Welcome everyone! Thank you for
joining us today for the Alumni Insights
from the Great Recession. I'm Michele
Marks-Hook, the Alumni Volunteer Program Director
at the Greene Center for Career
Education and Connections. I'm really
pleased to welcome four alumni from the
classes of 2008 and 2009 to offer some
lessons they learned during the Great
Recession that may help you find your
way through this academic downturn and
any others you might face during your
career. Before we go ahead and introduce
our panelists, I just have some
housekeeping. Joe Testani, the Career
Center's Executive Director will be
moderating this panel. If you want to go
to your settings up in the corner and
put on speaker view that should allow
you to see the individual that's
actually speaking to be highlighted
since this is just a zoom meeting
We will have everyone on mute other than
our panelists and we'll be taking
questions from you guys in the zoom chat
room. So, if you want to send those
directly to the host Michelle Marks-Hook,
then I can distribute those to
the panelists. Feel free to type in any
questions you have for the panelists
throughout the program and we'll try our
best to get to them. Also, if you can
type in your first and last name as well
as the class year in the chat and again
send that directly to me and then that
way we can facilitate. We'll have a
better idea of who the audience is and
we can facilitate a stronger discussion
that can benefit everyone who's on the
call. So, right now I'm gonna put myself
on mute and just monitor the chat box
while Joe introduces our panelists. Again,
if you want to keep your videos off so
that it's not distracting and we're not
too sure with so many people on the call
if that's gonna interfere with the
technology side of things so if you can
keep your video off keep yourself on
mute and just put your questions in the
chat box and send them directly to the
host, Michelle Marks-Hook. So, I will turn
it over to you Joe. Thank you, thanks so
much Michelle. Great to be with everyone
today and thank you to our alumni for
for joining us for this conversation as
Michelle said I'm the Executive Director
the Greene Center here at the University
of Rochester. I've been a U of R for the
last five years and we've been working
very hard to respond to COVID-19 and find
ways for us to really support students
and our alumni throughout this crisis. We
wanted to do this because I thought it
was really important to hear from folks
that might have been impacted by our
last recession that we had, the Great
Recession in 2008 2009 and also maybe get some tips from them for what they
experienced and maybe some advice for
our current students but also some of
our young alums that might be negatively
or significantly impacted by the
economic downturn that we are possibly
and most likely going into the next
couple of years. So, this is very much a
hot topic for me and I think something
very interesting and I'm really excited
to be joined by just a great group of
people. I'm going to have them
introduce themselves I think that's
always the best way to have our alumni
be able to speak. I'm going to kick it
over to Asher. Asher, would you mind introducing
yourself a little bit maybe your major
as well as your graduation year and what
you currently do right now? Sure. Good
afternoon everyone, great to meet you. my
name is Asher Perzigian and I graduated in '09.
Double majored in political science
and socio-economic anthropology which
was create your own major, a lot of fun.
It's been a long time since I've thought
about that so thank you Joe for the
reminder. Now, I'm based out of Chicago
and I work in consulting where I focus
on hospital and healthcare payers
helping them simplify and personalize
the consumer digital experience so
thinking about that translator
transition from in-person and facility
to on-the-go to at home care. It's been a
lot of fun, it's been a wild ride over
the last ten years and look forward to
sharing some perspective with you.
Asher thanks so much for being with us
and I think you were one of the first
alums I met when I started at U of R,
when I was doing my tour of the city. So,
thanks it's good to see you again and
thanks for being here with us today.
Next, Mia would you mind introducing
yourself? Good afternoon, my name is Mia
Comrie, I graduated in 2008 with my
bachelor's in psychology and since then
I am now based here in Washington DC 
for the federal government. I work for
the Department of Justice office of
Community Oriented Policing Services, a
mouthful. I work and assist state, local, and tribal law enforcement across the
country in a wide variety of issues.
Currently, I'm right now leading the
efforts to provide assistance and
guidance to law enforcement on
responding to COVID-19 so this is also
very near and very close to the work
that I'm doing now and i'm extremely
grateful to be sitting on such a
distinguished panel so thank you. Yeah,
thanks so much for being with us today
really appreciate it.
Yorda, would you like to introduce
yourself? Hi everyone, my name is Yorda
Yenenh, I graduated from U of R in 2009.
I majored in political science and
religion and I am now working as a
associate at Simpson Thacher and
Bartlett which is a law firm in the New
York City office and I work in the
corporate group doing private equity
fund formation and have been there since
I graduated law school in 2015.
Awesome, thank you so much for being with
us today. Last but definitely not
least, Cat would you like to introduce yourself?
I'm Catherine Nguyen-Martinez class of 2008,
graduated with a BA in Health and
Society when it was brand new compared
to what it is now. I'm currently working as a
clinical research coordinator at
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
for prostate cancer so we will
eventually and start doing research on
cancer patients with COVID and I am
based on in New York City right now.
