Openings we are accenting right now for experienced professionals include:

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These and other positions that accent your skill set and experience can be
viewed at www.gdc4s.com/careers.

© 2008 General Dynamics. All rights reserved.

General Dynamics is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. We welcome and encourage diversity in our workforce.
All applicants must be U.S. Citizens and currently hold or be capable of obtaining a DoD Security Clearance.
Corner Cubicle
I’m I can be without my lip gloss, credit cards and
cell phone but I feel completely lost without
addicted my little rechargeable thumb board—and
constant access to my email.
to my How did it come to this, my need to be in
blackberry constant communication with every single
person in my life? No clue, but it can’t be good.
After all, it’s not as though I’m a doctor or
someone who must always be on call. I don’t
receive urgent inquires and many of the emails
I get are not that important. Still, that ratio-
nale means nothing to my habit.
My husband Peter and our children aren’t
pleased: they used to joke about being BB
orphans, but they stopped kidding so long ago
that I can’t even remember.
Peter puts up with me when I ignore him
while he’s driving. Sometimes—make that very
often—he’ll begin a conversation with himself,
providing the questions and answers as if he
and I were talking.
That usually gets me to put the thing back in
my purse. For a few minutes. But then I see
that little red light flashing.
My 11 year-olds Emma and Jake stop talking to
me when they catch my eyes moving toward
the device. When I see other people checking
their email in a restaurant, I think it’s rude—
then I do the same thing.
I read about totally preventable accidents—
people tripping on the sidewalk—because
they’re texting instead of paying attention
to where they’re walking. University of Utah
researchers found what, in the quaint old days,
used to be considered common sense: writing
and reading text messages while driving a car
increases the likelihood of an accident. Their
study found that texting behind the wheel is
50% more dangerous than talking on a cell
phone while driving. In another study, 9 out
of 10 Americans think road texting should be
Speaking of enjoying the present and living in
Soon after the 2007 publication of From the Heart: Seven Rules to Live By, my friend Robin Roberts
was diagnosed with breast cancer. Hoping to help others deal with the disease, the Good Morning
America co-anchor has added a new rule that highlights the importance of early detection. It’s
included in the paperback version, now re-named From the Heart: Seven Eight Rules to Live By (Hyperion,
$14.95). In this new chapter, “Make Your Mess Your Message,” Roberts recounts the story of her
diagnosis and how what began with a breast self-exam quickly became surgery followed by
aggressive chemotherapy.
2 womenforhire.com
outlawed. I agree…I think.
Maybe I have a problem with being in the
now—being present in the present—since I
suppose that checking e-mail can be viewed as
an escape.
The only time I am completely focused is
when another red light is on—the one on the
camera at ABC’s Good Morning America when
I’m doing my workplace segments there. Live
television has a way of forcing you to focus
on only one thing. I do it well when I’m there,
but I can’t seem to recreate that experience
outside of Times Square.
Recently while I was interviewing someone
(totally unrelated to GMA!) I caught myself
thinking about my “to-do” list, instead of
engaging solely in the conversation. I was so
anxious for the interview to just end.
Here in New York City, one of the most
vibrant and exciting places on earth, I find that Work together.
the flashing red light on my BB usually draws
my attention while I’m riding in a cab—not the
sights and sounds of the Big Apple. Be bold together.
What to do? Here’s what: I’m going to give
a shot at living in the present, and not worry
about who or what is waiting in that little
Share success
gizmo in my purse.
I’m going to stop looking at that little red light,
together.
to stay focused, to listen to Peter and the kids
and look at all that life outside my yellow cab
from now on. Instead of that race to be in
the know, my journey will aim toward being in
the now.
I will make a conscious effort to savor every
moment. I cannot wait to begin—after I just
check my e-mail.
At T-Mobile, we help customers connect with the people who matter most in their busy lives. That takes new ways
of thinking and an appetite for challenge every day. We share a passion for service and the energy that comes
Tory Johnson
CEO, Women For Hire
from being a part of an exciting industry. If you have outstanding people skills and are excited by the world of
wireless, you'll make a great fit. Team players who embrace adventure and responsibility enjoy great careers, the
chance to build new skills and the spotlight that comes with success. We deliver great benefits, too. Don't miss
this opportunity to have your work count for something important. Together, we can do great things. EOE
the now…
www.tmobile.jobs
Table of
BECOME A STATE FARM AGENT.

As a successful State Farm agent,

Contents you’ll be your own boss —

running your own insurance

IN EVERY ISSUE and financial services business,

winning the trust of your

2 Corner Cubicle
6 Inside Women For Hire customers, and making a name
12 Tidbits & Tactics
for yourself within the community.
20 Political Power Girls of 2008
23 Working from Home is a Sign of the Times You’ll have the backing of a

Fortune 500 company. And it

®

COVER STORY
could be the most rewarding
27 Meet the Savvy Stylist to the Stars: thing you’ve ever done.
Elena George knows how to shine!

Visit sfyourstyle.com or contact an

NEGOTIATE TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Agency Recruiter at 1-866-405-9813.
31 Meet 11 Women who are Driving Change
in the Workplace
33 Pamela Nicholson, Enterprise Rent-A-Car
34 Randi Menkin, UPS & Kelly Noland, Ernst & Young
37 Elissa Ellis-Sangster, Forte Foundation &
Manisha Mande, Xerox
39 Julie Gilbert & Wendy Mormile, Best Buy
41 Betty Thompson, Booz Allen Hamilton &
Candy Duncan, KPMG

{
44 Nell Merlino, Count Me In & Jen Kim Field,
VolunteerMatch Solutions A big dose of humor is just what workplaces crave. Door tags, folders &

GROW. LEAD.
46 Courageous Negotiation notepads become welcome supplies that add a spark to mundane tasks.
48 Spotlight on Success Nobody does it better than Knock Knock. Visit knockknock.biz.

Cover Girl:
SUCCEED.
Elena George
Elena George is usually behind the cameras helping to
make the world’s most successful women look even more
gorgeous. This time the tables are turned and the spot-
light is on her. George lets us in on the business behind
beauty.
TM

Allyson Lubow photographed George in September in New York as she applied gloss from An Equal Opportunity Employer
her patented product, Go Light On My Lips.
womenforhire.com 5
 inside Women For Hire

fall 2008
Career Expos
Need a fresh start? Want to see what’s
out there? Think you’d be better at some-
"RING)T
7HEREVERYOUVEBEENWHATEVERYOUREXPERIENCES6ERIZONWANTSYOUTOPUTITTOWORK!FTERALL
thing else? We invite you to attend our ITSTHEDIVERSETALENTSEXPERIENCESBACKGROUNDSANDVIEWPOINTSOFEACHOFOUREMPLOYEESTHAT
career expos this fall. You’ll be sure to find HELPSUSSUCCESSFULLYCONNECTWITHOURCUSTOMERS4HEPOPULATIONISCHANGINGANDALONGWITHIT
companies that interest you, recruiters SOISTHEMARKETPLACE3OBRINGITINBRINGITONˆANDBRINGYOURDIVERSITYTOWORK"ECAUSEITS
who will engage you and other smart and
savvy women just like you. Be prepared to YOURSMARTERBOLDERFASTERIDEASTHATWILLMOVEOURINNOVATIONSFORWARDATLIGHTSPEED
leave our expos with a whole new outlook
on your career. Don’t pass up the "RINGITHEREWWWVERIZONCOMPRINT
opportunity to explore a New You.

Fall Dates:

Boston: Sept. 23

Job Board Philadelphia: Sept. 25

Washington, DC: Oct. 2
Chicago: Oct. 7
Atlanta: Oct. 14
Live too far from the 10 cities where we Dallas: Oct. 16
hold our career expos? Not to worry! Minneapolis: Oct. 21
Visit womenforhire.com today and search Tampa: Oct. 29
for great jobs nationally through Women New York: Nov. 11
For Hire’s Job Board. It’s simple: create a Los Angeles: Nov. 20
free account, post your resume and begin

Morning
your search.
Early
Seminars
Sign up for our early morning seminars,
hosted by Women For Hire founder Tory
Johnson, before all of our expos. Johnson’s
inspirational advice, heard by millions of
women on ABC’s Good Morning America,
will pump you up for your day with
Women For Hire—and the new career
that awaits you. Meet and network with
other career-minded women and get great
tips from Johnson. Register today at
womenforhire.com.
4NBSUFS
#PMEFS
'BTUFS
XXXWFSJ[PODPNQSJOU


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6 womenforhire.com womenforhire.com 7
 REAL inside Women For Hire

JOBS Real Green.

Women For Hire
Work from Home Webinar
This summer, we received an overwhelming response to our
Work from Home Webinar. So we created an archive on our website
for everyone who didn’t get a chance to view it the first time around.
If you want to make a reasonable living working from home or supple-
ment your income and learn what the options are, then this is for
you. Visit our work from home section at womenforhire.com and
register today.

Career Experts
Connection
We recently expanded our
Speakers Connection to include career
experts on every topic imaginable. The next time your
company or organization needs to book a speaker,
check us out! Topics include self motivation, career
advancement, health and wellness and finance. Need
a life coach, career coach, or resume writer? It’s all here.
Look through our Career Experts directory today at
womenforhire.com.

Stay Inspired
Listen to Tory Johnson on her new inspirational audio
CD for a good dose of Sound Advice. Not only will you
learn the highs and lows of her career, you’ll also get
plenty of tips and tactics for advancing yours and maybe
have a few laughs, too. Visit womenforhire.com to order
your copy.

