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NYC Program Brings Students, Alumni Together to Explore Business Opportunities

UAlbany students met with alumni at Mediaocean, an advertising software company, during Winter Break.

ALBANY, N. Y. (March 21, 2017) — As students are thinking about summer or post-graduation internships, some New York City-area students got a step up, meeting with successful alumni in businesses in the metropolitan area.

During both spring and winter breaks, students met with alumni business leaders, got tours and professional development and, in some cases, invitations to send in their resumes.

“Great Danes in NYC,” a program created about a year ago by the Office of Career and Professional Development, connects current students with alumni in New York City who work for international banks, software and marketing companies, film, the internet and a variety of other businesses. The program serves as a career exploration tool for freshman and sophomores and a networking opportunity for students looking to enter careers within the alumni’s industries.

UAlbany students at Deutsche Bank discussing the role of IT in Risk Assessment, with UAlbany Alum Mark Frankel ’04, the regional head for IT Risk.

Since so many UAlbany students hail from the New York City and Long Island regions, visits are scheduled when students are home on breaks.

“We ensure that students go through a professional development session prior to the company tour dates,” said Tibisay Hernandez, a Career and Professional Development representative.

During spring break, students visited Google, Warner Brothers’ Gotham set and Edelman, a global communications and marketing firm. During winter break, groups visited Deutsche Bank and Bank of America, as well as LinkedIn, DoSomething.org, Path Interactive and Mediaocean, an advertising software company.

After the winter visit to Deutsche Bank, bank officers invited two students back to shadow them. Grad student Ayoola Ogunwale called the opportunity “one of the best experiences I ever had with the University. I had the opportunity to shadow both the president and vice president of Information and Resilience Risk Management at Deutsche Bank. Based on my experience and career path, they quizzed me and gave me major tips and resources that I can use to prepare for my full-time job and beyond.”

Also during winter break, one Bank of America alum connected with three students, and invited one to shadow him when he is on business in Albany. All the students who went to DoSomething.org were told to contact the alum when applying for internships so she can make sure their applications are seen by a hiring manager.

Many of the tours resulted in face time with high level professionals and human resource staff members, who debriefed students on employment and internship opportunities.

“Simply the opportunity of meeting senior staff from these companies was amazing, but being surrounded by students who are just as driven to succeed as you are is great as well,” said senior Alberto Marriaga.

Fellow student Maksim Papenkov agreed: “I appreciated that we had a chance to meet with people in different departments, showcasing the diversity of career path options within a single company.”

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