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Career Development Blog

Information for mapping your future

Month: March 2020

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Meet #CrusaderIntern, Claire Hanlon ’21, Intern at Sargent Rehabilitation Center

Name: Claire Hanlon

Class Year: 2021

Internship (position & employer): Sargent Rehabilitation Center

 

1. Tell us about where you interned over the summer and the kind of work you are doing.

This summer I interned at Sargent Rehabilitation Center’s Day School in Warwick, RI. As a whole, Sargent Rehabilitation Center serves adults and children with a focus on neuro-rehabilitation and striving to restore the ability to be independent. I spent my time in the day school with students with conditions such as autism, Asperger Syndrome, brain injuries, genetic disorders and other developmental disorders. I was placed with high school aged students and spent my days helping them with the curriculum and assisting in the daily operations of the classroom.

 

2. Give us an example of how you have applied your academic learnings to your internship?

One way that I saw a direct relation between my academic learnings and my internship was through my cognitive neuroscience class that I took my sophomore year. This class focused a large portion of the semester on autism and the differences in the way that students learn along with their strengths and weaknesses in the classroom. My time at Sargent Center allowed me to see these findings first hand and gave me the opportunity to find ways to help these students learn in their own ways.

 

3. What has surprised you about being an intern?

One aspect of my internship that surprised me was how involved I was able to be in the student’s life. Going into the internship I wasn’t sure how helpful I would be or how much responsibility I would be given with respect to helping the students. I was lucky enough to work with a great group of staff at Sargent Center who allowed me to have a great experience and fully involve myself helping students every day. I was able to leave my internship feeling like I truly helped the students and was able to make a difference in my short time at Sargent Center.

 

4. How did this experience influence or connect to your future career plans / goals?

I have always been interested in physical therapy and had pictured myself entering the sports field of therapy. However, after spending this summer at Sargent Center where the students day consists not only of math, spelling, and reading, but also occupational therapy, speech therapy and physical therapy, I have now opened up my eyes to a whole new aspect of physical therapy that I could picture myself working in. I have seen the important ways that physical therapy was used to improve the daily life of the students I worked with and how therapy was made enjoyable for the students. Without this opportunity to intern at Sargent Center I don’t think I would have been able to see this often overlooked aspect of physical therapy and how important it is.

 

5. Any internship advice to pass on to other Holy Cross students?

The advice I would give to future Holy Cross interns would be to always go into your internship with an open mind. For me, every day at my internship was different and came with new experiences and opportunities to learn.
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Meet Alum Patrick Drain ’01, Deputy Foreign Policy Advisor to the Chief of Naval Operations

Name: Patrick C. Drain

Class Year: 2001

Job Title: Deputy Foreign Policy Advisor to the Chief of Naval Operations

Military Rank: Commander (O-5)

Organization Name: US Navy

 

 

1. In one sentence, what does your job entail?

 

I support the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) through his Foreign Policy Advisor to by providing key information, analysis, and specific advice on a wide range of diplomatic and political-military issues that concern the U.S. Navy.

 

 

2. What planned and unplanned events connected you to your industry and your first employer after Holy Cross? How did you learn/decide it was a good fit for you?

 

I joined the US Navy in 2001 upon graduating from Holy Cross, and initially I served as a Surface Warfare Officer.  It was a pretty good fit, but after about a decade I realized there was a better option for me within the Navy.

 

In 2011, I transferred into the Foreign Area Officer (FAO) Community in the Navy, which placed me in a cadre of Middle East (CENTCOM)-focused officers and offered one year of Arabic language training and a Master’s Degree in National Security Studies. My focus was to do my best as a Middle East FAO, and this eventually earned me enough recognition to be asked by name to join the CNO’s personal staff.

 

My tip on knowing if something is a good fit: If on most days you wake up in the morning and look forward to going to work, then you’re in the right place.  If on most occasions this doesn’t happen, then you should probably look for a new job.

 

 

3. What were you involved in when you were on campus?

 

Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC), all four years

Student Government Association – Class VP (freshman and sophomore years), SGA Parliamentarian (Junior Year)

Resident Assistant (Junior Year)

Students for Responsible Choices (Senior Year)

First Year Program

 

 

4. What was your major and how did it affect your career decisions?

 

Political Science.  It was a reflection of my interest in international affairs, and I do not think it affected any of my career decisions.  I could have majored in anything at Holy Cross and gone down the same path.  They critical thing Holy Cross gave me is a firm foundation in thinking deeply about issues and the capability to intelligently express my ideas.

 

 

5. What are one or two skills that you developed at Holy Cross that you use in your work?

 

Writing.  The amount of writing – and the thorough analysis of our writing, at Holy Cross helped to hone a crucially important skill for many, many jobs.