Make a career
out of making a difference.
Be a part of a Fortune 200 Company that’s Join the many women at Waste Management
fueling innovative change in our communities. who are helping our company achieve a greener
From creating renewable energy from waste, to future – today. It’s a smart, savvy career move
protecting wildlife, there’s so much more to that’ll make a real difference in your life and to Let’s Stay Connected
Waste Management than picking up the garbage. our environment. www.wmcareers.com.
From everyday collection to environmental protection, Think Green. Think Waste Management. Find out more at thinkgreen.com
® Join Women For Hire groups on LinkedIn, Facebook, and our own Women
For Hire Career Network. Let us know what you’re up to and we’ll get back to you!
8 womenforhire.com womenforhire.com 9
 C A R E E R S AT T H E I R S

Work-life balance. Amazing career choices.

Regina came to the right place.
sophisticated Regina strives to balance work and her personal life. She also knows that there are two kinds of success —

professional and personal. At the IRS, she’s finally found an employer that agrees.

A career at the IRS is about more than just numbers. Here, we’re committed

original to giving our professionals the benefits and skills they need to excel —

at work and at home. We figure that an important job should have

important benefits. That’s why we offer great insurance, continuous

elegant training, a diverse team of colleagues, and job security. We also look

for professionals with different backgrounds to fill positions like these:

Revenue Agents work on-site with taxpayers, large corporations,

stylish small businesses, government entities, certified public accountants,

and attorneys to conduct tax examinations.

Revenue Officers are involved in cases requiring tax research,

classic interviews and investigations, analysis of financial statements, and

other important responsibilities.

Criminal Investigation Special Agents protect the

integrity of America’s tax system by following the movement

of money to determine and provide proof of criminal activity.

Be more than just a number at work. Learn more about

an employer that cares about its people at

www.jobs.irs.gov/print.

Forward resume to: Talbots, Attn: Human Resources, Job Code: WFH,
One Talbots Drive, Hingham, MA 02043. Fax: 781-741-4696.
E-mail: resumes@talbots.com

www.talbots.com

U.S. Citizenship Required | An Equal Opportunity Employer. www.jobs.irs.gov/print

Equal Opportunity Employer
Tidbits & Tactics

Five Questions for the Classy

Carlson Chief
Marilyn Carlson Nelson,
69, is chairman and
CEO of Carlson, one
of the country’s largest
privately-held com-
panies and the parent
company of Radis-
son, Regent, Country
Inns & Suites, Carlson
Wagonlit Travel and
T.G.I. Friday’s. Carlson
employs nearly 200,000
people in more than
150 countries.
We need to do a better job of letting women who
are on the fast track stop-out when they have kids.
What happens now is the majority do not go back
into the corporation that they left, so that they are
really off the track and they lose their momentum
and start over in another place. One of my pas-
sions is to talk to corporate leaders about projects
that keep people–a man or a woman, whether it
relates to aging parents or children–connected.
When that day comes, we’ll accelerate the rate
of women who go on to become CEOs. It would
keep them on a track.
Do women need to be less feminine to get ahead?

In How We Lead Mat- Women need to be authentic. There are women

ters: Reflections on a Life who are typically more feminine. I probably fall in Bring your skills, talents and energy together
of Leadership (McGraw that category, but I don’t think that’s more or less for a career opportunity at Best Buy ™

Hill, $19.95) this mother, grandmother, wife and
social activist shares personal stories that show
another side to someone who routinely makes
Forbes “100 Most Powerful Women” list.
successful than a single, very ambitious woman
who has a much more direct and linear style that
would probably be characterized as a male style. I
actually believe that men and women need to use
Be a part of the unique team that has made Best Buy
the #1 retailer of consumer electronics. Choose from
an exciting list of careers like Customer Experience
Manager, Geek Squad Agent and General Manager.
®

Women For Hire asked her five questions.
Did the recent corporate scandals lead to the title of
your book?
Yes. They had a profound impact on me because I
was so concerned about how they were going to
impact our country’s positioning in the world. We
were focused so much on results that how we got
results didn’t seem to matter anymore. Why isn’t
stewardship a responsibility of every CEO?
Most corporations are run by men. If you could give
them advice, what would it be?
Share a bit of vulnerability. Allow people who fol-
low you to see you as a whole person. That will
strengthen your leadership. If you let it be known
that you care, and help men and women who are
going through the same challenges, you’ll be a fuller
role model.
Will the number of men and women running major
corporations be equal someday?
12 womenforhire.com
both their right and left brains more than they do.
We offer competitive pay, employee discounts,
What should women take away from your book? a wide range of benefits and excellent career
opportunities that will help you lead a balanced
So often, women in particular ask, “What are you professional and personal life.
doing for yourself?” I think magazines actually fuel
that: do something for yourself. In my case, I really
feel that if I’m not doing it because I want to for
myself, then I shouldn’t be doing it. If I don’t like my
choices, then I should change them. Raising my kids
was for me. I wanted to have a family. There were
sacrifices along the way. I wanted to be CEO and
I wanted face time with people all over the world,
so I was on airplanes a lot. I liked my choices and I
took accountability and responsibility for them.
I think it made me a lot happier rather than saying
“Who’s thinking about me?” It doesn’t mean I
didn’t get crabby once in awhile or that I didn’t get
to do something that I had hoped to do. I remind
myself that I didn’t just want to be CEO, I really
wanted to do it. I think that is so important. Ana- Visit Careers.BestBuy.com today
lyze the job you’re aspiring to. What does it really to apply online for a career with us.
entail? How many hours do you have to put in to
be successful? What kind of travel does it involve?
If you love what you do, you don’t work.”
womenforhire.com 31513 © 2007 13
Best Buy
 Tidbits & Tactics
{ Best Blurbs from New Books: To save you time, we tracked down the authors
of several new books to get their top tips for thriving at work.
Take Time To TASK
Many people find it challenging to avoid
distraction, stay focused and use their time and
energy to maximum benefit, says Karen Leland,
co-author of Time Management In An Instant: 60
Ways to Make the Most of Your Day.
Leland notes that a recent report from the
University of London found that when workers
constantly juggle e-mails, phone calls and text
messages, their IQs fall ten points. Another study
found that when people switch back and forth
between tasks, efficiency and accuracy take a
dive, as much as 50%.
Leland’s three tips for staying focused in these
rush-rush times:
1) Turn off technology. The ding of an e-mail
coming in or the buzz of the Blackberry may
seem harmless but they can tempt you to stray
from the job at hand.
2) Create designated task times. By setting
aside a selected time period to do all your
phone calls, e-mails or errands at once, you can
reduce the amount of time you spend going
back and forth between all of them.
3) Plan some open space. Instead of booking
every minute of every workday, leave some
open time to catch up on anything new that
comes in, or process old items that have been
hanging around.
14
}
Overcome Career FEAR
“In my 15-plus years as a career counselor, I’ve
seen first-hand that fear is by far the biggest
roadblock to progress and success. There’s a
bit of a career coward in all of us,” says Katy
Piotrowski, author of The Career Coward’s Guide
to Job Searching: Sensible Strategies for Overcoming
Job Fears.
Her top job-hunting tip:
Work It OUT
As a woman, you’re a compassionate commu-
When you write a book called Work’s a Bitch and
nicator. You understand other people’s needs
Then You Make it Work: 6 Steps to Go From Pissed
and priorities, and can effectively respond to
Off to Powerful, someone is bound to ask about the
them through your words and actions. Capitalize
provocative title.
on this important quality by creating letters of
introduction that articulate your interest in po-
Author Andrea Kay, a veteran Cincinnati career
tential employers (even if no job is advertised!),
coach, was happy to oblige when we put that ques-
as well as what you have to offer to support
tion to her.
their goals.
“I got ticked off hearing from so many workers
who wrote me to say: ‘Why bother? You can’t
have a decent career anymore.’ Just listen to the
nearly 85% of workers talk about their soul-sucking
careers and jobs—how they work their butts off
for companies who ask them to do more with
less, receive less in return and how they get no
respect. So I give workers a chance to bitch and
moan about how helpless they feel at work. Then,
despite what’s wrong and broken in the workplace
and things they don’t control, I help them put hope
back into their lives and prosper with six steps they
do control.”
If she had to pick just one of her steps, which
would it be?
“Step 1: Take Your Pick: Disillusionment or Naked
Truth. If you want to stop being pissed off, you have
to first look at the way things are, or as I call it, The
Naked Truth. This step won’t keep you from ever
being angry or suffering, but it will help you change
your anger into something more productive—to
get what you want and motivate you to do some-
thing different than you are doing now—which is
probably only bitching.”
womenforhire.com womenforhire.com 15
Tidbits & Tactics

I believe in two-
way communication.
Do You Have THE KNACK? And so does my
In their new book, THE KNACK: How Street-Smart Entrepreneurs Learn to Handle Whatever Comes
Up, authors Norm Brodsky and Bo Burlingham say that entrepreneurs should avoid socializing with
$9.5 billion company.
employees outside the office.
I heard Enterprise was different, but until I
Seemed a bit cold to us, but Brodsky says it’s the right move. started working here I didn’t appreciate how
much. The first thing I noticed is that people
“To be a good boss, you need to maintain a certain distance from your employees,” says Brodsky.
“As the boss, you always have to be thinking about what’s best for the business as a whole, and you count. Whether it’s a long-time customer or
can’t let emotional attachments interfere with your decisions. Not that you shouldn’t care deeply an employee who’s just starting out, every
about your employees and their families, but it’s a mistake to develop personal relationships with opinion matters.
them outside the business. Employees should not be your social friends, and your social friends
should not be your employees. Yes, you should treat your employees with respect. You can laugh
with them, cry with them, be happy and sad with them, but neither you nor they should ever forget Take our signature “pick you up” service.
that it’s a business relationship.” This was started by a manager who simply
listened to customers who needed a ride. Not
everyone was convinced it was a good idea,
but he was empowered to run with it - and it
ultimately developed into a trademark of our
superior customer service.
Difficult
How To Deal:

807630.01/08
Workplace Dialogue So, you see, that typical, impersonal,
corporate bureaucracy you’d expect

©2008 Enterprise Rent-A-Car Company.

