Students
attending SAIS will be offered a multitude of services to enhance their
professional development. The Career
Services Offices across all three campuses (DC, Bologna, and Nanjing) assist
students with a number of activities, including cover letter and résumé reviews,
interview preparation, and career advising, in addition to providing required professional
development classes for students. Every year, the Career Offices also host a
number of international career treks. Company visits and alumni networking
receptions on these trips provide students an insider’s viewpoint on working in
specific sectors.
This
year, the Career Office at SAIS Europe hosted four Career Treks, which included
two trips to London, Geneva and Brussels. About 20 SAIS students participated
with company visits across a variety of
industries to better understand what it’s like to work in different sectors.
The application process to participate in a Career
Trek is quite simple. As highlighted by Ms. Amanda Dumsch, Director of Career
Services at SAIS Europe, “Many students are interested in participating on
these treks, so student apply by submitting a résumé, cover letter/ statement
of interest explaining why this trek would be beneficial for their career goals.
Applications are submitted through SAIS Works (an online portal) which students gain access to once admitted. Although
SAIS Europe is responsible for organizing the European treks, all SAIS students
(depending on their schedule) can attend any of the Career Treks throughout the US, Europe and China
as well.”
In order to better understand the formative professional
development experience, we interviewed three SAIS Europe students who attended
the European Career Treks. Below are reflections of their experiences.
Hina Samnani is a current M.A. student concentrating in
Strategic Studies. “I was
interested in the London Career Trek because London is a huge hub for the
political risk industry in Europe. This is a career path I am interested in
pursuing after graduation. As a Strategic Studies concentrator, I am currently learning
about the intersections between global security and international economics. The
political risk field tackles these issues firsthand through original research
and forecasting. Many of the organizations we visited provided details about
their internship programs and application processes. We were able to learn
about which skills these organizations look for when hiring and how we can take
advantage of our time in graduate school to develop those particular skill
sets.”
Furthermore,
Hina spoke about an organization that stood out to her, called the Economist
Intelligence Unit, a subsidiary business within The Economist. “The EIU provides forecasting and advisory services
through research and analysis and is best known for their five-year country
economic forecasts and country risk service reports.”
EJ Richardson
is a current M.A. student concentrating in Latin American Studies. Attending
the London Career Trek was a really unique experience for him: “I was able to
visit several different kinds of companies in the finance industry while also
meeting with alumni who had some great advice. Attending the Career Trek during my first
semester at SAIS allowed me to start mapping out how to take advantage of SAIS
courses in order to best focus on my future career goals. I was particularly
interested in the rating agencies we visited, which is a career path I hadn’t
previously considered.” Over the course
of two days, the group also visited major banks and investment firms like JP
Morgan and HSBC as well as rating agencies like Fitch.
As EJ further
clarifies, “the trek helped me explore paths I had not considered prior to
SAIS. The trek provided me with the information necessary to make decisions on
what skills I want to hone in on in order to be best prepared for the job
market. I would absolutely recommend that students take advantage of the unique
alumni and business network that SAIS offers through the Career Services Treks.”
Poorti Sathe, an
M.A. student at SAIS Europe, concentrating in General International Relations, attended
the SAIS Europe Career Trek to Geneva. She chose this Trek on the basis of her career
interests in multilateral and non-profit organizations. As she states, “I was specifically
interested in the fields of migration, environment, and humanitarian aid. The greatest insight from this career trek
was understanding the necessity of fieldwork and access to the SAIS alumni
network. Alumni were incredibly helpful to engage and communicate with.
Networking with them was definitely the best part of the trek.”
During the Geneva Trek, students visited organizations such
as the International Trade Centre, the International Organization for Migration
(IOM), the Geneva Environment Network (GEN), the United Nations Environment
Program (UNEP), World Food Program (WFP), World Trade Organization (WTO) and
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
From our testimonials, students affirm that the Career Treks
offer many opportunities for current students to connect with employers and
alumni. The Career Services Office works with all currently enrolled students during
their internship and job searches. When
you become a student at SAIS Europe, you are encouraged to take advantage of
all of the career service resources!
Khrystian
Pereira, MA Student (SAIS Europe 2016-2017)
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