By Bill Parry
More than a hundred women took part in a daylong World of Working Women Conference & Job Fair at the Sheraton LaGuardia East Hotel in Flushing last Friday.
It was the 26th annual event sponsored by the Center for the Women of New York, whose founder Ann Jawin said, “I’ve not only been to all 26, I’ve planned them.”
Each year Jawin puts together panels of professional women who share their stories and advice on the working life for women. The panelists take the event seriously, including Pauline S. Kuyler, a psychiatrist who refused to miss the program despite a serious bout with bronchitis.
Two women, Lisa Boily of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Gillian Gutierrez, of the U.S. Department of Labor, were relieved the government shutdown was over so they could attend the conference and share their information to help guide those attending toward career opportunities.
“It’s very important for women to understand the particular dynamics of today’s economy,” Jawin said. “Women face particular obstacles and we help them overcome those obstacles.”
Former City Councilwoman Melinda Katz was the keynote speaker and never mentioned the fact that she is a candidate for borough president. She did not want to politicize or take advantage of the nonprofit event, according to her campaign.
The panelists shared their experiences and offered advice to those seeking jobs.
Katz spoke of the importance of daycare, equal pay for equal work and even the pitfalls of the interview process.
“There was a lawsuit some years ago where they asked what cereal you have at home. If you answered Cheerios, they’d know you had kids,” she said.
Nancy Chen Baldwin spoke of coming to America at the age of 14, eventually becoming director of the engineering department at Northrop-Grumman.
“I’m now 63 with 120,000 employees. That’s quite a journey for an individual who didn’t speak English.”
Cassandra Hill took a temp job at a construction site that led to an opportunity to attend Cornell University and study contract compliance.
“Thirty-five years later and here I am running a $1.2 billion project for Delta Airlines,” she said.
Alissa Risi detailed her career path, which included nine years at the U.S. Post Office before she became an archeologist in far-away places like Siberia.
Risi is a manager at Nontraditional Employment for Women, a non-profit group that works to bring women to higher paying blue collar jobs.
“I want you guys to know there are opportunities. Don’t limit yourself because of your gender. We just had a 63-year-old woman graduate our program and she’s heading to the Laborers (Union),” she said.
The panelists offered advice, as well.
Roz Liston, editor of TimesLedger Newspapers, who moderated the panel, said, “I look at experience, where did they intern, where did they work? Put that at the top of your résumé because education is so arbitrary.”
The TimesLedger was a sponsor of the event, which featured a job fair in the afternoon with employers manning tables in the ballroom.
Jawin explained that jobs have been eliminated by advances in technology, so “you have to find opportunities where people value experience, like the healthcare field, because we’re an aging population, everyone’s retiring and those positions will need to be filled by replacements.”
Sitting in the back of the room was Gary Brown, of Hollis.
“The Labor Department told me there was a job conference, but they didn’t tell me it was for women,” he said after staying for an hour, “I thought it was very helpful and the panelists were fascinating.”
Reach reporter Bill Parry by e-mail at bparry@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4538.