Ever since 2011, I've been working at msk
before that when I graduated I worked in
Cornell still in New York City. Awesome.
Thank you so much for being with us and
I think we'll be tackling a variety of
questions throughout the day and we'll
obviously be getting some questions from
the participants but I'd love to just
start with if you can flash back ten
years or so when you were still a
graduating student from U of R. I love to
hear about what your feelings were
around graduating and sort of an
uncertain time back then and what some
of your
first destinations were but also what's
some of the goals you had and how was
that disrupted by what was happening in
the economy at the time? and Mia, I was
hoping we could start with you. I know you
talked a little bit about so your state
of mind but also I think sort of how
that changed maybe or influenced some of
your plans?
Absolutely, so to be honest I was
terrified it was a very scary
time especially thinking about what I
wanted to do when I graduated and
thinking about the money that was
attached with that. Initially, I wanted to
go to medical school and I was really
unsure about what I wanted to do and so
which is a really great turn of fate is
that I actually went to Career Center
and I spoke with a career counselor
about kind of what should I do
what is some of the advice and I ended
up making the decision to take a year
off and they actually connected me with
an alum in the Rochester area that
worked at a neuro-ophthalmologist office
and so they made that introduction. I in
a crazy day and a fit of my being
terrified I actually went and did an
interview. Initially, when the position
was offered to me it was a free position
as an intern which is always a you know
great experience but it's sometimes a
little difficult from the financial side
and probably within a month of
graduating they were able to offer me
you know a daily rate a rate that helped
to save me a little bit and so I did
that for a year which was a really
fabulous experience because it also
showed me that I did not want to go into
medical school hence why I'm now working
with law enforcement but it was it was a
very scary time and I will say being
able to go to the Career Center and
speak with somebody that was not you
know as closely related to me to kind of
help give me some importantly get some
advice was was beneficial to kind of
where I am today. Thank you so much, Mia.
Yorda, where were you in this sort of
stage and about you were graduating 2009
so things were evolving as you were
leaving but so how did this impact you?
Yeah, things were sort of even more
volatile in in 2009 and uncertain. I had
decided during college that I wanted to
do some type of a service program after
graduating I had thought about the Peace
Corps had thought about AmeriCorps and
probably about you know a couple months
into senior year had committed to the
Peace Corps and went through the
application process was really happy
with the decision. It guaranteed that I
had two years to be you know doing
service work outside of the of the
country and it was able to sort of defer
you know making any long-term you know
career plans after that but during the
time that I was in the Peace Corps I
still studying for the LSAT
took the LSAT knowing that I wanted to
go to law school afterwards so sort of
took time off but still used the time to
to move forward and do what I ended up
doing now.
Thanks so much and Cat as you were
graduating in 2008 were there certain
plans that you had that might got
disrupted or did you kind of power
through some of the ideas that you had
and kind of enter the market? So,
funny enough for me had when I was still
a senior we had a job fair and I got an
interview with MSK which is where I was
now and I got denied so I was a little
discouraged and so I just kept applying.
I was like I'm gonna be in healthcare
I'm gonna stay there so I went to
Cornell, I was on monster.com, I don't
think we had LinkedIn back then, went to
Craigslist, which was very desperate but
I stuck to what I knew when I just kept
applying and I went to my friends cuz
they were in health health care. So, I
just couldn't stop giving up and then
eventually someone called me from
Cornell. It was a call center, it
wasn't that great but they did pay
decent and their benefits were great so
I said you know let me just get my foot
in the door two years later and MSK
actually recruited me because we're down
the block and I worked on this case so I
mean I wasn't gonna give up no matter
what because I need an income but you
know I had luckily now we have like
Meliora Collective and other things to
reach the Alumni but
back in the day I don't think we had
that and you know I just thought to my
friends and who I knew in my connections
and kept powering through. That's great I think we often
talk about persistence and resilience as
sort of critical characteristics and
these kinds of markets and I'm sure
we'll hear more about those and we'll
talk about that a little bit more.
Asher, you graduated 2009 as well,
where were you and how did this kind of
disrupt or impact some of your plans?
Great question. The previous three
panelists has nailed them and I think it
you know comes down to just being
creative and reframing how to approach a
problem. You know, as you already
mentioned, when we were approaching our
senior year we graduated '09 so
September of '08 the financial crisis hit so
Lehman Brothers being no more, to the
collapse, and consolidation of so many
across Wall Street. Those that
were looking to go into
banking had to reframe that and say
great I didn't have an internship before
who else does finance? Well Coke,
Pampers, everyone else still does it and
you just have to rethink about how
you're applying that for what your first
job is, you know. I was looking at
consulting and all firms had shut down
their fall recruiting so it became well
what is consulting? It's problems solving.