Avoiding difficult conversations is an all-too-common work-
place experience. But retreating into silence or resorting to from such a successful industry-leading
spin won’t get you good results. In Authentic Conversations: company just doesn’t exist here. So if I have
Moving from Manipulation to Truth and Commitment, co-author
Maren Showkeir identifies on-the-job conversations that every- a good idea, no matter what my job title, I
one dreads. Showkeir’s top three and how to address them: know it will be heard and my career will be
rewarded accordingly.
Dealing with a difficult relationship: People often choose to
work in a haze of anger or silent resentment rather than
confront the issue. It’s easy to point a finger of blame, but it
won’t get you unstuck. Start a new conversation by owning
your own contribution to the rough relationship. Raise difficul- What company will I start my
ties directly and neutrally, solicit feedback and find different management career with?
choices to move the relationship in a new direction.

Delivering difficult news: Nobody enjoys dispensing distress- We are an equal opportunity employer. M/F/D/V. I believe this one.
ing information. The impulse may be to deny, downplay or
sugarcoat bad news to avoid dealing with another’s emotional
reactions. Resist the temptation. People are in charge of their
own feelings. Be direct and own up to your part in creating the
circumstances. Allow people to voice their concerns and ac-
knowledge the choices everyone has about resolving problems.

Facing a difficult future: In tough economic times, disappoint-

ment and fear can drive your behavior. Playing the victim or
colluding with other workplace cynics is not an inevitable Serve the Customer • Be Honest • Have Fun • Be a Good Neighbor • Open Doors • Always Listen • Reward Hard Work • Own Our Brand
response—it is a choice you make. Get clear on where you
If you have experience in sales or customer service and a bachelor’s degree, please apply online @ erac.com/womenforhire.
stand and advertise it. Explain the choice you made and invite
To contact a local recruiter, please call toll-free (888) 999-ERAC.
others to make the same choice.
16 womenforhire.com
 WORK
Ride Out RECESSION
AND
In Bulletproof Your Job: 4 Simple Strategies to Ride Out the Rough Times and
Come Out on Top at Work, author Stephen Viscusi lays out his four-step
method for avoiding the dreaded pink slip. FAMILY
It boils down to his four imperative rules: Be visible. Be Easy. Be Useful. Be
Ready.

We asked him what single bit of advice he would give someone in the
workplace whose job is on the line.

ENJOY
“Take less money,” he says. “Consider changing your wage if it is about
money because it will take a long time for you to find a new job today.”

THEM
Offering to work for less is a tact that employees don’t often consider,
Viscusi says, but it has its plusses. “You can always look for a job while
you’re getting paid less—and it’s always easier to look for a job while you
still have one.”

BOTH
Workplace Whine:
Put A Cork In It
The economy is sluggish at best, layoffs are everywhere and just when
you think that a nice ride in your car might relax you, gas costs $4 a
gallon. No wonder your mood is none too bright and when you come
to work each day, well, you complain.

Jon Gordon, author of The No Complaining Rule: Positive Ways to Deal with
Negativity at Work, says that complaining is contagious, spreads negativity
and has no place at work.

© 2008 New York Life Insurance Company, 51 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10010
“My goal is not to eliminate all complaining; just mindless, chronic com-
plaining,” Gordon says. “The bigger goal is to turn justified complaints into
positive solutions. After all, every complaint represents an opportunity to
turn something negative into a positive.”

Gordon’s tips for doing that:

When you realize you are complaining, simply add the word “but” and Being a New York Life agent is more than selling life insurance. It’s about
then add a positive thought. Example. “I hate driving to work for
an hour but I’m thankful I can drive and that making a real difference in people’s lives. That’s because you’re helping loved
I have a job.” ones protect each other, and families provide for future generations. Working
Focus on “get to” instead of “have to.” Instead for a Fortune 100 industry leader certainly has its benefits, but the greatest
of griping that you have to work, think about how you get to work while rewards are the ones you can’t measure in paychecks.
others are unemployed. Focus on feeling blessed instead
of stressed.
NEW YORK LIFE. THE COMPANY YOU KEEP.®
Turn mindless complaining into justified complaining. With mindless
complaining you are mindlessly focusing on problems. With justified For more information about a career as a New York Life agent,
complaining you identify a problem and the complaint moves you please call 800-497-0849 or visit www.nylcareersforwomen.com
toward a solution.
EOE M/F/D/V

18 womenforhire.com
Political Power girls of 2008
the Equal Pay Act, to fight job discrimination, to improve child-care
SHARE KNOWLEDGE.
Women For Hire talks to
Michelle Obama
options and family medical leave and to give women equal footing in the
workplace. EMBRACE DIVERSITY.
Q: What words describe you best, and why?

A: Working mother, supportive wife and a good friend. Our girls are our
first priority, so it is important to me to focus on them before anything
else. My husband has embarked upon a tremendous campaign, and every
day, I want to support him. My friends have become an incredible sup-
port network for me when Barack is away, and I value our relationships
very much.
The Home Depot is more than an equal
*Despite our repeated requests, Cindy McCain’s communications office
declined to participate. opportunity employer. We constantly look

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• to our associates for great ideas, and we

