I got inspired – Women in the Creative Technologies Conference at UWS

Last week I attended a conference at University of the West of Scotland (UWS Paisley): Women in the Creative Technologies.
As most of you know, women have difficulties to get a suitable job in creative technologies areas. These types of jobs are ‘reserved’ to men.  It’s a men world – we can say. Therefore, it’s very important to encourage women to apply about jobs in creative technologies, and advise them what to do to be successful in it.
From year to year more & more women study creative technologies (Web & Mobile Design, Computer Networking, Music, Animation, Games), but still this area is mostly occupied by men.

From the top Sara Harkins, Maggie Morrison, Evelyn FitzPatrick
Click images to enlarge.

Therefore, Evelyn FitzPatrick (teacher fellow at UWS) organized conference to support the other women. I can tell it was a women power.
The keynote speakers pointed out some important issues, and at the same time they advised us - women, regarding career development. Let me just list a few of them:

• be self confident, be brave,
• advertise yourself as ‘brand’ (on CV or covering letters, in personal contacts, online: on social media, blogs),
• do not limit yourself, develop your interests/hobbies,
• get involved in projects/events/conferences,
• use STAR model at interview to articulate an example (Situation * Task/Challenge * Action * Result),
• remember how important mentoring can be – ask your superior to be your mentor.

Maggie Morrison, Anne Giffort, Lucy Evert, Frances Rowan

Rebecca Hasting, Rowan Milne

 The other very helpful subjects were also in the agenda, like:

• when to start looking & applying for the job,
• who can help the students & graduates to find a placement or job,
• who can help with their CV,
• advantages of volunteering,
• freelancing – advantages & disadvantages,
• social media – common mistake that might cost you to loss your job,
• how to properly use social media to advertise yourself in the job market,

and many more.

Example: how to NOT use a hashtags!

Remember, every single life & jobs experience leads you to find your best career path. However, be brave to explore the different paths to find THE one that will take you to the dream job.  If you like your job, you will be successful & satisfied.

I truly recommend attending such events like Women in the Creative Technologies Conference; no matter you if are woman or man. The tips & advices are for everybody, and from my point of view, this conference was a huge success. I'm happy & grateful that such events are organised in UWS – the university that I graduated from.

At the end of my post, I would like to attach a video presented at the conference that shows how weird we act at social media (online). If we transfer these behaviours to real life, it would be really bizarre. Just take a look:

© Photos WSMarita