Students came together this semester to meet with employers at career roundtable events designed for each of the four schools at Molloy University. The professionals presented information and advice at panel discussions and networking sessions moderated by the staff of the Molloy University Career Center, which organized the events for students from the Hagan School of Nursing & Health Sciences, the School of Business, the School of Arts & Sciences and the School of Education & Human Services. The 90-minute sessions during February and March were held in the Larini Room in the Public Square.
The roundtable for nursing students attracted 80 members of the senior class and professionals representing eight health care organizations. The programs for the other three schools drew up to 20 students from different classes and majors.
The first half of the program included panel discussions, where the professionals would speak about their organizations and their own career and educational backgrounds, and then take questions from moderators and students. A popular query from moderators was asking recruiters to look back and give their 20-year-old-self some advice.
In the second part, students approached recruiters and were able to engage in brief conversations in which they could bring up individualized questions.
“Recruiters love Molloy students because of our curriculum and the way they are taught. They are more equipped and ready to start working,” said Rebecca Martinez, the assistant director of the Career Center.
The personal charisma and highly motivated outlook of Molloy students are qualities that leave positive impressions with recruiters, she said.
As life returns to normal post-COVID, a program featuring face-to-face meetings and networking with recruiters takes on greater importance. Gestures like making eye contact and delivering a firm handshake are stressed.
Such meetings also enable students to gain a deeper understanding of different companies and how they could potentially contribute to their missions.
“When they are ready to apply, they have a name and a face at a company,” Ms. Martinez said.
Career Center services also extend to reviewing resumes and cover letters and conducting mock interviews. Cristen D’Accordo is the director of the Career Center.
Recruiters and other professionals at each of this semester’s career roundtables shared thoughts about the program and the Molloy students they encountered.
Nancy Winkler, a nurse recruiter/talent acquisition at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, participated in the well-attended roundtable of the Hagan School of Nursing & Health Sciences and considered her experience “time well spent.”
“I tried to impart the knowledge that their first positions should be somewhere that meets their local needs, benefits in regard to further education, and one that has a high level of respect for all nurses to encourage professional growth and learning,” she said.
Ms. Winkler said the roundtable program was “excellent,” and the students she met to be “professional, smart, and engaged.”
“It is a helpful day to share our brand and all we do to support new graduates,” she said.
Terry Pomerenk is human resources senior manager at PFK O’Connor Davies, a top-tier accounting and advisory firm where many Molloy alumni are now employees. She found her panel experience at the School of Business roundtable “informative, rewarding and insightful.”
Her message to students was simple: Find your fit. The advice is especially pertinent in the public accounting field where all firms perform essentially the same services. She asked a series of questions to help students find their “fit.”
“Do you align more with the culture, training and opportunities at a boutique firm, mid-size or Big Four? she asked. “What do they have in common? Where do they differ? How do they foster personal and professional development while also giving back to the communities in which they live and work?
Aman Patel, who serves as a Long Island regional assistant in the office of U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, addressed students at the School of Arts & Sciences roundtable. He said it was “rewarding to help college students navigate this portion of their life and their transition to the workforce.”
“Most people envision what success looks like 10 or 20 years down the road, but I think it is also important to talk about entry level jobs and what they entail, how to get them and specifically what this means in regard to government service,” Patel said. “I am not much older than most of the students there, so I wanted to highlight the past few years of my life and how I got from their position, a college student, to mine, an entry level congressional staffer.”
Calia Kelly, the principal of Centre Avenue Elementary School in East Rockaway, said the roundtable experience allowed professionals on the panel “to ground ourselves in where we all started and how we could connect with our future teachers and classroom aides, our psychologists or social workers or school counselors…on a level we may not have been able to in a long time.” The third-year principal said she does not normally meet with college students until after graduation.
The Molloy students were eager “to get as much information as possible,” Ms. Kelly said. They passed along their resumes to her and asked for pointers on how to improve, beginning a dialogue that continues. “I’m looking for someone who wants to learn from people and to do research and ask questions,” she said. “That’s someone I want on my staff.”
She offered the Molloy students two pieces of advice. The first was to be themselves during interviews and share some of their personal experiences and talents, so that principals and members of the hiring committee can get to know who they are and see them as a person, not merely a job applicant.
She also recommended that students research both schools and districts where they are interviewing, especially the curriculum and clubs that are offered. “How can they as a puzzle piece fit into the larger masterpiece of a district?” Ms. Kelly said.