Sizzlin’ Sarah!
recognize that many minds are better than
one. That’s why diversity, teamwork and
Just a few days before this issue
Q: As the mother of two daughters, what would be your greatest hope went to press, Arizona Sen. John innovation continue to help The Home
for the workplace culture that they’ll inherit? McCain stunned the nation by pick- Depot grow as an industry leader.
ing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his
A: My father, a blue-collar city worker, supported our whole fam- GOP running mate.
ily while my mother stayed home. Today, living with one income just
doesn’t cut it. Both parents have to work. It is important that my girls Agree with her politics or not,
can let their passions play out. I want them to dream big and be able to women are fascinated by this former POSITIONS:
reach those dreams. They must also have ways to provide for their fami- small town mayor who gives new
lies, earn adequate salaries and benefit from equal pay for equal work. meaning to “bringing home the Full & Part-time Sales Associates,
bacon.” Palin, a hunter, can field- Cashiers, Specialty Sales, Store
Q: Thinking back on your own career, what was your single biggest dress a moose!
struggle as you juggled family and work and how did you deal with it? Management Opportunitites and More.
Our blog has been inundated with reaction to Palin’s nomination, her
A: A defining moment for me was when I was interviewing for a posi- personal life and what it means for women.
tion at the University of Chicago Hospitals. I thought about what flex-
ibility I would need in caring for Malia and Sasha, who was just a few Here’s a sampling:
BENEFITS:
months old at that time. I decided to walk into that interview with my „ Full and Part-time Benets
“Women should not be dumb enough to vote for a woman just because
baby and lay out the flexibility I would need. They agreed and gave me
she’s a woman. I’m voting for Sarah because she’s qualified.”
the job. I was lucky. But I know that many working women don’t have „ Tuition Reimbursement (full-time)
the luxury, as I do, of a grandparent available to help or a flexible job.
“It is amazing that many women are tearing Sarah Palin down because „ 401(k)
her daughter got pregnant. This blog looks like a bad Lifetime movie
Q: What do you think is the biggest challenge facing working women in
with everyone tearing each other apart.” „ Bonus Opportunities
this country and how, as First Lady, would you work to remedy it?
“Sarah Palin is to women what Clarence Thomas is to African „ A Career with Growth Opportunity
A: I have been holding roundtable discussions with military spouses. Americans.”
It’s been an honor to hear the challenges they face as they work to main-
tain their family life when their spouse is serving in the military. These “We should be more alarmed at her lack of understanding of foreign
spouses are dealing with constant relocations, which make it hard for policy than her baby with Down syndrome, or whether or not she can
them to find and maintain jobs, homes and mortgages and educational skin a deer. Perhaps she was too busy raising five children and hunting
opportunities. I hope to continue these important conversations and bring for dinner to really bone up on the subject.”
these amazing spouses’ stories back to Barack, so we can do more as a
nation to support these heroic families. “You can never trust a woman who insists that contraceptives are
not good.”
Q: With the exception of a few professions, women’s earnings aren’t on
par with men in this country.Your reaction? “As a mother I have a difficult time understanding how you can be VP, Apply online today.
careers.homedepot.com
which will be extremely demanding, and be an involved mother of five,
A: Despite decades of progress, a woman still makes only 77 cents for including an infant with special needs. It seems to be all about her, and
every dollar a man makes. A recent study estimates it will take another not what is best for her family.”
47 years for women to close the wage gap with men at Fortune 500
corporate offices. Our government needs to take steps to better enforce Weigh in with your thoughts at womenforhire.com. The Home Depot is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Bilingual candidates are encouraged to apply.
womenforhire.com Available positions may vary by location.
womenforhire.com
20 21
Different is Working From Home is a
powerful.
by Tory Johnson
At AT&T we understand that our success
rests on our ability to leverage the
many facets of diversity—
in our workplace, the marketplace
and our communities.
If you’re ready to experience the When Nydia Contreras quit her job because of
an illness, she thought she had kissed her career
power of DIFFERENT,
goodbye.
“Nowadays employers want someone who is
going to be with them for 10-plus years,” says
we invite you to visit us online at Contreras, 57. “I thought I would never find
another job.”
www.att.jobs. But after hearing me talk last fall about legitimate
work from home opportunities on ABC’s Good
Morning America, Contreras was intrigued by
Alpine Access, a virtual call service center that
was looking for representatives.
“I knew that was something that I would like to
do and that I had the knowledge and skills to
excel,” she says. “I applied, had my voice audition
and interview and was hired after several weeks.
It made me feel that no matter how old you are
there are companies that will hire you.”
Contreras now makes $10 an hour—working
online for a large financial services company
between 30 and 38 hours a week. Her son
followed suit—and now also works from their
home in Kingsville, Texas while he attends
college.
Until two years ago, I had never given much
thought to the thousands of people, like Con-
treras and her son, who work from their home
every day.
But I began to learn about this rapidly growing
Diversity is the AT&T way of standing apart.Equal Opportunity Employer. army when, in conjunction with my workplace
© 2008 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved.
Sign of the Times
segments on GMA, anchor Diane Sawyer issued
a friendly challenge: Find ways for our viewers to
make money from home.
I had always viewed work-from-home pitches
skeptically: scams by hucksters claiming that just
a few hours a day stuffing envelopes could be
your ticket to fortune.
Many such scams do exist—buyers beware! I
began to discover plenty of legitimate oppor-
tunities offered by reputable firms, aimed at
people who for one reason or another don’t
want to toil in a traditional workplace.
Those heeding the call include not only full-
timers who want to leave the office behind, but
also those looking for supplemental income,
from stay-at-home moms who find themselves
stretched for monthly groceries to would-be
retirees who know their nest eggs just aren’t
going to cut it.
When Denise Negron of Kennesaw, Ga., saw
her real estate career taking a nosedive due
to the mortgage crisis, she contacted Arise,
another virtual customer service provider, and
became one of their certified professionals. She
now earns about $15 an hour, working a 40-
hour week from home answering customer calls
for a large pharmacy chain.
With three kids aged 17, 11 and 3 Negron says
she didn’t want to be the kind of working mom
who “kissed them in the morning and said, ‘Have
a nice day’ then saw them for an hour each
night. I wanted to be there for them.”
Her new gig is working out fine, she says, but
working alone at home “takes some getting
used to: you just can’t swivel around in your seat
to talk to a colleague. But for me it’s a plus: no
more gas costs, I don’t have to buy lunch and I
don’t have to buy business attire. “
Erin Bocherer became increasingly stressed
from juggling a part-time PR job with a long
commute, three kids under the age of six and a
husband who travels two to three times a week.
She considered working at a local coffee shop in
Atlanta so she could be near her kids when they
Want to be a va?
Thousands of women dream of performing administrative support to businesses from home.
The biggest obstacle to fulfilling that goal: securing clients. The International Virtual Assistants
Association offers a range of tactics to overcome that challenge. Visit IVAA.org for extensive
ideas and resources to build a successful virtual assistant business.
womenforhire.com
were in school, but it didn’t pay enough, so she
began researching online job possibilities.
A GMA segment introduced her to Elance, an
online marketplace that connects businesses
with freelance talent, which allows Bocherer to
do PR from home servicing a number of clients.
“I make more money ($50 an hour) and I’m
working less hours,” she says. “So many busi-
nesses are reducing or dropping their marketing
and PR budgets. They can’t afford agencies so
they are looking to people like me to outsource
their PR services. ”
“My family could not be happier,” she says. “Just
not having to commute has dramatically reduced
the stress in my life. I’m just happy to be here
for them everyday.”
After months of research, I’ve outlined some
of these opportunities in a New York Times
bestseller, Will Work From Home: Earn the Cash
Without the Commute, a guide to making money
at home, co-written with Robyn Spizman.
Here’s a look at some of the resources and op-
tions I’ve discovered, spanning various industries
and skill sets, that allow you to work flexibly—
typically as an independent contractor—from
home.
Provide business services: Businesses are
increasingly hiring individuals off-site to perform
tasks ranging from coding Web sites to writing
press materials, offering many opportunities for
stay-at-homers.
Two sites, Elance.com and oDesk.com, connect
such businesses (“buyers”) with independent
workers (“service providers”), posting thousands
of opportunities, and otherwise facilitating the
whole process, from hiring to payment.
Both sites allow you to create a free profile
to tout your skills and experience, and take
assessment tests to certify your skill level for
prospective clients. You can also view postings
of opportunities and bid on appealing projects,
determining your own hourly or project rate.
Answer customer calls: When you call cus-
23
tomer service at your bank or place an order
with a retailer, the voice you hear on the other
end might well belong to someone working out
of their living room, anywhere in the country.
If you’ve got solid customer service skills, a
computer with high-speed Internet access, a
dedicated land line, a workspace free of cry-
ing babies and barking dogs and at least 20
free hours a week, you could do likewise. The
pay generally ranges from $8 to $15 an hour,
depending on skill level, call volume and assigned
accounts.
To become a virtual agent, connect with one
of the major players, which include AlpineAc-
cess.com, which hires employees; LiveOps.com,
which pays people as independent contractors;
and Arise.com, which requires individuals to
incorporate. There are pros and cons to each
business model, so visit their sites to learn which
might be best for you.
Become an online seller: A friend of mine
recently used Craigslist to sell more than $5,000
worth of gently worn designer handbags and
accessories. Inspired by the windfall, she’s now
handling listings for other women and taking a
commission. If you enjoy selling online, follow suit
and offer to photograph and list unused items for
your pals. When the stuff sells, you get a cut.
Get crafty: Etsy.com is an online community that
connects sellers of handmade items—including
candles, clothing, ceramics, jewelry, pottery and
even food—with a worldwide audience. It’s free
to get started—the site takes 3.5 percent of
your sales, plus a 20-cent listing fee. Each listing
remains live for four months and includes up to
five images along with the description.
It worked for Chanel Kennebrew, who’s been
selling her funky handmade bags and clothing on
the site for just over a year. The Brooklyn-based
designer, who generates about $750 a month in
retail sales, says it’s a dream come true.
“I wake up each morning doing exactly what I
said I was going to do as a little kid.”
An added benefit: Boutique buyers and gallery
owners across the country scour the site to
spot new talent, which can lead to wholesale
orders and showcases. In addition to shops in
Texas carrying her designs, Kennberew has raked
in $15,000 in wholesale orders from stores as
far away as Japan and Russia.
“I’m not making as much as I would with a full-
time graphic design position,” says Kennebrew,
25, “But I’m sustaining my creativity and I’m not
starving.”
Google for dollars: Build a Web site and you
can generate cash via online advertising—and
you don’t need master-level technical skills or
a background in sales. Google’s AdSense is the
leader in contextual or content-sensitive online
advertising, in which ads are targeted to Web
sites with relevant content. When visitors click,
the site’s owner gets paid.
Get started by starting a Web site or blog
based on your area of interest or expertise. For
example, as a new dog owner, I may create a
site about all things beagle. When I register with
AdSense (google.com/adsense), which works
with hundreds of thousands of online advertis-
ers, ads related to that subject will appear on my
site, which might plug anything from dog food
and breeders to pet insurance and even dog
Halloween costumes. I’ll receive money-from
pennies to dollars, depending on a number of
factors-every time someone clicks on those ads.
In addition to AdSense, there are also smaller ad
networks to explore, which you can find by, yes,
Googling the term “online ad networks.”
Be a mystery shopper: If you’d like a home-
based business that allows you to get out of the
house occasionally, consider being a mystery
shopper. These workers make anonymous visits
to retail stores, restaurants and gas stations
to monitor specific behaviors and make sure
they’re up to brand standards. They might rate
the greeting they receive, the cleanliness of the
environment, the availability of merchandise and
the knowledge of the sales team.
Many companies request investigations of
competitors as well as their own locations, to
see how they stack up. For example, a mys-
tery shopper might measure the wait in line at
Duane Reade versus CVS, or gauge how much a
Target sales associate in electronics knows about
a specific digital camera, compared with one at
Wal-Mart.
Another option involves merchandising, where
you’re charged with helping manufacturers
present their product in a retail environment
to generate sales. You may assemble displays,
distribute coupons, sample food, restock shelves
or demonstrate products.
In both cases, hiring is handled by a third-party
vendor. Two trade associations offer listings of le-
gitimate companies and opportunities related to
their respective industries: the Mystery Shopping
Providers Association (mysteryshop.org) and
the National Association for Retail Marketing
Services (narms.com). Pay starts at about $8 to
$10 per assignment and can go as high as $30
to $50, depending on the requirements.
Warning: Never pay to be a mystery shopper
or merchandiser—no legitimate opportunity
requires a fee or certification.
Give care to a senior: Another business you
can run from home without actually spending
your working hours there is providing seniors
with nonmedical home-based care. This work
includes offering companionship, doing errands
and light housekeeping, preparing meals, schedul-
ing doctor appointments, handling bills and other
tasks family members might tackle if they were
womenforhire.com
available. A number of national companies hire
such workers, among them Home Instead, Se-
nior Helpers and Comfort Keepers. On a local
level you can search online for companies that
provide home-based care for seniors.
Tap your inner entrepreneur: You may not
make the cut for Donny Deutsch’s show, but
you can bring in $1,000 or more per month
with small ideas that are easy to execute with
little to no investment. If you’re doing this full
time, you can triple or quadruple that. For
example, a Manhattan dog walker commanding
$25 per walk twice a day, five days per week,
makes $250 a week from one client. Add four
more and the take skyrockets to $1,250 a week.
If pets aren’t your preference, market your avail-
ability to parents. Online tutors make an average
of $10 an hour, but by lining up your own clients
and visiting their homes, you can command
many times that amount.
Will Work from Home: Earn the Cash With-
out the Commute is available on Amazon.com,
BN.com and local booksellers. Send your receipt
to book@womenforhire.com to receive a premium
membership to the Women For Hire Career Net-
work and to be added to Tory Johnson’s VIP list of
home based job leads.
First-Ever
Work From Home Expo!
Whether you’re a stay-at-home
mom looking to supplement your
family’s income, a retiree whose
savings have fallen short of the
monthly minimum, or someone
who’s eager to find an alternative
to the cubicle and the commute,
Women For Hire’s first-ever Work
From Home Expo is a must-attend
for you.
Join us Saturday, November 1 at the
Cobb Galleria in Atlanta, Ga., where
we’ll bring together a wide range of
opportunities for you to make money
from home.
Attendees from this expo will
benefit from exceptional exhibitors,
phenomenal speakers, expert advice
and raffles and giveaways through-
out the day.
Visit womenforhire.com or call
212.290.2600 today for
details on attending or exhibiting
at this event.
25
 Elena George Knows
How to Shine!
Mariah Carey, Robin Roberts and Gayle King are just three of the
dynamos who’ve been made even more beautiful by five-time
Emmy Award-winning hair and makeup artist Elena George.
Her creativity was seen daily for more than six years on The View.
where she made up the faces of the hosts and their guests.
She left the program to tour worldwide with Carey as the super-
star’s personal stylist. When George, 42, returned home, Roberts
recruited her to Good Morning America, where she now starts
her day.

