At the “Business Not As Usual” event May 12, the BEC community welcomed four of our great alumni to share the strategies they employed in clinching their respective jobs during the pandemic. If you couldn’t attend it, you can watch the recording of the event here:
You can also learn more about our alumni panelists through their LinkedIn profiles below, who graciously agreed that we could all connect with them.
- Michelle Andrea Gaines, Northern Trust, Vice President | Sr. Product Manager/Developer at Northern Trust Corporation
- Christina Fernandez, Echo Global Logistics, Campus Recruiter
- Genevieve Kabemba, 3M, Global eCommerce Marketing Analyst
- Shannon Parker, Zurich North America, Actuarial Analyst
While the pandemic marked a period of many uncertainties for both job seekers and employers, Shannon said she learned to not lose hope despite the uncertainty, and it paid off eventually. Though, it was a challenge it was for her to switch to remote work mode as she was just getting to know her new colleagues at work before the pandemic really took a turn.
To stand out from the competition during the job search, Michelle mentioned that she curated a portfolio summary of her body of work in addition to her resume. She also emphasized how important it is that new hires prove their worth early in the job. In other words, don’t assume your new colleagues know your capabilities well enough.
When asked what the panelists wish they would have done differently in their remote jobs, Genevieve stated that she would take more advantage of the online employee resources like yoga classes offered during her internship and utilize the time to enhance her wellbeing. Christina said she would get more involved with the different employee resources groups at work in order to network strategically.
Finally, when asked about how they would like to return to work, they all agreed that a good mix of both remote and in-person work would go a long way, and employers would do well to remain flexible on this topic.