Emerson Exchange 365

Target’s Valentine’s Day card section is, in a word, robust.  There are cards for Moms, Dads, sisters, spouses, grandparents and friends. But not one card for your job. And why would there be?!? My job has given me gray hairs.  And glasses. It has me pounding away on this dumb laptop at 11:17pm while I decide between sleep and answering one more email.  Alas, like the dopey boy in elementary school who pulled my pigtails and called me “Smellifer”, I adore my job.

Let me explain...

I knew a girl in college who almost dropped out in the middle of her sophomore year. She’d made the mature and heavily researched selection of her university based on one concrete, compelling factor: her high school boyfriend was enrolled there. These 2 were gross.  Their dorms were less than 50 feet apart, 3 of 5 classes on their class schedules were the same, and they both worked at the campus bookstore.  She even bought the same ‘supercool’ Van Heusen striped Oxford polo which resulted, on occasion, in them wearing them on same day (insert heavy eye roll here).  This saturated relationship ended the only way it could –it shattered to pieces in a Gossip Girl-level break up. She was devastated. Teary-eyed, she called her father and asked what she needed to do to drop out. He encouraged her to give it one more semester, so she did. She found a place in a sorority, became a summer orientation counselor and joined a dance team.  This girl, was me 

Moving forward. One day I was speaking with one of my advisors and had a eureka moment - this person was paid, with actual American dollars, to do THIS for a living. When I finished my undergrad degree, I enrolled in the Master of Counseling program and selected College Student Services as my concentration.

Before coming to Emerson; I spent 10 years in a variety of roles in a university setting. I was a student organizations advisor, leadership programs coordinator, new student orientation coordinator, academic advisor, and even had one mind-boggling stint as a fraternity/sorority advisor (never again).  In my role as an Academic Advisor in the Department of Computer Science at The University of Texas at Austin, a huge portion of my time was spent fielding questions from prospective students and their families.  It made sense to me that the best person to field questions about what it’s like to be a student in the department… was another student (my head
 is NOT just a hat rack!).  With support for my supervisor, I created the program, CS Ambassadors.  I had to push fairly hard to get the department to support the program; the sheer number of emails and meetings that took place simply to lock down our nametags was shocking.  I’m proud to see that the program has not only flourished, but one of the former CS Ambassadors is now an Emerson employee (Hi, Jessica Siu!)

That’s why I love what I do. College is one of the most exciting times in a student’s life because it’s full of endless possibilities. It’s the time when you can safely try and fail and try again. You can test your passions in courses outside of your major and practice living and working with people who are different from you by studying abroad (or going to 6^th Street if you’re in Austin, TX).  Meanwhile, you’re developing practical skills in negotiation, patience, and compromise.

Our interns repeatedly say that the biggest reason the fall in love with Emerson is because of the people they meet. (Being part of a billion-dollar business is also very high on their list). My job is to connect great students with great Emerson staff; not only via recruiting, but also through a variety of events, programs, information sessions, internships and externships.  Our summer internships include a host of activities that connect college students with budding K-12 engineers. They volunteer alongside our Women in STEM group at Emerson’s annual I Love STEM Day and collaborate with organizations such as the Texas Alliance for Minorities in Engineering (TAME) to bring the Trailblazer bus to 4^th and 5^th graders for DiscoverE Girl Day.  

I’m lucky to have the support of Emerson colleagues around the globe who, despite it being outside of their job description, roll up their sleeves and say “how can I help you bring more taleneted people to Emerson”  Note: Emerson doesn’t just seek out engineers. Our Shanghai office recently hosted a session for University of Texas McCombs School of Business students. Thirty-five MBA students toured the office and engaged in a Q&A with Emerson leadership about topics ranging from what it’s like to be an ex-pat to how Emerson stands out in a very competitive marketplace. When I walk around the office and see interns who have returned as full-time employees, it makes me smile.  I’d like to think the time I took them indoor go-kart racing or worked alongside them to escape from the Austin Panic Room contributed to their perception of Emerson’s culture. 

If I could do it all again, I would slap my college self in the face. I would tell young me to do an internship or participate in a STEM-related summer camp, oh, and learn to love exercise earlier than later. Current me wouldn’t change much at all and is happy that I now get paid, in actual American dollars, to be a part of something so fulfilling.

Please feel free to contact me if you are interested in participating in any University Recruiting initiatives.