Great. Who else's problem solving
what internal firms have consulting or
different approaches? So, it just became
about how can I speak with as many
people as possible to a figure out who's
hiring and then be trying to make a
close enough match where my first job
out of college could you know what Cat
said you know keep the lights on, be
engaging, keep you intellectually
stimulated, and get that
experience to further your ambitions and
advance that.
Thank you so much for for all those
insights. Asher, I want to stick with
you a little bit and kind of fast
forward now to 2020 and all of you
represent very different industries in
terms of what you do and the areas that
you work in.
Do you see parallels between what's
happening now and what potentially
might impact the economy in the job
market to what's happened in 2008-2009
or are there things that you see as
distinctly different and have maybe
different ramifications on what might be
possible for the jobseekers or seniors
or juniors or maybe young alumni that
are impacted? That's the trillion dollar
question, truly. I do see a phenomenal
amount of similarities and I think the
where we bridge off right now is
the fact that from both a technical
perspective as well as a more humanistic
aspect we are so much more advanced than
where we were in '09. I mean if you think
about just the fact that we're on Zoom
right now.
I imagine the vast majority of us have a
smartphone. I remember the
first iPhone came out when Yorda
and I were juniors, right? That's crazy to
think about and just seeing that
transition from us in college from you
know blackberry to smartphones and now
seeing the transition to what is the
future for workforce look like. I am
extremely bullish that COVID will be an unfortunate circumstance, but will
be the pivot to radically change how the
workforce looks. How its configured, how
we telecommute, how we engage our
internal colleagues as well as as
clients whether it's law of Florida
whether it's myself with in consulting
and I think that level of engagement and
our ability as this group to retool and
relearn a different way to approach
collaboration I think will make everyone
one on this call so much more successful
and ready for whatever's to come and I
don't think any of us can say exact
we'll come or when when things will
translate back to the new normal but I
do believe it won't look like it did
today.
That's great insight, thank you. Mia,
you're working on the government sector
how do you think there are parallels or
differences from from now from 2008-2009?
I think a lot of it I would agree with
what Asher said. He said it eloquently. I
think at times the federal government
has been behind in some of the
technology as well as you know
teleworking and so I do think that one
thing similar to what Asher said is that
we're learning now that most most jobs
at least within the government can be
done remote and so I think that is
changing the way things are I do also
agree that I think that that is going to
be kind of a lasting change in the sense
of retooling and rethinking about the
way that we collaborate the way that we
think about projects the way we even
think about travel and the need for some
of those travel or the need for in
person and I'm not suggesting that you
know travel is gonna go away and but
just thinking about how can we
problem-solve, be creative in the way
we're handling it, and I can say at least
in the federal government we are
actually starting to to think about that
and to kind of move towards that. We're
not always as creative as the private
industry but we are slowly starting to
move that way but I think technology is
going to be the big piece that we're
going to see kind of shifting. I think
the other pieces we're also starting to
see different interest industries pop up
and a need for them you know just in my
little world around policing we're
starting to see a lot of stuff when it
comes to smart technology that was not
something that was normally discussed
you know three, five, ten years ago and so
I think we're starting to see a kind of
a shift in the way those industries are
and the need for some of the the people
who are able to do that. The engineers,
and the software developers, and so just
from my little bit of world that's what
i'm seeing. Great stuff, Mia. Thank You. Cat,
obviously working in health care a lot
happening. Disruption in
healthcare from
different angles. How do you see some
similarities to 2008-2009 and some
differences? Differences, we
found that most of us can do job at home.
Unless, we're doctor but there is
telemedicine. Difference I think we're
in a tough spot because majority of us
are put on pause which is what we are
called in New York so we can't move, we
can't go anywhere, we can only do what we
can through Zoom, which is a great thing.
A difference is we don't know when
we're gonna be unpaused, we don't know
when we're gonna really go back to
normal.
I have a friend actually in Florida,
she's a PA and she's furloughed at the
moment I thought she would be the last
person to stop working but at the moment
it makes sense because we're not doing
elective procedures, we're not doing
surgeries that are not necessary, but we
are advancing to the point where we are
still interviewing through zoom and
through phone interviews. and like Mia
and Asher said there are different things
that we are looking for like technology,
IT personnel, other frontline workers,
more med students that we want,
residency fellows, so it's a hit or
miss. It's a bittersweet situation. I
think in research it's a big push
because now we get to research COVID
versus you know in my case cancer
patients and how to advance in that so
it depends on where we are who we are
and like what institution but healthcare
just got pushed to the top in a way that
you know everyone's looking at it
differently more on our epidemic
pandemic health and society which is
what I studied so it's coming more to
light compared to just Medicare, Health
care you know payments like that so
that's a good thing.
