Professionals spoke to University students last Wednesday about their careers after graduating with a bachelor's degree. Networking with senior members of companies during internships is one way to advance a career before it begins.
Students constantly learn valuable lessons about how to achieve success through their internships and projects, but having established professionals share their experiences is always helpful.
Verizon hosted an industry panel as part of National Engineers Week at Rutgers on Wednesday, where several individuals discussed their post-college lives.
The professionals at the panel were involved across different lines of business, science and technical career paths. The goal of the panel was to expose the Verizon brand to science, technology, engineering or mathematics students who might not have previously thought of the company as a career option.
Panelists answered some prepared questions then opened the floor to questions from students. Afterward was a networking reception, giving panelists the time to interact and mingle with attendees.
Panelists discussed the importance of innovation and constantly progressing to improve technology. They also talked about how interns and new hires can gain the respect of senior leadership.
"Understand the work, and do the work." said Orlando Vaya, one of the panelists.
All the panelists stressed the importance of taking initiative and finding solutions before being asked how a student can be noticed in the company.
Earlier in the day, Verizon hosted a "Shark Tank" for students organizations, also trying to show Verizon's diverse career paths, said Jennifer Arnau, Rutgers campus manager for Verizon University Relations and Diversity Recruitment Team.
"We have successfully hired Rutgers engineering students to our company, we have a lot of Rutgers alumni who work for us and we look for the best and brightest here," Arnau said.
The networking panel enabled students to "pitch" themselves to a leading technological organization, while also allowing Verizon to get a better understanding of who the students at Rutgers are, she said.
Gaining a better understanding of Rutgers students and student organizations makes it easier for Verizon to identify what organizations to look into and recruit from throughout the year, she said.
Ultimately the event was a way for industry representatives to get a better understanding of potential new members to the field and for students to interact with potential employers.
Akanksha Pathak, a School of Engineering sophomore, was there representing the Society of Women Engineers and was one of the organizations that participated in the Shark Tank event.