Idaho State University Anderson Center, AAUW to offer $tart $mart workshops Oct. 25-27

$tart $mart and Behavioral Interviewing Workshops to help graduating women from Idaho State University reach salaries on par with their male counterparts will be held Oct. 25-27 in the ISU Pond Student Union Salmon River Suite.

The workshops are sponsored by the Anderson Gender Resource Center and the Pocatello Branch of the American Association of University Women. A grant has been received from Idaho AAUW to help support the program. 

The workshops provide the opportunity for ISU graduating women seniors and graduate students to hone their job interview skills and to learn salary benchmarking in preparation for their first jobs following college graduation. ISU, the first site in the state to host the American Association of University Women’s $tart $mart initiative, will provide the workshops aimed at training graduating women to benchmark the salary of their first job and successfully negotiate pay that puts them on par with their male counterparts.

The salary negotiation training will be preceded by a special workshop on behavioral interviewing, a widely used technique that relies on questions aimed at discovering how the respondent's past experiences relate to a particular job’s relevant knowledge and skills. 

The behavioral interview training workshop will be held Oct. 25 from 4 to 6:30 p.m. and salary negotiation workshop on Oct. 26 from 3 to 6:30 p.m. Students can also register for a special Saturday session that includes both workshops, on Oct. 27 from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Dinner or lunch will be provided at the trainings. Participation is limited and ISU students who are seniors or graduate students will be given preference. They may register at no cost for either or both workshops, but seating is limited so pre-registration is required by Oct 12 at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/StartSmartFALL2012.

Although fair labor laws have been in place for many years, research published by the AAUW verifies that the gender wage gap continues to plague women. Studies show that the gap starts with the first job out of college and continues; a woman will likely earn $1 million less than her male counterpart over the course of her career, according to the AAUW.

"At a time when we know that women are still earning only 77 cents for every dollar that a man earns, these workshops are critical in helping women negotiate for the wages that they deserve," remarked Anderson Center Director, Rebecca Morrow.

As a result of the findings the national AAUW joined with the WAGE (Women Are Getting Even) Project to develop training to better prepare young women to join the workforce with a salary and benefit package commensurate with that of men with the same credentials.  The AAUW is joining with campus departments to sponsor the training at colleges and universities throughout the country.

For more information, contact Maribeth Alder (208) 220-2093 or the ISU Anderson Center at 208-282-2805.

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