Professionals-for-a-Day
Held every April, Professionals-for-a-Day provides students with an opportunity to ‘job shadow’ a professional who is already in employed in the career the student is interested in. While allowing students the chance to actively observe, these experiences can sometimes result in the development of internship opportunities or even employment interviews. At the conclusion of the day, hosting employers and participating students are invited to attend a reception on campus to network and share experiences.
Below is a sample of employer and student comments:
Student Comments
Gina Olivadese, Nursing Major
I visited UCP in Boonville and enjoyed it very much. I had built several stereotypes about institutions for the disabled, those were false. I was pleasantly surprised to see how the homes were homey. The rooms were decorated with the resident in mind, they even were able to pick the color of their room. Each house has an LPN and several direct care workers. I was so impressed with the organization and with the employees. I currently have an interview set up for Thursday 4-13. I have also sent a thank you note to the home, thanking them for their hospitality.
Amelia Stein, Mechanical Engineering Technology Major
The day went well. I followed up with the company by emailing them thank you letters, and asking if there were any open positions for internships. I have an interview Thursday! I think professionals for a day was an excellent way to get one foot into the company and make professional connections.
John Gardner, Business Major
Great job Bob. The entire program was wonderful!
Jaynee Davis-Brown, Business Major
Dear Bob:
I had a wonderful day at Lockheed Martin. Kay is an incredibly kind and intelligent individual. I was able to get a glimpse in to the world of virtual employment and found it quite interesting and impressive. The reception was top notch and I met some very interesting people there as well. Thank you very much for the opportunity!
Josh Glassberg, Computer Science Major
I went to Dolphin Tech. I loved it. I really enjoyed talking to some real professionals at a really neat company. I would love to work there in the future. I spent two hours with each of the software engineers. They bought pizza. Everything was great, thanks for the opportunity.
Karwan Zebari, Electrical Engineering Technology Major
Hi Bob,
My Professional day was with TYCO Healthcare/Kendall. Then I attended the reception at SUNY IT at Peter Cayan Library: At this time, I had an opportunity to meet Michelle from NYPA and two other representatives from MetLife followed by a long chat with the TYCO staff again. These folks were very nice and respectful. They motivated us a lot and made it clear to us that there is always light at the end of the tunnel.
At the moment, I am tiring to follow up with them regarding that technician position and possibly other sites that may have more openings in my area such as the Watertown, NY TYCO site.
Over the weekend, I sent a thank you email letter to all the employees I sat down with and thanked them for taking so much time out of their busy schedule to acquaint me with their company and business operation.
I also would like to sincerely thank you Bob and your staff for taking so much time and putting so much effort into this successful day.
Thanks again and I hope this feedback helps.
Paul Hipple, Telecom Major
The following is a feedback for the Professionals for a Day project. I was assigned to Utica First Insurance. My point of contact was Richard R. Shlotzhauer. The experience was simply excellent. The day was extremely well organized. I was able to spend time with 6 different people in the department. I found the information very interesting, especially with the company's scanning project. I was able to find some common interests with Mr. Shlotzhauer. This will hopefully lead to some help in the future, for job placement. I was able to talk to their help desk person for some programs to use in the future. The staff was friendly and informative. They also had a free lunch which is always a plus. The experience overall was informative, interesting, friendly and just fun. Thanks for the assignment I did not think it would be this good. I was originally hoping for the TECH something placement, but I do not see how it could have been any better unless they offered someone an actual job on the spot. Thanks a lot Bob, it worked out great.
Melody A. Branigan, Computer Science Major
Professionals for a Day was a wonderful program. I was introduced to several aspects of my field of interest (Computer Science) that I had very limited knowledge of. I was able to see many different career paths in my field that I had not considered and this really opened my eyes. I am interested in participating in more programs like this and would recommend this program to all students. Thank you for offering me this opportunity.
Hemangi Galinde, Computer Science Major
Firstly I want to thank career services for giving all of us such a wonderful opportunity. I was selected to spend my day with "New York Power Authority" on 7th April for the 'Professionals for a day'. It was a wonderful experience. the team at NYPA received us with great pleasure and tried to give us information and knowledge that would be helpful to us. I came to know how many "attributes" are to be taken into consideration before any final decision or task is accomplished. I was lucky enough since i got the chance to attend a live distance conference i.e NYPA-Utica and NYPA- White Plains were discussing over their new changes. Importance to find flaws which is important before implementing anything 'wrong' or to avoid future problems. I got to see and talk with senior officials in the Finance as well as the IT department. I also have an internship opportunity which I am looking forward to. I appreciate the reception which was organized later. It is my sincere request that such events be organized as they are very helpful and give 'out of the classroom' experience. I am Thankful to entire career services and NYPA
Gary Pereira, Finance Major
I had a good time with my time with the Oneida Nation. Most of the day I spent asking questions mainly on daily work that people in the finance dept have to deal with. I also spent some time discussing what subjects in college are the most important in the real world. I believe that a lot more students should take advantage of this program to understand what they are learning in school will be what they need in the real world (answering the question: when will I ever have to use this?)