When she’s not working with stars, this girl-on-the-go spends

time building her exclusive lip gloss line. Not only are the colors
sensational, but each compact piece features a patented, built-in
mirror and lighted wand.

Women For Hire talked to this issue’s cover girl, a single mother
who came to this country from Panama at age 10 without speak-
ing a word of English and who is now living the American dream.

When did you realize you had a talent for makeup and hair?

I always had this thing that my dolls and my girlfriends should

look pretty. My dolls had the best hair. As a teenager, when most
kids were outside playing, I was concentrating on making money
braiding hair. I set up a chair in our living room and girls would
come in to have their hair done. I came up with different designs,
one of which was the Bo Derek style, which was the hot look at
the time. I started at $15 a head and then upped it to $30. As
young as 14, I always had money.

A better way? Your first big break developed out of a high school friendship.

It’s about an inclusive and flexible environment that My classmate was Sandy Denton, who became the “Pepa” of
attracts and advances all women. It’s about programs the famous rap group Salt-N-Pepa. She complained one day
that provide high-level mentors, professional coaching about her look. She wasn’t happy with her hair and makeup
and individualized career development plans to help them and wanted a change. She liked my work, so I did her hair in
achieve their potential. It’s about leaders in every business
the neighborhood, and then for her first worldwide music video.
unit who connect them with professional networks.
Now 20 years later, we still work together.
It’s about making a difference for our people.

What’s next for your career? After cosmetology school and then college, you co-owned a salon, and
ey.com/careers even though the business was successful, it wasn’t right for you.

My beauty salon was the hardest thing I had ever done. The
location was terrific with high traffic. The lighting and décor
were perfect. But we had 24 girls working there and I didn’t like
managing other people and their work. Even though business
was strong, the management part wasn’t for me. I’m a creative
person, not a business person, so I walked away.
© 2008 Ernst & Young LLP
26 womenforhire.com
Ernst & Young refers to the global organization of member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young LLP is a member firm serving clients in the U.S. womenforhire.com 27
 George with her clients Mariah Carey, Robin Roberts and Sandy Denton.
“Makeup is one thing, yet attitude and spirit
make you feel the best.”
While doing makeup for the ladies at The View, you received a call
about the possibility of working with Mariah Carey.
Most people in my line of work are boisterous, but I’m quiet
and spiritual. That was very important in this role. I started
by doing Mariah’s makeup for parties and events. Then it
expanded to touring with her. For nearly two years, we trav-
eled around the world—England, Germany, Russia, Italy,
you name it.
It was private planes, first class accommodations, the finest
dining—that life is something else. You enjoy the blessings, and
then you come home to your own life. As great as it is, tour-
ing puts your personal dreams and aspirations on hold. You’re
totally focused on delivering someone else’s dreams.
When you settled in back home, you heard from Robin Roberts.
I had met Robin when she was a guest host a while back on
The View. I was thrilled to be hired as her exclusive makeup
artist at GMA. I love Robin so much; I never feel like a piece of
equipment with her. It’s like painting a canvas every day.
Tell us about your bond during her cancer treatments. That was a chal-
lenging period.
Everyone goes through turbulence in their lives, but all of that is
trivial compared to cancer. I had to figure out how to minister
to a person going through this. Even when her faith was a little
low, I’d encourage her to bring up her self-esteem.
I wanted to help Robin look as if she wasn’t suffering. With
chemo, eyelashes and eyebrows fall out. But by being creative,
we put her together every day. She never looked fake because
she’s a beautiful person inside and out. Makeup is one thing, yet
attitude and spirit make you feel the best.
Let’s talk about your lip gloss!
When I was with Mariah, I often had to touch up her face when
we were in dark areas off stage. I had those reading glasses
with two small lights for reading in dark places. She always
laughed at me, but that’s all I had. I was determined to come
up with something to help women put on lip gloss when there’s
not enough light.
28 womenforhire.com
I partnered with an architect who had an idea for a design. I
brought the creative and marketing expertise. It was going to
cost me $85,000 for the manufacturing in four colors in China.
Included in that was close to $10,000 on the overseas shipping
and receiving alone. It was a lot of money to come up with.
L01085663[exp0209][All States][DC] 0801-6820 PEANUTS © United Feature Syndicate, Inc.
Before taking the chance, you showed a prototype to Oprah’s best friend
Gayle King.
©2008 Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, 200 Park Ave., New York, NY 10166
I’ve done Gayle’s makeup for a long time. She loved the lip
gloss. She said I absolutely had to do it. She promised to put
it in an issue of O. Gayle really gave me the guts to go for it. I
didn’t know how I was going to pay for it, but I was determined
to do it.
And your Go Light On My Lips gloss appeared, as promised by Gayle, in
the December 2006 issue of O.
I set up a website (GoLightOnMyLips.com) and the orders
from the magazine started flowing in. The first 500 came
almost overnight. Then on Dec. 15, 2006, Rosie O’Donnell Bring your talent to a
talked about the product during a holiday segment on The View.
I didn’t have enough hands to handle the orders. I made back company that celebrates you.
the $85,000 in one day, so I was able to repay the loan I had
taken and I could float on the profits. Even Mariah ordered
3,000 pieces, which sold out at her concerts.
Our strength is our diversity. At MetLife, we recognize that the diverse talents
As a single mom, I’m very proud of my son who’s in high school and perspectives of our employees lead to our growth and success. That’s why we
and helps with taking orders and packaging and delivery. I’m actively seek candidates from a variety of backgrounds. And once you join MetLife,
able to give him a first-hand look at how business works, which we offer opportunities for networking and support through a variety of groups and
is an important lesson at any age. workshops, including our Multicultural Resources Network. Our Individual Business
Advisory Councils—Women, African-American, Hispanic, Chinese and South Asian—
How do you keep up the sales momentum? work to develop representation and business in their markets. It’s no wonder that
we have been recognized by Working Mother magazine as a Best Company for
Keeping the PR fresh is a challenge. I suggest the lip gloss for gift Multicultural Women for the past two years.
guides at every holiday. I keep in touch with beauty editors. I
Join a company that values your unique contribution. For more information about a
wholesale the product in generic packaging to various compa-
career with MetLife, call 1-800-JOIN MET or visit metlife.com/careers
nies. In addition to the regular piece at $19, I developed a glitzy,
more expensive limited-edition version, which is a $150 fully-
studded work of art. And the best way to maintain the excite-
ment is by adding new colors every season, which is not cheap.
MetLife is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
I’m constantly thinking of new ideas, promotions and marketing
avenues. I have had some great success with this product, but
the best is yet to come!

Your route to success.
Whether you work in the air or on the ground, you always want to work
with the best. The best people, the best equipment, the best routes,
the best rewards. All working together to take you further. That’s
American Eagle.
Every day, our 350 aircraft fly over 1,800 flights to more than 160 cities
throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the Bahamas and the Caribbean.
But we need your help to get us there. So if you’re a pilot, flight
attendant, mechanic or other aviation professional, get ready to take
your career farther at American Eagle.
Visit www.AmericanEagleCareers.com to see why we fly and
view job previews.
Become smarter
American Eagle is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
Imagine being able to lead a meeting full of useful ideas and
engaging team exercises without doing a lot of preparation. Just
Add Women Meeting Toolkits enable you to do just that.
© 2008 NAS
(Media: delete copyright notice)
Women for hire
Negotiate to
Make
a
Difference by Carol Frohlinger
You may not have bought a car or a house or received a job offer in the last week, yet you undoubt-
edly negotiated. That’s because you’re negotiating any time you need to reach agreement about
something–not just when money is the issue. Chances are you agreed with a friend about what
movie to see or with a colleague about how to meet a tight deadline or (and now I’m raising the
ante!) came to terms with your teenager about curfew.
We often fail to recognize the opportunities we have to change things by negotiating to make
a difference. The women featured on the following pages did just that. As leaders in their compa-
nies, they negotiated for the support they needed to start or advance diversity programs in
their companies.
How did they do it?
• They found people who shared their vision and enlisted them as allies. These leaders know
that engaging others is critical to changing the status quo. Strategically building a coalition dramati-
cally increases the likelihood of success.
• They listened– really listened
–to the concerns raised by people whose support they
needed. Then they figured out how to address them. People don’t agree to lend their endorsement
unless their interests are met.
• They agreed to pilot and review . When negotiating for something new, particularly when
the issues are sensitive, smart negotiators make it easier for people to say ”yes” by demonstrating
how well their proposals will work before asking for additional support.
You can apply their negotiating principles to many situations in your life. Go ahead, negotiate to
make a difference.
Carol Frohlinger is a lawyer, consultant and co-founder of Negotiating Women, which provides practical skills training
to help women be more successful at work.
Meeting materials include: Detailed Facilitators Guide, Power-
Point presentation (as required) and Meeting Attendee Materials.
Structured meetings are available with topics dealing with the
challenges women face in the workplace, such as Creating A Plan
To Balance Work And Family That Works; Building A Strategic
Network; Dealing With Difficult People, and many more. Visit
negotiatingwomen.com.
womenforhire.com
31
 Pamela Nicholson,
Enterprise Rent-A-Car
Williams Lea Don’t be afraid to toot your own horn and share your accomplish-
ments, says Pamela Nicholson. Last month, she became the fourth

is a proud sponsor person, and the first woman, to serve as president in Enterprise’s
51-year-history.

of Women For Hire “I worked hard to produce results at each stop along my career
path with Enterprise, which helped me rise through the company,”
Nicholson says. “I also knew it was important that I shared my ac-
complishments. Professional women should be comfortable making
decision makers aware of their successes to ensure their contributions
are factored into future decisions.”