Thank you and Yorda, do you have anything that you
want to add or the differences or similiarities from 2008-2009? The only
thing I would add is that I think you
know looking back to the 2008 - 2009 is
helpful now in terms of what
opportunities you're looking at so when
I was graduating from law school and
looking for a law firm position I
went back and studied what the law firms
I was looking at dealt with in 2008 and
2009 and how they approached the
downturn. Then you know to see if there
were layoffs or salary cuts or
however they dealt with that and what
their approach was. If they partner
profits early what it looked like and
that was a helpful helpful thing to see
and I you know have been seeing it now
in the legal market now you know how
they're dealing with bringing in new
associates and doing virtual summer
associate position and still hiring
people but other firms have been cutting
back and doing different things so I
think looking back to the way that
things were were handled in 2008-2009
you know, when this happened before sort
of is this helpful.
That's a great segue to one of the
questions we got from our audience so I
think the question is what kind
of advice do you have for communicating
with employers right now? So, a number of
people that are on are in the midst of
their job searches right or they might
be transitioning or were transitioning
to different jobs is there advice you
would give to seniors or a young alum
that might be in that process to how
they should follow up with employers or
how they should be or stay in
communication with employers and yorda
if you want to start and maybe some
piece of advice on that front? Yeah, I
think just open communication is the
best thing and making sure that you're
staying in touch with employers and
making sure that you're available
I think people depend on the industry
and the employers how they're dealing
with this situation but you know making
sure that you're flexible to the extent
that you can be and being as available
and being clear about what you know what
you're looking for and what you need is
probably most important. Asher,
your thoughts obviously from the
consulting industry is a little
different in terms of when recruiting is
done but obviously there's interns that
are starting and there might be
evaluation of new hires that are coming
on board what's some advice may be to
give to people that are in the midst of
their job search? I have two things I
would add to what Yorda said.
Number one, over-prepare and in that vein
don't come with question
that you can google and I mean I said
that half laughing but I've being very
serious. We say that Google can answer
everything but the reality is it can't
when it comes to complex questions that
involves something personal about you
right and I think that helps inform kind
of the second aspect which is know your
brand what are you bringing to the table
I think if you don't have that crisp
while also enable flexibility for the
situation it's gonna be very unclear
especially in a virtual environment what
you bring to the table how you fit into
the culture of the firm how you would
collaborate with the colleagues that
you're being hired into and I think if
you don't have that confirmed brand of
who you are what you bring how you mean
late and and how they can interact I
think it's gonna be very it's gonna be
more difficult for them to review it'll
not only how you'd fit in but how you
can be a high value candidate over time
that's great advice,
Asher. Thank you. Cat, would you add
anything to Asher's and Yorda's
perspective on that on what advice to
give current job seekers? I think they
pretty much hit it on the nose but also
keep yourself active you know there's a
lot of online courses that are going on
for free that you can just keep you know
furthering your education and making
sure that you know your employer or
whoever you're applying for knows that
you're still interested and you're still
trying to make the best worth out of
this whole situation and don't feel free
it's an email like HR or whoever you met
with in the past if you're in the middle
of interviews just again an update
because they're actively doing that now
to like they're just making sure
everyone's still up to date making sure
that you know you're still looking
because after this is all died down or
done in the end they're still gonna need
someone and new hires as well so don't
be shy
thank you so much there's a question
around if students if a student has an
option to pursue but an alternative option like AmeriCorps Peace Corps
and obviously those things are under
sort of evaluation right now in terms of
their availability and ability to
participate in those things but Yorda,
if I'm not mistaken I think you were you
in the Peace Corps after you
graduated U of R? Yes. So, would you like
to talk about like maybe how evaluating
that consideration now inserted in the
wake of what's happening what maybe what
some of the factors were and you
deciding to go to Peace Corps and how
what advice you might give someone that
maybe is evaluating a more of a
service-oriented alternative path to a
full time maybe structured job role but
pursuing something like AmeriCorps VISTA
or Peace Corps things like that yeah I
mean I wanted to do some type of service
project and there are a lot of options
again as joe said it depends right now
what's available and how that would work
but it was important for me to take some
time off I felt like I was very busy for
four years of high school and four years
of college and was ready to do something
completely different I also really
wanted to be able to focus on something
volunteer related for a significant
amount of time and immerse myself in
another culture and learn a new language
and following some different skills
