Alumni Relations and Career Development have teamed up to offer “Hooked and Hired,” an ongoing series of virtual career and networking workshops for recent graduates.
Taylor Hazlehurst ’09, founding partner of resume and career-building website the 2 Percent System, kicked off the first installment with a challenge: don’t limit yourselves.
“Don’t turn down opportunities, even if they’re intimidating,” Hazlehurst advised.
Those can be “diving boards” to more opportunities for career advancement, Hazlehurst told the group of about a dozen young alumni who gathered last week on Zoom. She acknowledged that earlier in her own career, she turned down a high-level position out of fear.
Hazlehurst, who founded the marketing agency Your:Strategists, likewise cautioned students to consider their long-term goals when they evaluate opportunities. For example, she passed on a well-paying professional nanny job to work for a marketing agency instead. At the agency, she learned branding, digital marketing and web analytics – skills would get her closer to her ultimate goal of business ownership, she said.
Hazlehurst reached out to Career Development and the Rinker School of Business for a partnership because she wanted to give back, said Jennifer Fonseca, assistant director of Career Development.
Participants representing a variety of majors were joined by Katrina Lewandowski ’16 and David Williams L. II ’16, PBA Alumni Association Board members and co-chairs of the Alumni Business Networking Committee. Director of Alumni Relations Steve Eshelman, Coordinator for Alumni Relations Katie Gentry, Director of Career Development Dr. Kim Ladd and Jeff Snow, director of community engagement for the Lloyd L. Gregory School of Pharmacy.
