Advertising Women of NY Career Conference

So this weekend I attended the 2 day AWNY ( Advertising Women of NY)  Career Conference in NYC and it was the best experience of my life to date. The career conference is an annual event that just gives college students and professionals in the advertising world a chance to network and even better, to learn from each other.
Day 1 started with a randomly selected agency visit to Ogilvy & Mather (!!!) where a small group of us were treated to 2 hour info session/Q&A with representatives from the Human Resources Department, current and past members of the  Associates program and current staffers.

After the visit we headed to the Fashion Institute of Technology where  the conference was being held, and sat down to hear the opening night speaker;

AOL’s Digital Prophet David Shing say a couple words to us. David was the most engaging and fantastic speaker I have ever heard and he had a lot of insightful things to say. One thing he stressed was the importance of correctly engaging consumers in a digital format, and how you should strive  to harness the powers of existing digital communities.

Day 2 started off with a morning address from Colleen DeCourcy, CEO/Founder of Socialistic, a content and technology studio that aims to help build the social experience.

Next i attended a resume clinic hosted by 2 representatives from McCann Erickson  and here are some great tips i got on building the perfect resume: think of your resume as your ad, be honest, be specific, and highlight your attributes.

Also i got some inside scoop on what interviewers look for:  they want you to lead the interview, which means ask ton of questions and do your homework on the company. Basically, the interview is your best opportunity to sell yourself.

Next up, I went to 3 different work shops(1. Portfolio Development for Strategists 2. What is Account Management 3. Lets get interactive about Interactive) headed by various people in the industry where they pretty much did a 1 hour class on the topic.

Needless to say, it was a great opportunity and one that i believe every advertising student should experience, not only for the wealth of knowledge that was shared, but think of all the networking  contacts!