IEEE-SCV-PACE Career Workshop 2007

Date: Friday Oct 19^th

Location: San Jose Fairmont Hotel

Time: 8:00 Registration

8:30 Career Workshop

12:35 Lunch Line

1:00 Networking Skills and practice

3:00 Legislative activities

5:00 Membership Development discussion

Cost (includes Lunch) Advance Registration (pay at the door add $5.00 –space avail)

-- note Parking is not included: that’s $10 at the convention center, or light rail is convenient.

Students / Unemployed $20

IEEE Members $30

Public $45

Contact: Jonathan David – SCV Pace chair j.david@ieee.org

Secure Registration site (https://icm3.ieee.org/eventmanager/onlineregistration.asp?eventcode=B6H
) please note this apparently requires a Windows PC.

In today’s increasingly outsourced world, engineers must take responsibility for managing their own careers. The alternative is being surprised and unprepared when economic pressures force a change in their employment situation. We are lucky to have the opportunity, in conjunction with the IEEE-USA Operating Committee Meeting, to have Career Experts from throughout the IEEE here in town on Oct 19^th. Please Join us, take a day off work if needed, and use this opportunity to tune up your Career plans. Discounts are available for those who are current “in transition” (the current euphemism for “laid off”, “fired”, ‘let go” or “not working”, etc).

The day is designed so that those who can’t take the full day off can join us for lunch and the afternoon sessions of the day.

Session Details

1. 8:30 – 10:20 Ed Perkins

· Career Planning – Mapping your route to Success and Fulfillment in a changing work world (Ed Perkins)

This interactive session will cover Elements of the Career Plan; Skills and Capability Assessments, Market Analysis, Understanding the State of the workplace, employer’s needs, the role of training and education. Understanding your values and motivators; Finding alignment with the market, and employers.

Break

2. 10:40 – 12:30 Paul Kostek

· Interview Preparation (Paul Kostek)

This presentation will describe the common interview types currently in vogue in the engineering workplace, and how to prepare for them. Exercises include preparing for a behavioral interview question.

· Personal Positioning (Paul Kostek)

Personal Positioning for Engineers is a workshop for engineers in all stages of their careers. The focus of this session is a discussion of Career Track options. It helps engineers understand what it is they are looking for from their career, and how this will impact their personal life. They need to understand their priorities and how these will impact their career.
Lunch

3. 1:00 – 2:50 Jean Eason

· Painless Networking: Finding what you need with the help of your friends & aquaintences.(Jean Eason)

It is so often quoted that the BEST way the BEST work is found is through the people you already know. Unfortunately for many engineers more comfortable with complex ideas than polite conversation, this statement strikes fear and dread into our hearts, as we expect our friends and relations to fade out of lives when we ask “help me find a job”. With a some basic information, and a few interactive exercises, Jean will show us how easy “networking” really is, and how to apply these skills not only to “job hunting”, but to improving communications in a wide variety of situations.

4. 3:10 – 5:00 Russ Harrison

· Legislative Activities - Bridging the Gap (Russ Harrison)

The reality is that our government will impact an engineer’s career and this impact can be positive or negative. Learn how you can influence your government to protect and enhance your profession and career prospects.

Our elected leaders vote on legislation that will affect engineers all the time. For example, in 2007 the U.S. Congress voted on legislation that would:

• Dramatically increase federal spending on basic research,
• Create new scholarship programs for engineering students,
• Invest in alternative energy sources,
• Expand high-skilled immigration,
• Reform the patent system, and
• Expand and restrict NASA’s manned mission to Mars (in the same bill.)

Join us for a discussion about these and other pieces of federal legislation that could affect you, your career and your profession. IEEE-USA Legislative Representative Russ Harrison will be here to discuss these and other things that Congress is trying to do for science and engineering. Then we will discuss ways that we can influence these decisions before the bills become law.

3. 5:00-5:45 Scott Grayson

• So what has IEEE-USA Done for Me Lately?
  

Whether you are out of work, under employed or fully (and over) employed, IEEE-USA has products and services to help you find a job or enhance your career. IEEE-USA, founded in 1973, has spent over three decades studying the employment and career needs of its members. Hear about valuable products and services that will assist you in finding a job, career maintenance, management skills, consulting, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Find out how to become part of a growing online employment and career strategies community as well as become a online member of IEEE-USA Entrepreneurs Village .

