The Career Center’s Rams Helping Rams (RHR) Program recently held its Kickoff and Speed Networking event at the McShane Campus Center at Rose Hill. With over 130 applications to the program, more than 100 graduating seniors were invited to network with esteemed alumni and gain insight into their post-graduation lives.
The night began with an address from a panel of alumni, each of whom had taken non-traditional career paths to end up in their prominent roles. This portion of the evening served to alleviate some of the stress usually associated with networking events by providing students with a sense of familiarity, as well as allowing the alumni to be humanized as opposed to being viewed as intimidating executives. The alumni on the panel, which included Phil Izzo, FCRH ’98, Associate Managing Editor, The Wall Street Journal, Marion Gendron, FCRH ’16, Senior Account Manager, Google, and Patrick Damon PhD, FCLC ’13, Information Security Manager, NYC Genome Center, spoke to the idea of career being an ever-changing concept as opposed to a rigid decision made at graduation- something many students needed to hear as they are approaching their own graduation date and interviews for their first roles post-graduation.
After the presentation, participants were invited to begin the Speed Networking component of the evening in groups of two or three students as they spent 5 minutes with each alumni. Each student received a networking guide with the format and tips. Participants were responsible for introducing themselves and creating a follow up action. The limited amount of time and format was intentionally designed so students would focus on communication, professionalism, and networking skills.
Following the formal speed networking, students and alumni were invited to stay to continue the conversations. Kathleen Tiernan, Gabelli School of Business ‘24, was extremely enthusiastic to enter conversations with fellow Rams, sharing she “had a fantastic time last night getting to know such prominent and encouraging alumni.” Alum Patrick Damon, Ph.D., shared this enthusiasm about passing knowledge onto the next generation of Fordham graduates and was proud his “heart melted no less than ten times” at this “very fulfilling” experience.
To learn more about Fordham mentoring programs, including Rams Helping Rams, please visit https://ramconnect.fordham.edu/
The Fordham Career Center is committed to building a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship while providing a bridge between the classroom experience and the world beyond. Throughout the job and internship search process, it is our goal to help students, alumni, community partners and employers alike understand the extraordinary value of a Fordham education. To learn more about our offerings and connect with the Career Center, visit fordham.edu/career.
