How PLEN Women, Business, and Policy Helped My Career

During this program, we were able to hear from many successful women in different careers in and around the political sector.  Nearly every career a person could possibly hope to have can be found in DC.  The group heard from women who are social media consultants, lobbyists, tax lawyers, and business owners to name a few.  Everyone’s favorite speaker was the keynote: a woman who worked in the Ambassador’s office in Rwanda during the genocide that took place in the mid-90’s. She gave a very powerful speech on that subject and gave us her life story of how she worked her way up from there to where she is now: working in higher management for UPS.

In addition to hearing great speakers, there are also several helpful workshops at this seminar on skills such as resume building, salary negotiation, and networking.  If you are nearing your graduation date and preparing to look for “real jobs,” then these workshops will be extremely helpful for you!  PLEN also gives you a chance to actually put your networking skills into practice at a networking reception with many of the speakers from the seminar and other important women associated with PLEN.

No matter the career path you are aspiring to take, I would highly recommend this seminar. It teaches you many valuable skills, gives you opportunities to hear from successful women in many different careers, and also gives you a chance to see DC.  Before I went to this seminar, I was unsure of how I wanted to proceed with my career, but after, I am determined to move to DC and get a job where I can put my Political Science degree to use!