Edward Perkins

Ed has 30 years experience in the electronics industry, including hardware design automation, program and project management, mixed-signal test development automation, design services management, chip architecture development, software development, and real time embedded systems programming. He was a program manager in the Virtual Test Division of IMS in Beaverton, OR, where he was responsible for leading their mixed-signal R&D development efforts. Ed also spent 10 years at Digital Equipment Corporation in the central engineering CAD department where he was responsible for development and deployment of CAE services and support to engineering groups worldwide. He has been an IEEE volunteer for 25+ years. He is a Senior Member of IEEE and is Past Chair of the Oregon Section, Region 6 Membership co-chair, and a member of the IEEE-USA Career and Workforce Policy Committee. He has a BSEE and MSCS from WPI (Worcester, MA) and most recently an MS ECE specializing in VLSI design and test from Portland State University (Portland, OR).

Paul J. Kostek

Paul J. Kostek is a Systems Engineer with the Boeing Company. He is also the Principal of Air Direct Solutions, a systems engineering/project management consulting firm. He works with companies in defining system architecture, system requirements, and software development standards. Paul received his BSEE from the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, in 1979.

Paul is currently serving as the IEEE-USA VP Career Activities, Member of the IEEE-USA Board of Directors and is the Chair of the IEEE-USA Communications Committee. He is also an AIAA Distinguished Lecturer, the Chair of the AIAA Career Enhancement Committee and a member of the PMI Aerospace & Defense Specific Interest Group Board. In 1999 Paul was the President of IEEE-USA, and a member of the IEEE Board of Directors. He served as President of the IEEE Aerospace & Electronics Systems Society in 2000-2001 and Chaired the American Association of Engineering Societies in 2003. Paul Chaired the 2006 IEEE/AIAA Digital Avionics Systems Conference and was General Chair of the 2004 IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Conference. He is a member of the IEEE Individual Benefits and Services Committee and the IEEE-USA Government Fellows Committee.

Paul is a Senior Member of the IEEE, an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and a member of the International Council on Systems Engineering, SAE, and the Project Management Institute.

Jean M. Eason

Jean Eason received a BS in EE from the University of Texas in 1978, an MS in EE from Southern Methodist University in 1984 and an MBA from Texas Christian University in 1989. Her early career focused on the aerospace industry and she spent fifteen years working in avionics systems design and developing advanced cockpit displays for military and commercial, fixed and rotary wing aircraft. She is selfemployed, working with clients on specialized applications for small businesses and in technical communication and documentation.

Jean’s time in aerospace gave her particular insight into the issues affecting engineering professionals. Her work in the area of employment assistance for engineers in North Texas was recognized by the State of Texas in the report, Defense Transition: Economic Promise for Texas from the Governor’s Task Force on Economic Transition (1993). This led directly to her involvement with IEEEUSA and its employment and career services.

Jean has been an active volunteer for more than twenty years, addressing member needs at every level from the local section to the Board of Directors.

Russell Harrison

Russell Harrison is the Legislative Representative for Grassroots Activities for IEEE-USA. In this capacity, he is responsible for helping members of IEEE-USA interact with, and ultimately influence, elected officials.

Prior to joining IEEE-USA, Mr. Harrison directed grassroots programs at the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries and the American Iron and Steel Institute. During his tenure, he actively raised campaign contributions through both of the associations’ political action committees. Mr. Harrison also represented the recycling and steel industries on Capitol Hill, and in state capitols on a variety of issues as a professional lobbyist.

Mr. Harrison has a BA in Political Science, with minors in History and Communications, from Allegheny College, and a MS in Public Policy for the University of Maryland.

Scott Grayson

Scott serves as the Associate Managing Director of IEEE-USA. In that capacity, Scott is responsible for programs relating to career, member and professional activities including the newly formed entrepreneur activities committee and the IEEE-USA Innovation Institute. He joined IEEE-USA in 1990 and has held four different positions within IEEE-USA.

During Scott's tenure at the IEEE-USA, he was also responsible for state and federal legislative advocacy programs in areas of career policy, high technology, internet policy, intellectual property and built a number of coalitions that focused on technology and the law. Presently, Scott manages and oversees the IEEE-USA Member Activities, Career Activities and the Professional Activities Councils consisting of 15 committees, 200+ volunteer leaders.

Scott holds a Masters degree in International Affairs from New York University and a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Additionally, Scott was elected to the city council in Golden Valley , MN where he served for four years.

Labels: career, events, government, IEEE, meeting, PACE

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