Karen Holtzblatt will give a very practical talk on how to get and keep industry jobs. She will cover what the different job types are, how to find the job you want, what a good resume looks like, what you need to think about for a slideshow or portfolio, and what job hunting looks like today. She will also talk about what students should be looking for in a job and how to succeed right away on the job.
This talk is based on her years of experience in industry, her mentoring of young professionals, and her current work understanding what new hires need to succeed in technology companies.
Karen Holtzblatt is CEO of InContext Design and driving force behind the Women in Tech Retention Project. A recognized leader in requirements and design, Karen pioneered transformative ideas and design approaches throughout her career. She introduced Contextual Design, the industry standard for understanding the customer and organizing that data to drive innovative product concepts. Karen has now turned her focus to the issue of women in high tech companies in order to understand why women leave the field and to provide solutions. Her research and resulting framework describe the core factors in the work environment that women need to achieve success. Together these can help companies and inspire women.
As a member of ACM SIGCHI (The Association of Computing Machinery’s Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction) Karen was awarded membership to the CHI Academy a gathering of significant contributors and received the first Lifetime Award for Practice for her impact on the field. Contextual Design is used by companies and universities world-wide. Karen has more than 25 years of teaching experience professionally and in university settings. She holds a doctorate in applied psychology from the University of Toronto. Karen is a Research Scientist at University of Maryland’s iSchool.