Williams Lea is a global Business Process Nicholson began her career with Enterprise 27 years ago as a man-
Outsourcing (BPO) company. We provide agement trainee and has steadily risen to the top. As president of the
expert management of all printed and privately-held company, Nicholson now oversees all of Enterprise’s
digital information an organization shares transportation businesses, including Enterprise Rent-A-Car, National
with its internal and external audiences. Car Rental and Alamo Rent-A-Car.

At Williams Lea, our people are our To the current crop of entry level employees—management trainees
most important asset. They are the living, who get antsy behind the counter because they want to move up
breathing heart of our business, right now—she says that now is the time to partner with a mentor
the ambassadors for our brand and the
and solicit comments on your work, good and bad.
secret behind our phenomenal record
of growth. As a global business our
“Request consistent feedback from supervisors, and not just during
workforce embraces cultural diversity
and individualism. Our company annual, biannual, or quarterly performance evaluations,” Nicholson
supports committed, focused individuals says. “An open communication line between an employee and super-
to realize their potential. visor can lead to constructive criticism, which any professional should
welcome. Very rarely does a fast track to the top present itself to a
new employee. But understanding the opportunity that lies ahead
and the efforts it takes to get there is huge in the development of an eager employee.
Often, working with a mentor who has been on the same successful career path is
encouraging.”
www. williamslea.com
Make it happen!

Worried about losing out to an external recruit for a promotion? Nicholson’s tips for
negotiating with your present employer:

• Keep an “internal resume” for your own personal use. “Saying to your boss ‘My
program helped the department grow by X percent’ sounds better than ‘My program
helped the department grow a lot.’”

• Build a network of contacts outside your department to gain exposure throughout

your organization. “By building relationships with other operations—business discus-
sions and companywide conferences are great places—you give yourself a leg up if
you apply for a spot outside your immediate network.”

• Be prepared, but not overconfident. As an internal candidate, you should be famil-

