Photo courtesy of Robbie Shade, Flickr
The Cahill Career Development Center and the Ramapo Alumni Association along with the NYC Alumni Chapter held a special event on Feb. 8 at the Headquarters of Google, Inc., in New York City. The program included a tour of their cutting edge workplace and a presentation featuring three Ramapo alumni currently working there.
Each one of the presenters took the time to describe their path to gaining employment at Google for the visitors.
“I’m here for life,” said Jessica Beauchamp who graduated in 2005 and is now an account executive at Google.
The panel also described the many daily activities and tasks they are involved with while working there. All of the presenters seemed to express the same advice: take a risk and try something new.
“I knew nothing about Google Maps,” said Dobri Yordanov who graduated in 2015. Yordanov was an engineer but when he was offered the opportunity to work on Google Maps he enthusiastically accepted.
Partnering with The Alumni Association was helpful in bringing in other successful Ramapo alumni from different fields for students to network with. There were individuals from AMC-TV, U.S. Secret Service, NBC, Movado, Memorial Sloan Kettering and Merrill Lynch. This gave students the opportunity to speak with alumni who shared insights about working in the real world.
Over 60 people attended including President Mercer and the Vice President of Institutional Advancement, Cathleen Davey. Google staff also offered tours which showcased the environment and culture at Google. The micro kitchens with complimentary healthy food available especially impressed students and alumni. President Mercer shared his thoughts on the importance of alumni relations and how Ramapo helps prepare students for innovative jobs.
Matthew Earl, one of the 15 students selected to attend this event, was inspired by some of Mercer's words and said, “President Mercer shared memorable words on the college and greater Ramapo community…I left motivated to someday work for Google,"
Annually, Google receives 2-3 million applications. They focus on problem solving, critical analysis, “googliness” teamwork –all traits valued in a Google employee. The team at Google dub themselves as “Googley” individuals, which translates into energetic and innovative people from different majors coming together on new projects. The Ramapo students who attended were granted the opportunity to see these “Googley” individuals hard at work.
jrodri14@ramapo.edu
