Member Spotlight

At the end of January, the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Office of Career Services used WomenOnCall to seek facilitators for an interactive career development workshop during Women's Heritage Month. Many volunteers liked the idea of helping women better market themselves and improve their professional development, so several WomenOnCall members responded.

Via email, staff clarified what they wanted from the workshop and how it should be formatted. It was important that the workshop be interactive and that participants could walk away with more than just information. WomenOnCall volunteer, Gerri Norington, was selected due to her coaching experience and entrepreneurship. Elinore Moore, another WomenOnCall volunteer, is a UIC alumna with a background in Human Resources.

Gerri and Elinore facilitated the workshop by engaging participants in an interactive discussion that led to the generation of participants' personal statements and paragraphs. As the first facilitator that afternoon, Gerri defined a purpose statement, guided participants through four questions to help direct them and then coached participants as they shared with the group. Elinore walked participants through the process of self-marketing via online networking sites and off-line professional gatherings. Then, both speakers answered questions and provided additional resources. Both of the speakers complemented each other’s information and helped engage the audience and expand the workshop beyond the original idea. As both facilitators continued to work with the group, the discussion evolved into the topics of cover letters, interviewing techniques and presentation skills. The workshop lasted two hours, and both facilitators remained with participants to talk for an additional 30-40 minutes. The UIC Office of Career Services received positive feedback from the participants and were very happy with the success of the workshop.

The organization found WomenOnCall to be a wonderful tool, particularly for nonprofits who are short on staff and other resources. They have used WomenOnCall three times and were always impressed. All of the volunteers that they worked with were professional and flexible and have gone above and beyond what was originally expected.

Volunteers: Gerri Norington and Elinore Moore

Nonprofit: The UIC Office of Career Services provides personalized services that assist UIC students and recent graduates in a process of self-assessment, career planning and preparation in order to facilitate lifetime career development and success.