 

 

6. What advice do you have for students on campus today?

 

Stick with what you love to do – you’ll work with more enthusiasm in these fields than you would otherwise.  Even if doing what you love means you will be starting at the bottom of what seems like an impossibly long ladder, it will be worth it in the long run.  People notice enthusiasm, and it will open doors you cannot imagine.

 

Don’t stick with jobs that are “comfortable.”  Once you get good at something and you feel like you’ve learned what you need to learn and you’ve got it down, it’s time to start thinking about where you want to go next.  Look to do things that will push your envelope and force you to learn more and be more than the comfortable job ever would.

 

Minor in a foreign language and aim for fluency!

 

Take a statistics course.
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Meet Alumna Nerelly Checo ’18, Teaching Fellow at Nativity School of Worcester

Name: Nerelly Checo

Class year: 2018

Title: Teaching Fellow

Organization Name: Nativity School of Worcester

 

1. In one sentence, what does your job entail? 

My job entails teaching Spanish, Art and Science to fifth grade boys, serving as an Admissions Assistant and coaching a sport if possible, while attending graduate school.

 

2. What planned and unplanned events connected you to your industry and your first employer after Holy Cross? How did you learn/decide it was a good fit for you?  

I served as an Odyssey Mentor during my sophomore year of college and that was my first time stepping foot at the Nativity School of Worcester. I never thought about the school again until Melisa Alves told me they were hiring. Teaching was something I wanted to explore and the fellowship brochure easily caught my attention- I immediately thought it was a good fit simply because of the mission in itself. Working with marginalized populations and giving back to the community is something I have always aspired to do and learning about how much the fellows do for the boys greatly interested me.

 

3. What were you involved in when you were on campus?

While I was on campus, I was a member of the e-board of LASO for three years. I served as an Odyssey Mentor for two years, studied abroad in Argentina for a semester and also was a ALANA Peer Mentor my senior year. I worked at the Office of Student Involvement for a few years. My senior year I also worked as a Hogan student manager as well as in the Center for Career Development as a Marketing Peer Career Assistant.

 

4. What was your major and how did it affect your career decisions?

I was a Sociology and Psychology double major. Because I was constantly having conversations about societal issues, it made me realize how essential it is to go into careers where you are making a difference. I want to do work that is productive in creating impactful change for marginalized communities.

 

5. What are one or two skills that you developed at Holy Cross that you use in your work?

One important skill that I developed at Holy Cross is time management. Holding multiple jobs and being a member of an e-board while balancing academics, prepared me to handle my responsibilities as well as anything I want to do outside of my job description. Although there are days where I still struggle with balancing tasks, I definitely feel that I was better prepared because of my experiences at Holy Cross.

 

6. What advice do you have for students on campus today?

It is essential to take advantage of every opportunity you get. College really is a roller coaster ride and it is very difficult to see the benefits of certain tasks you need to complete when you also need to juggle so many other things. I promise you that everything you do at college leads to a skill you’ll use in your career. Something as simple as writing an email is so  significant in the workforce and it is very underestimated while in college. If you get an opportunity to manage a project or work in an office or study in another country, go for it because it is so rare to obtain those learning opportunities once you graduate.
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Meet Alum Ray Murphy ’94, Director, Enterprise Applications at Northeastern University

Name: Ray Murphy

Class Year: 1994

Position: Director, Enterprise Applications/DevOps

Organization: Northeastern University

 

1. In one sentence, what does your job entail?

I manage a team of a dozen or so people that maintain and support the computer systems used by the university’s faculty, staff, students, alumni, parents, applicants, etc.

 

2. What planned and unplanned events connected you to your industry and your first employer after Holy Cross? How did you learn/decided it was a good fit for you?  

As far as how I got connected, my eventual employer was run by an HC grad. I actually heard about the job when a classmate of mine got a job offer from this company but turned it down. I followed up and eventually got the same offer. (Tip: don’t forget your classmates in your networking!

 

3. What were you involved in when you were on campus?

I was sports editor of The Crusader, and had a work/study job maintaining a couple of the computer labs in Haberlin/Swords.

 

4. What was your major and how did it affect your career decisions?

I was looking for a first job in computer industry after graduating as a math major (HC didn’t even have a CS major yet, just a concentration!). I fell in love with HC on my tour in high school, and enrolled despite the fact that it didn’t have the major I wanted. I muddled through a lot of math classes. The only way that affected my career is that I never really learned to code, but I’ve had no trouble carving a career path in the industry without that skill.

 

5. What are one or two skills that you developed at Holy Cross that you use in your work?

More and more, I use my liberal arts skills more than the skills from my major. From my first job search to this day, I always position myself as someone who has technical aptitude, but also has the ability to communicate those technical concepts, to think critically about them and to see the big picture. That’s a story that always plays well in interview settings, etc.

