October 2014 – Refresh Your Career: Connect•Work•Thrive

October 19, 2014December 23, 2014

Q&A with Sharon Meers, Keynote Speaker at the October 22, 2014 Return to Work Conference

Sharon Meers is Head of Strategic Partnerships, eBay Enterprise
and co-author of Getting to 50/50

Guest blogger Megan Dean Farah attended the November 2013 Connect•Work•Thrive Return to Work Conference and was inspired to build her own global business communications consulting firm. She interviewed Sharon about her upcoming address.

Megan:
What do you, as a leader in both the technology and financial services industries, think we should be doing now to make it possible for people of all ages and ethnic backgrounds to participate in paid employment on terms that work for them?

Sharon:
We need to drive home the message that having taken time off from paid employment does not automatically pose a barrier to reentry. There are simply not enough highly intelligent, motivated people to solve all our world’s problems. If and when you want to return to work, please do. We need you!

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October 12, 2014December 26, 2014

A Painful Truth About Career Gaps

I underwent a paradigm shift while organizing a conference to help job seekers with career gaps find employment. I reached out to a prominent career consultant, inviting him to speak at the upcoming Connect•Work•Thrive Return to Work Conference. He replied that he would be willing to discuss generically how to prepare for the 2014 job market, but did not want to help people who have gaps in their careers find jobs.

What?
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October 9, 2014December 26, 2014

Q&A with Sally Lieber, who Delivered the Welcome Address at the October 22, 2014 Return to Work Conference

Sally Lieber Megan Dean Farah

Megan Dean Farah
Sally Lieber serves as advisor to the San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority, an agency created through her legislation, and recently served on Attorney General Kamala D. Harris’ Transition Team working on women’s rehabilitation and mental health issues. She worked previously as Councilwoman and Mayor of the City of Mountain View, served in the California State Assembly from 2002 until 2008 representing California’s 22nd Assembly District, and as the Assembly’s Speaker pro Tempore, only the third woman to hold this leadership position since 1849. Sally holds a BA in Political Science from Stanford University.

Megan:
What do you, as a public policy maker, think we should be doing now to make it possible for people of all ages and ethnic backgrounds to participate in paid employment on terms that work for them?

Sally:
I’m really happy to see how community conversations surrounding career issues have evolved in recent years. In the past we only framed discussions of returning to work as a women’s issue. Now we are discussing much larger changes in the structure of our economy that demand all of us to reinvent our work skills on an almost daily basis. Of course, zoom in on the issues and you’ll realize that we boomers have reinvented every stage of our lives leading up to today. It makes perfect sense that we’d continue to reshape work and retirement too.

Continue reading “Q&A with Sally Lieber, who Delivered the Welcome Address at the October 22, 2014 Return to Work Conference”