iar with the business and the decision makers for the position. “Networking is great
and will often get you into the interview room, but simply being on a first name basis
with that person might not be enough.”
womenforhire.com 33
Randi Menkin,
UPS, Director of
Workforce Diversity
Transportation has traditionally been
a man’s world—women are the excep-
tion to the rule. Delivery companies
like UPS, the third-largest U.S.-based
employer, work hard to attract and
retain them.
So it concerned Randi Menkin, UPS’s
director of workforce diversity, when
she began to see mid-level women at
UPS leaving the company at an alarm-
ing rate. She worried about the impact
on diversity at UPS, which has 430,000
employees. Only 10% of UPS employ-
ees are women, while 28% of its 38,000
managers are female.
She got to work and found during
interviews with women who were both
leaving UPS and staying that they often
felt isolated on their routes and in their
offices. To fix the problem, Menkin
helped create a pilot program in 19
locations designed to make women feel
more connected, not just to their male
colleagues but to female co-workers and
their communities as well.
The three-pronged program included
UPS Connections, after work sessions to
address personal and professional issues
like time management or child-rearing;
UPS Business Connections, which en-
courages women to connect with other
women through professional organiza-
tions in their communities; and UPS
34
Community Connections, which offers
leadership lessons through service and
community involvement.
A year later, the program has cut
turnover among women by 25% in pilot
districts, where more than 6,000 women
participated. UPS Connections is be-
ing rolled out nationally. To Menkin’s
surprise, men are also attending sessions
that were initially designed for women
—to discuss mutual concerns such as
eldercare, financial planning and presen-
tation skills.
make it happen!
Thinking of starting a mom’s network?
Menkin’s tips:
• Develop a business case to support
your plan that meshes with your compa-
ny’s strategic direction. A solid business
case will help persuade higher-ups.
• Be as inclusive as possible. Invite both
men and women to participate at events
and to serve as mentors and facilitators.
Your program can easily become a
forum for many issues that both male
and female employees face.
Kelly Noland,
Ernst & Young,
Senior Manager
When they were about to have babies
and then again when they returned from
maternity leave, Ernst & Young’s Kelly
Noland and Beth Schiavo realized that
new moms could use some in-house
support.
So Noland, who now has three children
under 5, and Schiavo, who has two
kids under 4, created the firm’s
Working Moms’ Network for the
Southeast area.
Their mission was simple: to provide
support, resources and mentoring op-
portunities for expecting and new moms;
increase retention; build awareness sur-
rounding the firm’s commitment to its
working moms; and create role models
for younger women who are thinking
womenforhire.com
about their future with the firm and
starting a family.
JOIN DHL AND MAKE A
The program, which started out with
150 women, was so successful that Ernst
& Young rolled it out nationally and
WORLD OF DIFFERENCE.
created a brochure to guide women in
prepping for maternity leave and return-
ing to work. The firm also launched
a quarterly conference call featuring
expert speakers on a variety of topics
beneficial to working parents.
Today, the Working Mom’s Network also
includes many working dads who attend
meetings on topics that range from jug-
gling work and family to guiding your
children on how to use the web safely.
make it happen!
Interested in getting a working mom’s
program where you work? Noland’s tips:
• Have a well-thought plan to present to
executives to get their support early in
the process. Be prepared to address what
specific tasks you’ll handle to launch the
program.
• When you describe your program,
include mutual benefits to employees
and the company. Executives are more
responsive when you can explain the
benefits to the company—not just what’s
in it for you and your colleagues.
www.dhl-usa.com/womenforhire
• Provide an estimate of the number of
people your program will impact. “Beth
Variety. They say it’s the spice of life. At DHL, it’s a way of life. Because we’re a
and I had been approached by many
global organization, the diverse cultural backgrounds of our employees help make
of our colleagues informally to discuss
us the world’s leader in the shipping and logistics industry – delivering to more
issues and trade advice, so we had a
general idea that other moms would be than 225 countries and territories every day. Our success lies in our commitment
eager to join,” Noland says. to creating an environment that embraces the many different thoughts and
backgrounds of our men and women, our customers, and our business partners.
So visit our web site today, and find out how you can make a world of difference.
©2008 DHL Express (USA),Inc. All rights reserved. PT02752
womenforhire.com 35
 Elissa Ellis-Sangster,
Forte Foundation,
executive director
Most college women know about
master’s degrees and what’s involved in
getting them, but when it comes to MBA
degrees, there’s still a mystery about
what an MBA can do for a woman’s ca-
reer. That’s where the Forte Foundation,
a consortium of corporations and busi-
ness schools dedicated to getting more
women in business leadership roles, can
help, says executive director Elissa Ellis-
Sangster.
Forte kicked off in 2001 in the wake
of a landmark study that explored why
fewer women attend business school
than schools of medicine or law. Since
then, Forte has extended its under-
graduate career lab seminars from four
to 20 campuses and made them avail-
able online. “The whole purpose is to
educate women about the next five to six
years and how business school might be
something they might want to consider,”
Ellis-Sangster says. “That just didn’t
exist before.”
Forte’s MBA scholarship program­—$1.5
million to 35 women in 2003—rose to
$7 million this year, benefiting some 200
women.
Forte’s MBA forums, featuring women
business leaders and MBA admissions
officers, attracted 600 women when they
kicked off. They now draw 2,000. “It’s
really important to women to see other
women. They say, ‘Oh, that’s something
I’d be interested in. They’ve done it. I
can do it.’ Sometimes the conversations
that women really want to have about
the issues can’t happen in a mixed-gen-
der setting just because of dynamics.”
36 womenforhire.com
make it happen!
Have a job and want help paying for
your MBA? Ellis-Sangster has this
advice:
• Check to see if your company has a
tuition reimbursement program. “It’s a
lot easier to have the conversation if they
offer that program,” she says. “Make
sure you have done your research so
that you are clear about where you want
to go within the company. You want to
show that your MBA is going to add
value back to the company, that you
are committed and that when you do
get that degree that you’re not going to
leave.”
• Don’t be afraid to take out student
loans. “Loans are not the enemy. When
it comes to getting your MBA almost
everyone gets some type of loan because
there are lots of ways to pay it back. I
have never heard any woman at a Forte
forum say, ‘That investment was not
worth it.’ Even if they are in the middle
of paying off their student loan, they’re
still pleased that they made that invest-
ment in themselves and their career.”
• If you’re looking for financial aid from
a school, look at a school’s demographic
profile so that “you can get a sense of
where you fit in. Have a couple back-up
schools where you know you’re one of
the top candidates verses you’re one of
the middle ones. If you get into a com-
petitive school, you might be able to say,
‘I got $5,000 from them. Do you have
$5,000 you can give me?’”
Manisha Mande,
Xerox, manager/
Business & Strategy
Development
Internal networks—sometimes called af-
finity groups or caucuses—are common
in big business today as more companies
continue to diversify their workforces.
Xerox, for example, supports partner-
ships with six national employee groups.
Manisha Mande, manager of business
and strategy development at Xerox, is
active in two such groups: Women’s Alli-
womenforhire.com
ance and Asians Coming Together.
Being involved with both groups, she
says, has helped her connect with col-
leagues she might otherwise never meet,
learn how to better navigate within Xe-
rox and take on tasks and responsibilities
outside her normal comfort zone.
The Xerox chapter of Asians Coming
Together is in touch with their coun-
terparts at Kodak and Bausch & Lomb,
among others, who participate each year
at a national conference and a summer
picnic. “We meet people outside of Xe-
rox, learn what their companies do, and
what practices can be shared so that we
can enable Xerox to be a better place,”
says Mande.
“One of the biggest advantages of be-
ing part of a group is that there is a lot
of camaraderie among members them-
selves,” she says. “You get to network. You
get to meet senior management from dif-
ferent organizations. If you have concerns,
issues or certain ideas that you would like
to move forward, you can do them very
successfully through caucus groups.”
make it happen!
Interested in forming an internal net-
work? Mande’s advice:
• Engage your diversity office and hu-
man resource department.
• Point out the advantages to having
such a group and “how people in your
company can learn from the experiences
of other companies.”
• Do a benchmark study of programs at
some top companies to determine what
has been successful there and what you
could take and use to create a group in
your own company.
37
Plenty of opportunity for
your career to undergo a
metamorphosis.
Why not work for an industry leader? Be a part of an organization that protects homes and
families. Here are just a few more reasons to join one of the Rollins Inc. companies today:
• Flexible work schedules
• Career growth opportunities
• Excellent pay
• Paid training
• Comprehensive insurance plan
• 401(k)/Employee stock purchase plans
• Financial stability in a recession-resistant industry
Join us as we continue to grow!
www.Rollins.com
Apply at one of our
online Career sites. Julie Gilbert,
Best Buy, WOLF Founder
&
Wendy Mormile,
Best Buy, Store Manager
For Julie Gilbert, a dream led to an innovative program ad-
opted by Best Buy which has increased the electronic giant’s
female customer base by $2 billion.
Gilbert’s epiphany came after a bad day: a junior female
colleague described her frustration at not being part of Best
Buy’s male-dominated executive team. Hours later, one of
those male executives told Gilbert that while she was respected
within Best Buy, her real enemies were…other women
executives.
“I was in a pretty dark place,” says Gilbert. That night, she
dreamed of the wolves she heard during her childhood in
South Dakota. The next morning, she began thinking about
her vision and how wolves “spend their entire existence
building leadership skills in their pups” and how older wolves
“give back” everything they learned to younger members, all
designed to make the pack as strong as possible.
Gilbert went on to create Best Buy’s Women’s Leadership
Forum—(WOLF)—credited with increasing Best Buy’s female
customer base while attracting, advancing and retaining
women employees. Gilbert has mobilized more than 25,000
female customers and employees to innovate Best Buy. Groups
of WOLF packs, from cashiers to top execs, collaborate to
make the shopping experience more female-friendly.
(EOE/Drug-Free Environment) Last year some Best Buy stores launched designer iPod and
laptop cases at the suggestion of one WOLF pack, while an-
other WOLF group was instrumental in widening store aisles
womenforhire.com
to accommodate strollers. Female job applications are up 37%
in areas with active WOLF packs; female turnover rates are
down 7%.
“We’ve given opportunity to voices that don’t have political
power to be able to innovate a 40-year-old company,” says
Gilbert. “It’s about a cashier who comes up with an idea, then
has a chance of not only getting it built, but to be right in the
middle of that innovation and hopefully run it one day.”
WOLF packer Wendy Mormile of Mansfield, Mass, credits
the program with boosting her self-confidence which helped
her become a Best Buy general manager. “I always had confi-
dence in myself—I knew I could get the job done—but I was
intimidated by the people above me with titles.” Since joining
WOLF, she routinely talks to senior executives across the coun-
try. “Before, my network was only the people I knew in my
district. Now I get to know executives on a more personal level
and ignore the titles. These people want to know my opinion.”
make it happen!
For companies that are interested in the concept of creating a
program to increase their female customer base, Gilbert says:
• Look at your business and research what women are spend-
ing on your different business lines. “Chances are good that
women dominate sales already or will shortly. That may give
you the business motivation to start a program.”
• Look for a female executive who has passion for innovation,
credibility in building a business and “the sort of wherewithal
to take something like this on.”
• Ask where your CEO is in this whole story? Is he or she com-
mitted to walking down this path? “The CEO has to be 150%
locked and loaded in this work to make it successful.”
39
 Betty Thompson,
Booz Allen Hamilton,
HR Vice President
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Thompson went through 25 interviews
and recalls thinking “you gotta be kid-
ding me.” In retrospect, she feels Booz
Allen’s hiring process could be stream-
lined, but that “there’s a lot not to lose.”
Thompson joined Booz Allen at a key
moment: thanks to a sharp increase in
government defense contracts, the firm
:?<:B
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NNN%M@I>@EDF9@C<LJ8%:FD&:8I<<IJ “with brute force,” she says. A com-
pany that had long thought of itself as
a 10,000-person firm today has close
to 20,000 employees, which changes
dynamics. She’s now in the process of
figuring out “how can we do that with
more ease and more confidence so that
those employees are getting what they
need to be as productive as possible.”
Thompson says that Job One in recruit-
ing is “creating a good place to come
to work—even if you’re not making as
40 womenforhire.com
much money. There’s always some place
that is going to pay you more. But are
they going to care about you as a person,
whether it’s about benefits, the space you
work in or the projects you’re assigned?”
make it happen!
Thompson has a few hiring tips for
recruiters:
• Identify the people you want to hire
and understand what’s important to
them. Don’t try to be everything to
everybody. “Do that and you’re going to
attract people who don’t fit.”
• Don’t be the hip company that “looks
for GenXers and cool techie stuff. We
all want to be cool—it goes back to our
high school days—but the reality is if
you oversell that and it’s not really who
you are, you erode trust for the people
who work there.”
• Make sure that your employees can
articulate what is special about work-
ing there. “I’ve seen a lot of companies
where if you talk to 10 employees you
get 10 different messages about what it’s
like to work there. Continuity gives you
great confidence. You’re not wonder-
ing, ‘Do they really mean it or is there
something else going on?’ ’’
Candy Duncan,
KPMG, Mid-Atlantic
