College Experiences That Helped a Human Resources Specialist in Government Succeed
Dravidi utilized the career center extensively, exploring opportunities like a women's conference and even a Taco Bell interview, which sparked an interest in learning and development. Furthermore, leaning into a required internship led to impactful community outreach work at the US Attorney's office, which enabled the creation of relationships that opened doors to special projects, setting up the interviewee "to keep applying the things that were learned in college to keep going".
Career Exploration, Internships, Networking, Professional Development, Resume Building
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Dravidi Stinnett
Human Resources Specialist
Government
California State University, Long Beach
Education
Government & Public Sector
Human Resources (HR)
Disabled, Honors Student, Pell Grant Recipient, Took Out Loans, Transfer Student, First Generation College Student
Video Highlights
1. Utilizing the career center for opportunities like conferences and mock interviews to explore different career paths and gain experience.
2. Leveraging required internships to apply classroom knowledge in real-world settings and identify potential career interests.
3. Building relationships through community outreach and networking to open doors for unexpected opportunities and special projects.
Transcript
What did you do in college to set you up for success in your career?
For me, I would say it was really using the career center. They posted a lot of different things, and just reading through them and trying things out helped. For instance, they had a conference on campus for women.
The career center also had an interview opportunity for Taco Bell. I didn't get it, but it was for learning and development. That made me realize I had never looked into learning and development before.
I got an interview for that based on my resume, so I decided to look into it further. I also leaned into the internship that was required for my degree. At the time, I felt I didn't have time for an internship.
However, it was great because it made me think, "Okay, I don't have a job after college, but what can I do to keep applying what I learned?" This helped set me up to keep going.
When I went to the US Attorney's office in Pittsburgh, I had just done community outreach. I had done a fellowship there, and the US Attorney was very involved in community outreach. He invited me to be on their executive committee.
At the time, I had no idea what the executive committee was. Of course, after that, I got to do other special projects that I would never have dreamed of, all because of those relationships.