knowing that I still did want to go to
law school and allowed myself to take
the time during you know during the
service position to starting for the
LSAT and decide that I did definitely
want to go to law school but met with
people and talk to people during that
time to make sure that it's what I
wanted to do I think it's it's valuable
to have experiences that are not
necessarily exactly on the path of what
you might want to do well I think you
know internships like Mia did are really
helpful to maybe confirm that you don't
want to do something you know that's
really that's really great and it's also
you know equally great to do something
different and get a different experience
I really enjoyed you know really enjoyed
my time in the Peace Corps and he was
difficult and it taught me a lot of
things that were you know maybe not
exactly applicable to law school or what
I do now but were you know incredibly
valuable
yeah we were on a call earlier today
with a tech partner that we have that
opposed opportunities for students and I
said one of the still areas that are
maintaining growth in terms of job
postings our nonprofit sector because
obviously there's a massive need in some
communities for support in those areas
yeah I was wondering if you wanted to
add anything to your comments around
pursuing these kinds of experiences
right now and sort of our current
landscape yeah I mean I agree with the
Horta I think internships and taking
opportunities like that are valuable
when I ended up when I was done with my
year off I would ended up going to grad
school for a year for criminal justice
and so when I graduated in 2010 although
it's still not kind of technically part
of the the Great Recession it was still
really difficult to kind of get get jobs
and I think one of the things that I
found is that's you know you have to
balance out wanting to get kind of that
dream job so to speak that versus you
know what do you need at this moment and
how can you do something in that area so
you know I knew that I wanted to work on
policy but I wasn't unable to get jobs
and in that area just because there
wasn't anything open so I ended up
taking a job with a local agency with
their humane law enforcement agency so
is different I never thought I would do
something like that but he was something
that I did short term and I ended up
having out it was a wonderful experience
and I think I was able to do that while
I continued to look and you know
thankfully couple months later I was
able to get the one of the jobs that I
had with Department of Justice so I
think it's kind of valuable you learn
something from every single experience
that you have good or bad but you do
learn something from that and so you're
able to kind of take that with you and
build on it as you move forward
thanks so much ma'am I don't know a sure
or cat did you have anything you want to
add to those I just want to check in
with you cat I was wondering if you
could talk a little bit about
specifically what skills you think are
most critical for graduating students or
young alums that are in the job market
it's really emphasized right now so
obviously it's it's a lot going on a lot
of things are shifting
changing are there certain skills or
competencies that you would point to
that you think are important for them
for students or young alums to highlight
and really emphasize and as they go to
the market I'm guessing no tech savvy if
we're gonna be doing this for a couple
months
I'm just being able to be flexible as
well and just well flexible I say
because for my job if I was I'm actually
pregnant right now very pregnant if I
wasn't we were gonna be deployed so we
were gonna work in a different section
in the hospital even though we're not
trained or if that's not unfair our job
description being flexible open-minded
open to new experiences even if it's not
what you're exactly looking for like I'm
in clinical research but I also wanted
to do hospital administration which is
what I did before this but if you're
willing to go into a different sector
and just you know learn that first and
then get pushed or you know why did
something else after that's been um just
being well-rounded as well you know just
do what you did in Rochester what you're
doing now I'm pretty sure you guys are
doing a whole lot more than we have with
multiple classes you're doing online so
I think you're already in a good start
um I took grad courses after Rochester
and it seemed like a piece of cake
compared to Rochester so I think I'm in
a good position just be open-minded
flexible don't be afraid to ask any
questions to communicate to reach out to
alumni as well and use the Meliora Collective
because we're here to help as well so I
think that's the main points at this
point because we're in a pretty weird
and unique situation for sure thank you
for that congratulations by the way. Asher, what are your thoughts on
that what's maybe some skills or
competencies as students can emphasize
and I think for either if they're
undergraduates or graduate students or
really kind of anywhere they are is in
sort of the process of the market are
there certain things to emphasize I
think she nailed the last question I
think what I would add to that is being
communitive I think is gonna be an
incredibly important skill for all of us
for you know the next 40 years of our
career right I think the as as
technology becomes you know more
embedded and everything we do and the
automation train moves from our PA to
machine learning to AI right up that
curve there's gonna be a lot of skill
changes that will manifest themselves
the marketplace and I think that's true
with the vast majority of physicians
both professional as well as surf
address so I think pulling from our
Rochester education and you know