Area Managing Partner Duncan’s advice for women trying
womenforhire.com
Candy Duncan has always been a
trailblazer in the accounting world
of KPMG—starting as the firm’s first
female partner in Virginia all the way
to her current role as KPMG’s Mid-
Atlantic Area managing partner, the
first woman to hold this title. She has
been active in KPMG’s Women’s
Advisory Board and the KPMG Net-
work of Women. As a corporate role
model, Duncan sees nurturing younger
employees as one of her most important
tasks, “to realize the doors are
wide open, you move forward and
bring others along, both male and
female.”
She recalls her start at KPMG more
than 30 years ago—when just 10%
of the new employees were women,
compared to more than half today.
Those were the days, she says, when
women weren’t assigned to certain
male-dominated accounts—ship-
building being one. But she has always
remembered advice from a male
mentor: “ ‘If you do a great job, people
will remember you and you’ll stand
out.’ That really made an impact on
me. If you are the only woman in a
board meeting and you make two or
three points, they are often remem-
bered more than what was said by
another colleague.”
make it happen!
to navigate in uncharted territory:
• Don’t go it alone. Find a mentor.
“Mine have been male and female,
not all have been KPMG, some have
been clients. When you need a boost
in confidence or a reality check,
mentors will give you honest
feedback.”
• You can do it all, but you just can’t
do it all at once. “Life is a journey,
not a sprint, and you have to look at
your career that way. You have to have
balance. Communicate with those you
work with and your family and friends
to figure out what is really important
to you so that you’re just not assuming
that everyone understands.”
41
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Call 1-877-966-0050 to find out how we can help you connect with great talent. Chicago Loop, Chicago O’Hare, Schaumburg, Lincolnshire, Gurnee,
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i6ÀÞÊ1˜ˆÛiÀÈÌÞʈÃÊ>VVÀi`ˆÌi`ÊLÞÊ/…iʈ}…iÀÊi>À˜ˆ˜}Ê
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42
Connec t ing Women
womenforhire.com With Work. Program availability varies by location. ^ÊÓäänÊi6ÀÞÊ1˜ˆÛiÀÈÌÞ°Ê
ÊÀˆ}…ÌÃÊÀiÃiÀÛi`°
Nell Merlino,
Count-Me-In,
President & CEO
Throughout her career, Nell Merlino
has inspired millions of women to
take action. More than 71 million
women have participated in Take Our
Daughters to Work Day, which Mer-
lino designed and produced for the Ms.
Foundation in 1993.
“Over the years I’ve witnessed a fairly
broad period of change in the workplace
for women,” says Merlino, 55. She is
founder of Count Me In for Women’s
Economic Independence, the leading
national not-for-profit provider of online
business loans and resources for women
to grow their micro businesses into mil-
lion dollar enterprises.
As the driving force behind Count Me
In’s goal of getting 1 million women
entrepreneurs to $1 million in revenue
by 2010, Merlino has energized and en-
gaged stakeholders in making this vision
a reality. “The program provides money,
mentoring and marketing opportunities
for women entrepreneurs.”
make it happen!
For someone who wants to ask family
or friends for a loan to start a business,
Merlino has these tips:
• Keep in mind that funding for most
small businesses begins with family or
friends. While asking for loans that
way is normal for men—75% of male
small business owners got their start this
44
way—only 30% of women hit family or
friends up for starter money.
• Be crystal clear what you are going
to do with the money. If you can spell
out how the money is going to be spent,
dollar by dollar, even better. Business
people use charts to diagram their plans.
There’s nothing to stop you from doing
likewise when asking your mom, dad,
brother, sister, uncle or friend for some
money. Treat this like a professional
presentation.
• Be specific about when and how you
are going to pay the money back, and
how you are going to do it if your busi-
ness fails.
• Point out what this business can do for
the family as a whole.
• If a family member turns you down,
don’t be discouraged. Move onto a friend
who might be in a position to loan you
money and who has confidence in you.
Jen Kim Field,
VolunteerMatch
Solutions, Director
Corporate social responsibility, once
limited to the United Way and other
employee matching gift programs, has
skyrocketed in recent years as companies
realize the benefits to their firms and
their employees. “Volunteering helps
increase employee morale and em-
ployee retention. People feel better about
themselves and the company they are
with,” says Jen Kim Field, who got into
womenforhire.com
volunteering a decade ago when she ran
a local program in Washington, D.C..
“It makes me feel good just knowing
companies want to get involved.”
Field, 32, now runs VolunteerMatch, a
10-year-old online database and orga-
nization that pairs corporate volunteers
with non profits. The aim? “To have
everyone find a great place to volunteer,”
she says. “In the wake of various recent
corporate scandals, there’s a heightened
awareness in boardrooms that employees
are the bread and butter—their greatest
asset—and employees are saying, ‘You
know what? I want to give of my time
and my talent.’”
VolunteerMatch lists 54,000 volunteer
opportunities at any given time. For an � Fortune 100: Best Companies to
annual fee of $5,000 and $50,000, com-
panies can give their employees access to
Work For (2005, 2006, 2008)
a list of almost 60,000 non-profits. � Business Week: Best Places to
The incoming workforce—Generation Launch a Career (2007)
Y—“is looking at companies that have � Forbes.com: America's Most
these types of programs and it is influenc-
ing their decisions,” says Field, so much Trustworthy Companies (2007)
so that recruiters are stressing volunteer
programs in their campus career fairs. � Barron’s: America’s 500 Best
make it happen! Companies (2007)
If you’d like to interest your company in � The Princeton Review: Best Entry
a volunteer effort, Field says: Level Jobs (2004-2008)
• Find any number of psychology stud- � CollegeGrad.com: Top Entry Level
ies that show the social value of giving.
Other studies show that senior execu- Employers (2007)
tives at many top companies consider a
vibrant volunteer program “an impor-
tant strategic part of their business.
Everyone looks to the bottom line; this
type of thing influences it.”
• Point out that employees who are
involved in sincere volunteer efforts
“serve as ambassadors and can enhance
a company’s reputation.” For more information about
The Sherwin-Williams Company and our
• Stress the team building aspect of
uniting diverse groups of employees for Management/Sales Training Program
a volunteer effort. “It allows someone and Internships, visit
who has just started in an entry level
position to have access to senior manag- www.sherwin.com/mtp
ers and that helps them enhance their
skills. The human resource component
of volunteer programs is becoming a
huge trend.” An Equal Opportunity Employer
Courageous Negotiation
By Megan Raphael
Negotiate or have bamboo shoots
stuck under your nails? Given the
choice many women would choose
the latter; as painful as physical tor-
ture might be, the discomfort
of negotiation seems even worse.
A client, Carolyn Hayes, is a chiro-
practor with a growing practice. She’s
a direct, clear communicator, and has
never been one to back off from any
challenge. That is, until it came to negotiating patient payments.
“My business has taken a real hit because I’ve not had the
courage to confront this issue. I’ve been so scared of offending
people or making their life difficult in any way. The irony is that
by not negotiating I’ve been more than willing to make my own
life more difficult,” says Hayes.
What keeps us from courageously negotiating a conflict, issue,
contract, task or project? Often we become paralyzed by fear of
not being liked or approved, not wanting to look too aggressive
or demanding, or fear of creating discord of any kind. We worry
that negotiation, by surfacing issues and concerns, will make
things worse. We choose to flee because we get scared about
expressing who we are and what we need.
Another factor is lack of self-confidence. A study by the Wash-
ington Quality Group found women tend to under-assess
their skills while men tend to over-assess theirs. This inaccurate
self-perception can be a significant barrier holding us back from
negotiating. Poor self-image means that we may feel we are
unworthy of getting what we want so we don’t ask for it. Lack
of confidence gets in our way of believing we have negotiation
skills at all.
It takes courage to tackle a conflict or issue directly, and face
another’s anger or demands. Courage to move past our jitters
and shaking knees to find a mutual solution. It takes courage to
know and express what we need and want, then listen to what
the other person needs and wants.
Hayes finally decided her needs were as important as her pa-
tients’ needs. Together we developed a negotiation strategy that
gave her the flow of revenue she needed while leaving room
46 womenforhire.com
power
to be your
for patients to have the flexibility they needed. We prepared a
plan to use when patients wanted different arrangements, and
Hayes came up with affirmation and breathing exercises that
allowed her to enter negotiations with a new sense of calm and
best
confidence. “I finally trust my business will be successful and I
can do what I’ve always wanted to do because I’m courageously
negotiating now,” Hayes says.
10 ways to courageously negotiate
1. Decide your needs are important, and your wants have validity. find > different minds, better ideas, the best solutions find > PSEG
2. Remember how courageous you have already been in many
areas of your life. Tap into this courage; let it support you
throughout the negotiation.
3. Believe a mutual solution is possible. Entering the negotiation You deserve the opportunity to make a rewarding contribution and be
with an attitude of “positive expectancy” gives you a far greater exposed to new, original ideas. At the Public Service Enterprise Group
chance of success. (PSEG), you will. You'll have the chance to share your unique
viewpoint and help us create safer, more efficient delivery systems for
4. Know what you want and do not want. Determine your electricity, gas, fossil fuels and nuclear power. Which means that you
boundaries. What are your deal-breakers? can make a difference while sharing the innovative ideas that make
you, you.
5. Drop your assumptions and judgments about the other
person and situation. Show us your best in one of the following areas:
Accounting/Finance Legal
6. Avoid the blame game. It has no place in a successful Administrative Support Nuclear
negotiation.
Engineering Operations/Service
Human Resources Transmission & Distribution
7. Plan your strategy. Negotiations are a dance but preparation
Information Technology
can help or hinder it from the very beginning.
Give yourself all the rewards your efforts deserve, including a
8. Use a proven approach such as “No Fault Negotiation.” Be
competitive salary and great benefits, at PSEG. Find your
clear on the data (observable, undisputable facts), the impact
place with us. Find the power to be your best. Find PSEG.
of the situation on you, your needs, and ideas for potential
solutions. Visit www.psegdiversity.com/wfh to learn more,
view jobs and apply.
9. Listen. Seek to truly understand where the other person is,
and how they see the data, impact, needs and potential solutions.
10. Breathe.
Megan Raphael is a public speaker, certified life coach, and award-
winning author of a book for women, The Courage Code. She
is president of Courage Project, helping women to live and lead
courageously. Visit courageproject.com.
womenforhire.com 47
 Spotlight on Success
Patricia MacPherson was in-
trigued last September by a small
display ad she saw in The Boston
Globe for the Women For Hire
expo at the Sheraton Boston.
“There were a couple of things
that piqued my interest,” says
MacPherson, 39. “One was that
there was a networking seminar
beforehand. I also liked the idea
that it was specifically geared towards women. So I pretty much
figured what the heck, I’ll give it a try.”
Within hours of talking to a recruiter from DHL at the event—
that afternoon—MacPherson had an interview with a district
manager.
Within weeks—just two weeks before Christmas—she began
working at DHL. It was trial by fire, she says, since holidays are
the toughest time for a delivery company.
She passed the test.
Today, she is a DHL field service supervisor at its Stoneham,
Mass., facility, managing drivers, physically sorting packages and
lately, running a local part-time hiring initiative.
MacPherson is one of thousands of women across the USA
who have found careers through Women For Hire expos.
For women planning to attend any of Women For Hire’s 10 fall
expos, MacPherson has this advice: “Keep in mind there are op-
portunities and it can move quickly. It did for me.”
She came to Women For Hire as many women do: looking to
get back to work after some years off to raise kids.
MacPherson hadn’t worked for a decade while her children
were young, but she knew that she had valuable skills that
someone would appreciate. She just had to connect with the
right company.
So she did her homework before the Boston expo, narrowing
the list of companies that planned to be there with ones that
interested her and then looking at the kinds of positions they
were interviewing for and matching it with her skills.
48 womenforhire.com
Before having children—now 12,
8 and 5—MacPherson helped
arrange pickups of donated
clothing and household items for
the charity Big Brother Big Sister
Foundation, so she knew quite
a bit about customer service,
pickups and deliveries.
“My background is pretty much
in a male-dominated industry and being a woman in that indus-
try makes me stick out. Fortunately for me it has been for the
good.” MacPherson says.
“In general being able to stand out in the crowd makes me
more visible,” she says. “I thought that a lot of women going to
the expo would not be going in that direction so I was assum-
ing I would stand out among other women there. I think I did
because I was interested in transportation logistics, but also
because I was pretty aggressive.”
She found the networking seminar beforehand helpful. “I hadn’t
been in the work force for a decade and it was a nice refresher.
It felt good to me personally to be among other women who
were in a similar situation. It felt good to be a part of that again.
I really liked the caliber of women who went to the event: a lot
of women in different places in life. My age, younger and older,
at different career levels.”
Having career expos geared to women “makes it more of a
comfortable situation” to discuss careers, MacPherson says. “As
opposed to girls on one side, guys on the other, like at a high
school dance.”
Returning to work, she says, was “an adjustment for my family. I
feel lucky that my husband (David, who works in construction)
has been supportive and able to rearrange his time to handle
some of what I do. For a good number of years I was basically
the Kool-Aid mom on our block. That has changed but I still
make it a point to spend time with my children.”
She has told friends to attend Women For Hire expos. “It’s not
scary at all. It’s not a job interview. If anything, it’s good prac-
tice for getting involved or moving forward in your job search.
There’s a lot opportunity there. Keep an open mind as to what
can happen.”