WEST Wisdom Blog

Negotiation skills are required of all professionals. In fact, you use these skills in many phases of both your work and personal life.

According to a recent study in the Journal of Organizational Behavior, failing to negotiate on an initial job offer could mean missing out on over $600,000 in salary during a typical career. 

This session will focus on negotiation strategies to help you achieve better outcomes. We will discuss how to effectively prepare for a negotiation, think on your feet and deal with conflict. This session will be an interactive discussion with exercises to hone your negotiation skills. 

Topics: Events, Women, Transitions, Career, negotiation

Last week, more than 130 men and women gathered in Cambridge to recognize the honorees in WEST’s Annual “Giving Back Awards” ceremony. EACH YEAR for the past 9 years, WEST has brought the biotech and tech community together to honor incredible women from the science, technology and engineering fields who go above and beyond and selflessly give back to society. This year, in addition to recognizing women, WEST added a new accolade designed to recognize men who have demonstrated commitment to supporting and advancing talented women in STEM careers.

Topics: Events, Women, Tech, Science, Awards, Giving Back, Network, Giving, Inspire

Join WEST for an enchanting evening of celebration in Cambridge on Wednesday January 25^th at our “Giving Back Awards” event where we will be recognizing remarkable individuals who contribute to the greater good.

 

Topics: Events, STEM, Women, Awards, Community, Giving Back, Network, Giving, Inspire

Today, more women are advancing to senior positions within the life sciences industry. Along with added responsibilities, senior executives usually receive stock options or other forms of equity compensation as part of their compensation packages. In this lunch program, financial advisor Beata Dragovics provides an overview of the various forms of equity compensation, along with current compensation trends within the life sciences industry. Attendees will learn how to optimize their equity compensation packages, with a particular focus on managing concentrated wealth. Other topics include the tax ramifications of exercising stock options, along with tactics for treating equity compensation as a vital piece of your overall financial plan.

Topics: Events, Financial Planning, Wealth Management

Meet the extraordinary and inspiring women and men being honored and hear the stories of how they have made a profound impact on society. The honorees are role models who balance job and personal responsibilities while making a difference in their community. Join us to congratulate them, be inspired, network, and support the career advancement of women in the enterprise of science and technology! 

Topics: Events, STEM, Awards, Community, Giving Back, Network, Inspire

Topics: Events, Transitions, Career, Resume, Interview, Success, Job

WEST is accepting nominations through December 15th for our 9th Annual Giving Back Awards. You can nominate a deserving contender for one of the awards listed below. All nominees should be providing direct service to the community, be giving outside of the core responsibilities of his or her job, have a day job in science or technology, and be willing to have his or her story printed in the event program. The nominations should include name, title, company, giving back award category, and 1-3 paragraphs about their giving back. Please send nominations to Jaime Luna, WEST’s Director of Operations, at jluna@westorg.org. 

Topics: Events, Women, Tech, Science, Nominate, Awards, Community, Giving Back, Network, Inspire

A STEM degree is one of the most flexible degrees available, but when pursuing one it can be difficult to engage with scientists who’ve moved away from the bench for their career path and see why that is true.  Who has the time to tear themselves away from lab or that coding project??  Worse still, even the most supportive mentors reinforce the notion that a job in the world outside is a sell-out and suggests failure in some sense.

Topics: Events, Transitions, Career, Network

It was an energized and exciting evening at the November 14^th WEST event, Pathways to Leadership Success: Working Toward Gender Balance Senior Panel Discussion. Biogen, Xconomy, and WEST hosted the event, which provided an exceptional opportunity for networking with around 150 members of the STEM community attending. The panel discussion featured the following leaders in academia and industry: Sangeeta Bhatia, Professor, MIT; Bruce Booth, Partner, Atlas Venture; and Sophie Vandebroek, CTO, Xerox.  Jo Viney of Biogen/WEST and Bob Buderi of Xconomy moderated the event. The panel provided their perspectives and insights on actions that can be taken in the workplace to improve gender balance and increase awareness of gender bias.

Topics: Events, Leadership, Gender Balance, Tech, Science, Success, Network

Topics: Donation, Events, Leadership, STEM, Women, Giving