Makeover Night: Networking with Cisco women engineers

As Vice President of Corporate Affairs for Society of Women Engineers, it’s my job to plan corporate events that do the following: 1) Help our members develop kick-butt professional skills 2) Introduce our sponsors to potential employees and 3) HAVE AN AWESOME TIME! This year, instead of the traditional workshops that look at your resume, elevator pitch, or interview skills, I’m trying to think outside the box and do things that haven’t been done yet and are a little more relevant to SWE. Voila: Makeover Night!

Soft skills like how to present yourself in the best light using makeup, accessories, etc. are not often addressed in typical engineering career preparation. With so many guys around who, more often than not, wouldn’t notice your make-up unless it was bright blue and red (see below!), these touches often fall by the wayside.

Now, I don’t really think that expertly applied makeup can really make or break a job opportunity, but it does make for a fun Professional Event!! We all broke up into pairs and started recreating looks that we’d found online ranging from very neutral and professional to crazy and dramatic!

SWE Members: Lauren (left), Cassandra (center)

Cisco Representative: Camille (right)

We had our Cisco representative judge each look on whether it was 1) well applied or 2) appropriate for the workplace. Then they gave us a little tour through their personal makeup kits and talked about the brands, colors, and techniques that worked for them. Overall, it was a very fun way to spend a Wednesday night, and a fun, fabulous way to practice networking and just bond with 10-15 other Viterbi Women. I really love these small events, cause they let you really get to know the reps as cool, interesting people that I would totally shoot an email to ask for advice. Also, its events like tonight’s that make me glad that I can be an engineer, but still girly!