Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor reflected on a pioneering career and emphasized the need for improvisation in a challenging job market Friday in a presentation hosted by the ASU Alumni Association.

“People are going to have to be inventive to find a job,” the ASU law school’s namesake told a ballroom full of alumni at Phoenix’s Arizona Biltmore resort.

Sitting in an armchair across from ASU alumnae Ruth McGregor, former chief justice of the Arizona Supreme Court, and Nicole Carroll, executive editor of The Arizona Republic, O’Connor discussed her life and legacy.

“Whatever job I was given to do, I was expected to do it well,” O’Connor said.

This “cowboy ethic,” formed from growing up on an Arizona ranch, helped her become the first female Supreme Court justice, she said.

“Every woman can look back on her childhood and experiences and see how it shapes them,” she said.

When O’Connor graduated from Stanford University in the 1950s, law firms weren’t in the habit of hiring women. O’Connor said she fought hard to land her first job, working an unpaid job without an office.

Her advice to people seeking a job in today’s tough market was to use this same inventive ethic to impress employers.

“Be creative,” she said. “Find a way to wiggle your way in and make something of it.”

O’Connor spoke about her fear of failure in the moment of her Supreme Court appointment.

“It’s fine to be first, but I didn’t want to be the last,” she said, referring to the pressure to succeed as a woman in a very public, historic and male-dominated workplace.

When asked if she learned to handle the pressure and the spotlight, O’Connor surprised the audience when she answered, “No.”

“Life goes on,” she said. “You just keep going. You try to keep the cattle alive.”

Two important issues currently facing Arizona include education and domestic violence, she said.

The O’Connor House, a project designed to promote discourse between community, national and global leaders, can act as a venue to discuss these issues, as well as other social concerns.

Though her judicial career is over, O’Connor’s advocacy is far from finished.

During the conversation, she said Arizona needs to maintain its system of merit-based judiciary.

O’Connor said she thinks Arizona already has the best judicial system in the U.S. Judges are currently nominated by a committee and appointed by the governor, but there are efforts to return to an election-based judiciary system each year.

“Do not let that happen,” she said. “One key element of the federal system is that there be an independent judiciary.”

Christine Wilkinson, senior vice president and secretary of ASU and president of the alumni association, told O’Connor, “We’re so blessed that Arizona can claim you as ours.”

ASU Alumni Association’s Director of Strategic Marketing Communications and Membership Tracy Scott said the alumni association echoed that blessing.

“We’re honored to have her because of her accomplishments and her career,” Scott said. “She is the namesake for the College of Law, and she’s an inspiration.”

Reach the reporter at jessica.testa@asu.edu.