essentially being super well-rounded but
more egg-shaped we're not involved able
I think is gonna be a phenomenal skill
that we all can bring to whatever we're
doing
I think convergence is real so being an
expert and a lot of things I think is
gonna be important and when I mean my
convergence is you know to use
healthcare which is where I work
we're seeing in cross industries people
invest hundreds of millions of dollars
in healthcare whether it's folks like
CVS and retail that you know was
purchased by Aetna whether we have
everything that Walmart and Best Buy and
all the telcos are doing with remote
monitoring it's phenomenal fun little
statistic 72% of Fortune 500 companies
are meaningfully investing in healthcare
meaningfully investing in over 100
million dollars a year that's a
staggering amount and that's adjusted
for non healthcare companies that's over
80 percent if you look at that number
that's true in every single major
industry category so what does that mean
very similar to the help the jobs of
today will not be the jobs of tomorrow
skills of today will not be the skills
of today tomorrow I think the one thing
that is true is our ability to connect
with people and be able to own the
narrative of conversations and projects
and programs and whatever you do
execution-wise
I think is gonna be critical. Great
insight, Asher. I think whenever I talk to
alumni I feel like one of the things
they emphasize is the way U of R's
curriculum is structured to allow for
sort of exploration a lot of difference
kind of almost prepares them for this
reality of working and especially that
what your point is is it's going to
continue that convergence process right
there's going to be a lot of
intersectionality between different
industry sectors and I think that's what
I'm going to grow in the years to come
Mia, what are your thoughts on sort of
the skills to emphasize I think for a
firm for some graduates I don't know if
I can add anything to look at and after
said I I think the one thing that I
would just say in addition to what Kat
and Asher said is around that balance
between persistence and patience because
a lot of people I think one of the
difficulties is that you know a lot of
people right now are teleworking they're
working from home or their paws as cat
said but also recognize that even if
they are working that they're also
dealing with a lot of trauma and a lot
of stress and so the companies the
employers may not be as responsive
because the employers themselves may not
be as responsive so just balancing out
that persistence and that patience as
you're working with those employers to
the job through the resume you know
submitting your resume and preparing for
that for that interview that would be
the only other thing that I would add in
addition to what they said thanks so
much Mia. Yorda, there's some questions
around majors and how that might be
maybe differently received in the
workplace or in the job market
you have any thoughts on if there's if
there really is any difference when it
comes to you like what your major is and
how that might either positively or
maybe negatively impact or if there are
certain things that student you to
emphasize when they're going through the
process regardless of what their major
is? I think it depends if you have gone
to grad school you know then your grad
school education will sometimes usually
matter more than what you majored in Inc
in college but I would say some similar
to what Asher said it's really about
being able to market yourself and to be
able to create a brand and a narrative
around what you're bringing to the table
so regardless of what your major is
being able to figure out how to explain
you know sort of have a various things
like marketing that about yourself is is
the most helpful
and probably the most productive so I
think it doesn't necessarily obviously
there are some majors that are gonna be
hit more than others or industries now
but it just you know being creative and
being able to create a narrative is
probably gonna help you the most
Thanks so much Yorda. Asher, I want to go
back to you regarding and this will be a
maybe a challenging question for you
maybe from some of you to tackle um I
think your perspective and consulting
might lend itself well but there's a lot
happening and changing regarding the
international student market obviously
with some immigration changes that might
be forthcoming in the future but do you
have any advice some of the questions
that came in for you know we've a lot of
international students about the
undergraduate and graduate give any
advice true maybe international students
of how they can weather some of the
uncertainty that's happening right now
around the job market especially for
international students phenomenal
question truthfully I don't know I think
the the same principles though should
apply as we think about where we want to
land right if our goal is to end up in X
country whether that's America or other
finding a firm that will sponsor you to
stay is would obviously be critical if
that is your primary goal over working
in X industry or X job function then
finding that type of firm that will
sponsor you should be priority number
one and it's early enough from your
career that you can figure out a pivot
right if it's more important to go work
in X job X function whatever then if the
sponsorship situations don't enable you
to say that I think you'll need to be
creative and looking at what else is on
the horizon so I think regardless of I
guess path forward figuring out what
your priorities are and executing
against them I think is key and then
beyond - remaining flexible. Thanks, Asher. Mia, Yorda, Cat, I don't know if there's
anything you wanted to add around advice
or insights for international students.