 

6. What advice do you have for students on campus today?  

For sure, it’s important to put in the time and effort to find your first job and get your career off to a good start. But you’re going to have a long career, and whether it starts in June or September won’t matter at all in the long term. But especially for seniors, make sure you soak in these last couple of months at HC… you can’t get those back.
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Meet #CrusaderIntern, Alessandra Vasquez ’20, Intern at Dell Technologies

Name: Alessandra Vasquez 
Class Year: 2020 
Position: Global Enterprise Sales Strategy and GTM Intern
Company: Dell Technologies 

 

1. Tell us about where you are interning and the kind of work you are doing.

I was a Global Enterprise Sales Strategy and GTM Intern at Dell Technologies this summer. Throughout the summer, I was exposed to multiple areas of the business through cross-functional projects. I audited account plans for the sales teams, analyzed and built reports from survey responses, and program managed the action plans for my team’s satisfaction report. Through this experience I gained skills in communication, Excel, and knowledge on sales and business. 

 

2. Give us an example of how you have applied your academic learnings to your internship?

I applied my academic learnings to my internship by utilizing the critical thinking and quick learning skills that are ingrained in the Liberal Arts education we receive at Holy Cross.

 

3. What has surprised you about being an intern?

I was surprised at how much the company wanted to help me learn and grow. Dell really invested the companies time and resources into the internship program and offered multiple opportunities to learn new things. They also willingly allowed us to network with multiple teams to enable our understanding of different organizations.

 

4. How did this experience influence or connect to your future career plans / goals?

My experience allowed me to land a full-time job at Dell after college. I will be in the Business Operations and Finance Rotational Program this August. 

 

5. Any internship advice to pass on to other Holy Cross students?

Network and be yourself. I was offered my internship by an Alumni (Katie Bobinski ’15), whom I met at the Women and Business Conference my Sophomore year. From that connection, we stayed in contact after the Marketing, Communications and Sales program during Spring break last year. I believe it was through this connection that I landed my job at Dell and I encourage all students to network with alumni through HC Network. Also, your personality speaks louder than your GPA. So, connect and be present during those interactions and good things will come your way! (: 
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Meet Alumna Amy Archambault Remby ’08, Designer at Georgia Zikas Design

Name: Amy Archambault Remby

Class Year: 2008

Title: Designer

Organization Name: Georgia Zikas Design

1. In one sentence, what does your job entail?

I am a Designer for a full-service interior design firm focusing on high-end residential projects and delivering elevated spaces, improved lifestyle and exceptional service to our clients locally and beyond.

 

2. What planned and unplanned events connected you to your industry and your first employer after Holy Cross?How did you learn/decide it was a good fit for you?  

Upon graduating from the College in 2008, I earned my Masters of Fine Arts degree with the intention to pursue a career in Higher Education (the Arts). I was welcomed back to the College by my former faculty and mentors to serve as Studio Supervisor and Lecturer for the Studio Arts Program. This position was extremely beneficial to my creative growth, interpersonal and project management skills. A career in Higher Education was a natural fit and a most inspiring path. When relocating (out of state), I was inspired to expand my knowledge in a different creative industry, but with tremendous parallels. Both careers have been hugely impactful and rewarding.

3. What were you involved in when you were on campus?

During my time at the College, I was a double major in Studio Art and Psychology. I was a 4-year varsity athlete as well (Women’s Lacrosse) with a 2-year captainship within the program. I was also a member of the GESSO (Student Art Club) program. Being involved in athletics, academics and the arts provided me with a tremendous sense of community and diversity.


4. What was your major and how did it affect your career decisions?

I was a double major in Studio Art and Psychology. Both majors provided me with the skills sets needed to pursue a career in Higher Education, then one in a creative, but more corporate-centered industry. My major in Studio Art inspired me to continue my education in earning my Masters degree — a necessary step towards educating others and pursuing my interests as a practicing artist.

5. What are one or two skills that you developed at Holy Cross that you use in your work?

Collaborating with Others – In all of my work experiences to date, working efficiently and respectfully with others has driven me to success. Team is everything! Learning to communicate with diverse minds and embrace multiple perspectives is so important.

Creative Problem Solving – As an artist, we are constantly presenting our ideas, subjecting those ideas to self-critique and modifying / re-presenting them accordingly. Learning to problem solve and do so with a creative spirit and open mind has been so important in all industries that I have worked in.

6. What advice do you have for students on campus today?

Take risks and try something new – Get comfortable with being uncomfortable. I find (in my previous teaching experience) that students become largely focused on getting the “grade” and succeeding at being a “good student”. And I know from experience that HC students are very good at that. I encourage students today to take a step back, to reflect, to challenge and to think creatively and openly. Embrace the mistakes, the unknown and the challenges of working with other who offer different perspectives / opinions. The world is a lot bigger than College Hill. Go beyond!
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