A Tale of Two Cities

Career Connections

Career Connections

 

Students get career advice during site visits with alumni in New York and D.C.

by MaryAlice Bitts-Jackson; video by Joe O'Neill

Because New York City is an epicenter of global business, commerce, arts and entertainment, and Washington, D.C., is the nerve center of American government and nonprofit work, many alumni who’ve made a mark in these fields call these grand international cities home. Conveniently, Dickinson is just a few hours' drive from both, so the college hosts annual Career Connections networking events for students envisioning big-city careers.

Last week, more than 50 accomplished alumni opened their workplace doors to current students, offering targeted, in-the-trenches advice on careers in government, law & policy, security studies and politics; business, economics and finance; communications, marketing and media; global markets and research; nonprofits; and the performing arts.

In both cities, the day began with site visits at alumni workplaces, which included panel discussions with professionals in different roles and stages of their careers. The days ended with a networking reception, where students could meet informally with alumni and parents who are working in their careers of choice, and alumni could connect and reconnect with fellow professionals in their own backyards.

In D.C., political science, policy and security-studies students visited with a dozen alumni on Capitol Hill and at the Department of Defense, while others connected with alumni at the National Institutes of Health. The Center for American Progress drew aspiring journalists, nonprofit leaders and advocates, and other Dickinsonians connected with top officials at the United States Holocaust Museum. Five alumni in management consulting, social-science research, sales and talent analytics spoke about their global consulting work at CEB, while seven commercial real-estate and development professionals delivered advice at DTZ/Cushman & Wakefield. Two alumni at Organization of American States–Alison August Treppel ’90 and Pablo Thaler ’07–and one at ERG, Kate Consroe '09, also discussed careers in their fields.

In New York, Alex Osberg ’09, a senior account executive at Twitter, discussed his work with Fortune 500 companies and marketing agencies. Burton Sheaffer ’87, an executive at HSBC Bank USA, described career paths in banking, capital finance, global markets and research, while six alumni working in various roles at Bank of America Merrill Lynch discussed career opportunities in fixed income securities, commodities and business support, and Ariana Petersen ’11 at Deloitte Consulting described how large financial-services firms respond to regulatory change and the opportunities that result.

Students interested in strategic communications visited with Rachel Warzala Chesley ’11, senior consultant at FTI, a global-consulting firm specializing in financial, forensic, economic, technology and communications, and Danielle Fried ’09, Michael O’Connor ’99 and Sarah Koch ’14 of Horizon Media Group opened a door to marketing, advertising and media career exploration. Dickinsonians envisioning a role in the nonprofit sector got advice from managers and marketers at the Lincoln Center Theatre during a discussion led by Associate General Manager Meghan Lantzy ’01 and from Michael Polenberg, husband of Elizabeth Jane Morse '95, and vice president of government affairs at Safe Horizon.

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Published January 27, 2016