The 2017 Career Connections trips to New York City and Washington, D.C. showed that Dickinson alumni are both achieving success and making a difference in the world while providing students with the opportunity to network with alumni and experience a variety of professional fields.

Over Fall Pause, Dickinson students visited a variety of sites and organizations at either New York City on Monday, Oct. 16, 2017 or Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2017, or both. Students had the opportunity to choose up to two organizations to visit in each city, including the United Nations and FTI Consulting in NYC as well as the Department of Homeland Security and Latham & Watkins LLP in D.C.

Ninety-minute visits were hosted by either Dickinson alumni or employees of the organizations students visited who spoke about their career paths at their respective places of work, personal backgrounds and experiences, internship programs, entry-level hiring and what they look for in potential candidates. In each city, an evening reception was held for alumni, “parents from the region” and students in order to facilitate further networking for the students as well as the opportunity to meet professionals working in industries of interest to them, according to Heather Champion ’97, director of employer relations and organizer of the Career Connections trips.

Participant Alexandra Medeiros ’18 described the orientation session everyone attended, saying that Champion “provided extensive advice that gave me confidence throughout the process; I now knew what to wear, what was expected of me and how to present myself professionally. For example, Heather advised that we wear our nametags on our right side so when shaking hands, a person’s eyes can naturally move from the hand and up the arm to the nametag.”

Others also appreciated the program’s helpfulness.  “I thought the program showcased the success of Dickinson students and the idea that, with a Dickinson degree, you can go on to do great and meaningful things,” expressed Celina Natzic ’18.

Attendees speculated that varying numbers of students at each city could have changed the experience based on location. Natzic, who attended both sessions in both cities this year, said that her experiences at the New York City reception versus the Washington, D.C. reception were very different. “The NYC venue was very small, with a large number of students in attendance; the cramped venue made it difficult to move around, and a disproportionate ratio of students to alumni made it difficult to network with non-students,” she said. In contrast, the D.C. reception seemed to have many more alumni in attendance and more space to mingle, which she found “much more conducive to effective networking.”

Val Busch ’20 believed that the reception should have lasted a bit longer or started earlier, as there were so many people to talk to.

The site visits were mostly informational but were different at every location. Natzic observed that the United Nations site visit was extremely technical and informational, while the visit to the Department of Homeland Security, in addition to including job information, featured two Dickinson alumni who were clearly passionate about their Dickinson education and its application to the real world.

Medeiros shared this feeling, saying of her visit to the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, “[there was] an extra level of comfort in the conference room because we were hosted by a Dickinson alum… who told us her story and described how her Dickinson experience has impacted her career and set her up for success.” Conversely, Medeiros’ visit to FTI Consulting featured a panel talk that described the dynamic and the diversity of the company’s work, giving people who are considering consulting as a career a sneak peek into the industry.

Busch recommends the event to other students, even first-years, as it would improve students’ communication skills as well as give them the opportunity to connect with alumni and to hear about their experiences. For instance, during the reception she learned about a fascinating job that introduced her to the field of compliance, sparking an interest in a field that she had never even known about after a simple conversation with an alumnus. She is looking forward to the next trip.

“We hope students have gotten a better understanding of the organizations and industries for the visits they chose to participate in,” said Champion, “and, potentially, have made connections that could be useful to them in the future as they pursue internships or jobs” she said.