The International Relations Organization and the Class of 2015 Trustees held a career panel at Jefferson Hall Wednesday to discuss navigating the job search. Approximately 90 students, many of them fourth years, were in attendance as four University alumni gave advice about life after graduation.
Fourth-year College student Kate Kingsbury, IRO’s president, said coordination with Trustees made the panel a successful event.
“I think it’s sort of natural that we paired together,” Kingsbury said. “[Trustees] have a large audience of students that we don’t immediately reach out to, so the combination of these factors makes this panel particularly effective.”
Kingsbury said they largely reached out to younger alumni for the panel, as their experiences with job-hunting are more recent. She said the focus of the panel was the transition between undergraduate life and the the post-graduate world.
“This panel is made of four IRO alums who were very important to the organization when they went to the University,” Kingsbury said. “I felt as if I wasn’t taking advantage of the network enough, and we have a lot of young alums here today because they’re such a relatable branch.”
Fourth-year College student Alexander Bozicevich said he attended because he is just beginning the job search and wanted some advice.
“I think what resonated with me the most was the idea that you could go about [the job search] in your own way,” Bozicevich said. “I just came from a marketing panel before this event and they put a lot of pressure to start a job right away, whereas these panelists recommended taking time to find your own path. I definitely found that really reassuring.”
Fourth-year College student and Trustee member Hawa Ahmed agreed the advice of the panel helped alleviate the common anxieties many fourth years face.
“I think the most important takeaway is finding out how much time you have,” Ahmed said. “A lot of job recruiters want you to think that you don’t have time, and you really need to be doing one thing or another. But I love how the panel highlighted that you have plenty of time as a 22-year-old to figure things out.”