Brian A. Griffin, Business Major
Thanks for setting up this career shadowing. I had a good time. My employer, metlife, gave me a nice overview of what goes on in that building. I learned about the different jobs that are found there, and what they do on the average day. I was also given a lot of background on metlife as a company. The people who I interacted with there were very nice, and treated me very nice. There was another student that was scheduled to be there, however he did not show up, so I had all the attention.
I had no idea what to expect because I had never done anything like this before. I was not sure if I would just be standing there watching someone work all day, lucky this was not the case. I think if I had a better idea of what to expect I would have had better questions to ask, because now that I have already visited metlife, I am now thinking about questions I should have asked, that’s ok though, because I still learned a lot, and gained some useful information from doing this. Thanks a lot. If I can help further in anyway please let me know.
Thank you again.
Nick Sinstack, Electrical Engineering Major
The Professionals For a Day event was great for students. Visiting New York Power Authority’s Marcy Control Station allowed me to see the actual duties of engineers at the facility and visit with prospective employers. This visit was excellent since high-voltage transmission is primarily the area I would like to work in. This day gave the opportunity to visit with employees, research positions with NYPA hassle free and become friendly with people that I may meet again in the future if applying for career opportunities. The employees that I met with were all very helpful and went above and beyond to familiarize the students with the environment and what they might expect in their field.
Employer Comments
Michele A. LaPorte, PHR
Facility Manager - Human Resources
NY Power Authority - Clark Energy Center
We were pleased with the students and their knowledge base.
Feedback included the following:
- Students asked many good questions.
- Good opportunity for us to view possible Interns and for the students to see the work environment and whether they are interested in internships.
- Good opportunity for students to get a "hands on view" of their academics at work and a better understanding of the industry and hopefully this will help in choosing a career path.
Overall it was a very good day and we are now considering one of the students for an internship position. (update – the student was offered and accepted an internship).
I can definitely say that we are pleased with our SUNY experiences and the caliber of Interns and graduates that we have hired.
Richard R. Shlotzhauer
V.P. & Director Information Systems
Utica First Insurance Company
Our student was very professional and made a good impression on everyone here. He was rotated through the IT department and met with six people in various areas of IT throughout the day. He felt that he gained valuable knowledge from the experience. The shadow program works very well as it is and yes, I will participate again. Keep up the good work.
Valerie Vohid
ConMed Corporation
Employment Supervisor
One of our students shadowed Bill Boris for drafting, Vinny Lucianatelli for graphic design, and Jennifer Centore to record retention. I received a very nice email from her today and have spoken to Brian Lasher about possible summer employment. She interviewed and will be offered a position. (update - she started on 5/8/06 and is working with our Quality Engineering group).
I would be happy to participate again next year.
The other student shadowed with Tim Markert, Manufacturing Superintendent. He was very professional and pleasant. He asked questions and showed great interest in our operation of Manufacturing. He spent the rest of the day with Tim, who went about his normal tasks. His schooling is more in the line of Engineering, so this gave him the opportunity to see and experience Production. To sum it all, I think this was a good experience for him and myself.
Cindy Harney
Delpa, Accountant
Europe Operations Branch
DFAS Rome
Both the students and employees had a great day. The students were very observant and asked a lot of great questions. DFAS Staff was impressed with the students on how inquisitive they were.
We would like to participate and if possible we would like to have more students attending The DFAS Job Shadowing Day.
We at DFAS thank you for the opportunity to share a day with your very educated and talented students. We really enjoyed the time we spent with your students and we are looking forward to hosting this event again next year.
Kay L. Sinclair
Lockheed Martin - Enterprise Information Systems
SD&I, Resource Manager
Lockheed Martin
Staff liked our student, she asked good questions, we wished we could find money for an internship for her.
Debbie McCoy
Dolphin Technologies
I thought it was the right time for our student to come by. He was going into his junior year and needed to determine in which direction he was going to go as far as a major and future career choice. I think after the day, he was much more informed about what a Software Engineer does,
The student's career goals differed largely from what we do as engineers. The student may have benefited more from another opportunity; however we were able to show the student another aspect of the engineering world.
Michelle Manning
Capraro Technologies
Jim Scherzi spent the day with our student and was impressed with him. He asked questions and showed interest all day. I was impressed with him when I met him at the reception. He was articulate and intelligent*
Sheila Munnings
MetLife
Just wanted to let you know how much we enjoyed participating this year and we look forward to next year!
Amy Schmid
UCP
It was an excellent opportunity to share information about our services and operations and the student was very interested in learning about the services and potential career choices. I feel the event went very well and I strongly advocate for continued participation. (update – one of the students will be starting with UCP on May 1st as the RN at their Szczygiel Residence)
Kelly Sullivan, SPHR
HR Manager
NYSTEC
Neither of the two students attended - one cancelled at 3am the morning of the event, the other didn't have a ride. (One of our guys even offered to meet the student and bring him to the office.) We had an agenda of people ready to speak and show, and lunch ordered – those who volunteered their time were very disappointed. Also - they were considering these folks to be potential hires - not so much anymore.
We continue to be interested in hosting, and hope for students who look at the opportunity as a way to get a foot into the door for employment. Thanks - we appreciate all of your work
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