Professional Development panel

Author: Micheline Ghanem
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On July 16, 2020, YMF hosted its first virtual Professional Development Panel. The panel consisted of Harshal Desai from Atkins, Heidi Dexheimer from the City of Henderson, and Anita Marquez from the City of Las Vegas with a huge turnout of almost 50 attendees. The topic was Negotiation Skills. The panelists answered questions relating to when is a reasonable time to ask for a raise to controversial topics such as their thoughts on/experiences with the difference in pay between men and women.

​Anita Marquez gave a powerful anecdote correlating how raises were affected during the 2007 economic downturn to now. She touched on how she earned her P.E., but she was working during a time when raises were not as easy to hand out similar to now. She explained the importance of understanding where a company is coming from in regards to whether or not you receive a raise and how sometimes it may not have to do with your value in their eyes but rather the current predicament they are in. The panelists had a lot of fun with the discussions and gave informative answers all around. We look forward to future events and hope everyone is staying safe!!