So, I'll step in here because obviously
this is something that we're looking at
on a regular basis from the
in the Greene Center. I think one of the
Asher hits it on the on the
nose and that most of what we would
recommend for international students to
do is the same thing we would recommend
for any students to do some of the
advice you've already given being
persistent being flexible and adaptable
being really overly communicative and
engaging with alumni and and folks in
different industry sectors I think are
really key word are the industry sectors
that are active right now that are maybe
experiencing really big recruiting booms
not only in the United States but maybe
globally I'm aware that might look in
other countries I think we have a
amazing international alumni base as
some our students are still in the
states and so those that have moved to
other parts of the world I'm sure our
panelists know plenty of classmates that
are spread out in different countries
all over the world doing doing amazing
things so I think those are really
critical and unfortunately with the
immigration sort of process as it is
it's really being staying in close
communication with your international
student office here at the U of R to
monitor what those changes might be over
the coming weeks and months and I think
it's very much a moving target I think
with some of those shifts that might be
impacting green cards and work
authorizations so I think it's important
that we stay in close lockstep with some
of the folks on campus too in order to
navigate and at least understand what
some of those shifts might be in the
next few months
Asher, did you want to add something? Yeah, I'm so
sorry to be rude but I think one of the
things that I want threw out there as
well is if history is any type of
precursor what we've seen it every
single downturn the last hundred years
is that whenever we get to the up side
of it
the investment and the boom is not right
so if we look at the past 10 years since
you know the four of us graduated just
from a stock market perspective it's
more than that means come on doubled
that's phenomenal right so even if you
look at where we currently are today
versus 2009 we're still riding
high more than we even dream up
if you cascade that down to every
industry whether it's public or private
and in stock market the growth that they
have had and the innovation that they
have executed on the past
has been incredible so I do believe that
when we get to the other side of this
again we don't know and that is
computing that months moved up 12 months
the job surge will be big and it will be
huge so I think so I think me
maintaining that anticipation while
you're making sure that you are
progressing your story and you can show
no matter what it is over the next six
months that you meaningfully did
something to progress your mind and your
participation and your growth I think
you'll be wildly successful and beyond
that don't under into underestimate the
power of internal referrals but like we
- to a degree we pay for our schools not
just with what we learned but because of
our networks right getting an internal
reference is the biggest difference you
can possibly imagine
right so many firms right now the first
level of review and this is true for
small and big firms alike is all
automated right you are not getting a
personal review unless you have an
internal reference I hate to break it to
you but that's the truth so what does
that mean use the amazing X thousand of
number of alums we have across the
world and figure out where they work and
do not submit a blind application that
could be the silliest thing that we all
do with any stage of our career so Joe
tell me if I'm crazy and that's not the
advice you've given people please
autocorrect me but I would still
disagree with that and say I appreciate
your honesty about disagreeing with no
but I completely agree with you I think
that is you know our you know we started
the Meliora Collective with Alumni
Relations a couple of years ago I think
because we saw an appetite among our
alumni to really want to engage with our
students and each other
I'm truly support each other and I think
our community of University of Rochester
is so strong and I think there's many
people that want to lend a hand to each
other and I think that's really
important I think Cat even leading to
this in a couple of your comments around
the the network and the key maybe you
can identify
some people that you felt were really
important to you as you were going
through either your job search and you
graduated or even now who are people in
your network that maybe you leaned on to
really help you and what ways did they
really support some of your job search
well for me I was very close to with
members that I was in our student groups
so I kept in touch with them and they
were actually stemming out from health
care to education but we always kept in
close contact so building that one
network with them they knew their
friends and they pulled me into what
they knew we didn't have the moliro
collective so we weren't active in that
but now I can say currently the Meliora Collective has helped other
students current students because
they've contacted me provides a co vid
and we spoke through messenger and we
were supposed to actually do a tour with
me through MSK but this hit we
weren't able to do it but I still keep
in contact I'm just in case something
pops up one was the middle of an
interview session and she hasn't heard
back but I'm pretty sure she will hear
back sooner rather than later maybe end
of May but I was very persistent and
meeting people and networking as well
and I've been doing it for years so um
that's what I've been doing I mean you
can't be shy in this process either you
can't be shy and not reach out to the
person that seems like the person that
you really want eyeshadow at all because
that person could be the person like
Asher said your internal referral the
person that pulls you into that position
that you really wanted even though
you've never met face to face room is
good and even through messenger because
you never know what opportunity might
come about that you know. Thanks Cat, Mia,
it's worth some people that were
influential for you and there's a
question in the chat as well if you
don't know someone how do you actually
approach some of that or that
interaction with an alum that maybe is
really eager to help you out but maybe
you never met them before so it's a way
to approach that so take it away so to
the the first piece I would say I mean I
found especially at the beginning when I
was getting ready to graduate that the
Career Center and the like Cat said the
people that I had interacted with
through the student groups we're kind of
the best people to help me kind of
navigate and help to the process I would
say that they still continued to kind of
assist even if my career is very
different than I think what a lot of
people do from University of Rochester
there's still a lot of techniques and
tips that are useful when it comes to
interviewing developing your resume that
you know still bouncing those ideas off
and getting advice from that network and
so I think the student groups have been
invaluable in the sense of the friends
and the colleagues that have been
creative through that too the second
question I think if you're using
something like the Meliora Collective I
think the best thing is is that just
sending a simple message you're already
halfway there with the alums that have
elected to join the Meliora Collective
they're interested in eager and they
want to help based on what they can do
through you know if you're interested in
doing informational interviews or what
Cat was talking about with you know
meeting up for coffee doing tours so
it's just something as simple as giving
a little bit you know sentence or two
about yourself and what you're
interested in and I would say the the
the biggest thing to think about when
you're reaching out is just to kind of
be a keep an open mind and when you are
reaching out to the alums because
sometimes you may look at just a job
title and not truly understand what that
person's title is and so just being
open-minded to start those conversations
I think when you're doing more of a cold
call
so maybe outside of Meliora Collective
you found out that there's a potentially
connection with somebody to Asher's
point at a company and you just want a
kind of cold call you get their contact
info I think one way is especially in
this age
not to go dark but when we're talking
about phishing and scams sometimes to
kind of throw in that connection in
terms of how you know that person and
whether that connection is the
University of Rochester or you were a
part of the same group at U of R or you
went to the same networking events I
highly encourage everyone to take part
in any sort of networking events even if
they're virtual because those are
invaluable but I think being upfront on
your expectations and again being
open-minded are kind of the key things
that I would say when you're reaching
out. Thank you so much, Mia. Yorda - any
other things you want to add or people
that were really influential to you as
you've been going through your career?
same things as what everyone has said I
mean reaching out to people I knew from student
organizations friends of friends people
who knew each other you know through
through college or after college it was
really helpful I think people are really
you know willing to and excited to help
people from the U of R and you know when
I've gotten cold call requests from
people I've been really excited to talk
to people and help them any way that I
can so I like people said don't be shy
and and be polite but persistent and
that should that should hopefully work
well I would like to wrap up our time by maybe
having each of you share maybe some one
piece of advice that you think is really
kind of important for folks to keep in
mind as they're going through this
experience and obviously each of you
have talked about sort of being
optimistic and sort of relying on
communities but I don't know Yorda we'll start
with you since we're here with you is
there one piece of advice you like to
give to students that are either in the
job market right now or maybe even
juniors or sophomores that might be joining
us about what the future may hold for
them I would say to you know be creative
to think outside of the box to realize
that you don't need to have the job that
you might have for a long period of time
right away and to see what else you
might be interested in or what else is
something that you could you know be
involved in in the meantime and also
being really true to yourself and
recognizing exactly what you need and
what you're looking for
from you know a financial perspective
from a you know mental stimulation
perspective and what's interesting to
you those would be my my top things
thanks kat what do you think what's one
piece of advice you'd like to share with
with our audience before we head out
be patient
this is all gonna end eventually and be
persistent follow your goals whatever
you're looking for just don't give up too
easily because in the end it'll all
work out the way it's supposed to and
we're all in here to help you as well if
you need it. Thanks, Cat. Asher?
Sse the time well to prep for interviews
and figure out what you want to do it's
a beautiful gift in terms of more time
to prepare and those that prepare will
typically at least from from my
perspective out-perform others from a
first-impression perspective and then
the other piece of advice I would give
whether it's now or throughout your
career is build your personal board of
directors because those folks that you
lean on whether they're colleagues to
coaches to mentors to anyone in between
are going to be pivotal for your
success. Thanks, Asher great piece of advice. Mia? I think um a couple of pieces
I agree with what everyone has said I
think leaning on your network like if
you know it's your board of directors or
but leaning on them even if it's something
as simple as asking for them to look at
your resume or to you know set up a zoom
call and do an interview with you you
know that that's the key thing I would
say the other piece I would say is
similar to what everyone has said about
using your time wisely is also there's a
lot of free courses out there now
there's a lot of free content so also
using that to explore and you know kind
of peek in some of the just like you've
done at U of R peek into some of those
areas or those fields take you know try
to find those wins because it is hard if
day after day you're applying and you
get no word or you get rejections it's
trying to kind of find those wins
because yes you know it is the sun will
in a sense come out in the end but kind
of finding those like many wins
will be important. Thank you very much , Mia. I really just
want to thank all four of you for all
the insight and the time and the advice
and really more importantly probably than
anything else the care I think you
have for the University of Rochester and
other alumni and students to give some
time and advice and insights you know I
think you've fulfilled my expectation
always of how great U of R alumni
are and how much they really are so
passionate about the institution but
also compassionate about our community
as a whole so I really just appreciate
all of the advice and insights and
experiences that you were able to share
with us today and I'll end with
Michelle put some items in the in the
chat area that we've referenced and
talked about throughout our conversation
the Meliora Collective there's
resources on our on the Greene Center
website that really are kind of
addressing some of the topics that that
our panelists have touched upon how do
you kind of connect to a network where
do you find these people how do you
approach some of these what maybe
skills can you develop or are important
to do over the next few months if you
have that time to be able to do that as
well as people that are actually
actively hiring which i think is really
an important piece of this because I
think each of our panelists said there
is opportunity happening and it's moving
and being able to pivot and adapt to some of
where the opportunities might present
themselves in the coming weeks and
months so I really appreciate and thank
you on behalf of the Greene Center and the
office of Alumni Relations as well as
the entire University of Rochester for
the time and the insight so thank you so
much for the time and I hope the participants really got a lot out of this
conversation which was also recorded to
be able to review later at a later date
but thank you all stay safe and stay
healthy. Thank you
