Meet a Recent Hamline Graduate
Abdi, 2005 Hamline Graduate, International Management and Mathematics
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My name is Abdi and I am originally from Somalia. I graduated from Edison high school in Minneapolis and started my college career at Hamline University. I always wanted to be a doctor but after my first years at Hamline, I took Management and Economics classes and I fell in love with them. I wanted to go back home to Africa and teach economics as an important tool that can provide stability and instill the practical skills and knowledge that can help break the cycle of poverty. I begin my career search after I took different economic development courses such as Labor Economics and International Economic Development. I liked these courses because they trained me to think analytically and critically. They also taught me to solve complex problems and trained me to recognize human behavior in relation to work, production, distribution and consumption.
I was involved with Hamline African Students Association, where I was the founder and the first president. I also was a part of the MISA Office, Habitat for Humanity, and Pride Black Students Alliance. I was a Resident advisor for two years; I worked at the Somali community of MN as a Youth Organizer, Admission Possible, Office of Service Learning and Volunteerism and attended the Spring Break Service trip to Philadelphia in 2005. The Career Development Center was very important in terms of helping with my resume and cover letters. I attribute all of my success to wonderful professors such as Martin Markowitz, Fahima Aziz, and Hossien Akhavi-bour. They really helped and guided me along the way.
One of my favorite classes was intro to Sociological Thinking. Being an immigrant from Africa, I was able to learn about race in America and what it means to live in a melting-pot nation. This was one of my first classes as a freshman. Professor Martin Markowitz said my name and asked where I was from. I told him I was from Somalia. "Welcome, glad to have you here" he replied. This made me feel at ease with myself and I felt right at home. For the rest of my life I will never forget those words.
In my four years at Hamline, I did different internships and the two most memorable ones were working with Admission Possible and Wells Fargo. Both helped me explore what I wanted in life. They taught me about for-profit and non-profit organizations and how they go about doing business. I learned a great deal about business execution, ethical responsibility, and change in this dynamic and rapidly changing world. Overall, Hamline University and its faculty, administration, students, and community helped me grow as a person and made me become a good human being who will make a mark on the world and the lives of others. I will continue to grow as I attend Economics school at the University of Minnesota and start my career at Target Corporation. | back to top>Ann, 2005 Hamline Graduate, English Major
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I graduated from Hamline in May 2005 as an English major and a Creative Writing minor, and I am now working as an editor at Thomson West, a legal publishing company in St. Paul. My job covers the process of receiving laws passed by state legislatures and publishing them in print and online. I decided that I wanted to be an editor in the publishing industry during my senior year at Hamline. Before that point I had not considered what I needed to know to get a job in the "real" world; as an English major I was simply doing something I loved. So when I set my career goal, I knew I needed to be true to my interests and skills, just as I had been when choosing a major.
With my goal in mind, I asked my English professors about finding jobs and went to the CDC. My professors helped me name the skills I had that prepared me for the publishing industry; for example, I was a critical reader, a confident writer, and an organizer of information. My senior year I completed an honors project in English, and this project was also instrumental in highlighting the skills I had learned. At the CDC I did a mock interview, received advice on my resume and cover letters, and got answers to questions about job-search protocol was told to build contacts with people connected to publishing, to check the newspapers for jobs, and to call companies I was interested in to see if they had any job openings. One such "cold call" led to a part-time freelance editing job with a small publishing company in the Twin Cities. And after all this searching, I learned about the opening at Thomson West through a family friend. I advise anyone beginning his or her career search to try all of these methods of looking for a job, because I know that jobs are found in many different ways. | back to top>
Carla, 2005 Hamline Graduate, Environmental Studies and Psychology
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I was in Girl Scouts when I was younger and that taught me the values I have about stewardship, conservation, and being a good citizen. I love being outdoors and interacting with wildlife and nature. In high school I learned more about environmental issues and knew that was what I wanted to do with my life. For me, environmental studies was about my passion for the field.
I read some books about careers in the environmental fields and talked to many professionals, and really found that almost any career can have elements of environmentalism in it. It is such an interdisciplinary field, having elements of ecology, political science, economics, biology, physics, and many more. The complex problems of our world require solutions that take into account all these aspects.
What prepared me most for my career was my campus job at the Center for Global Environmental Education and my off-campus environmental studies program with the Higher Education Consortium of Urban Affairs (HECUA). The HECUA program introduced me to many professionals in the field, as well as providing a great framework for studying environmental issues. It was invaluable to my development and experience. I also completed an internship with Windustry, a non-profit that does wind energy education and advocacy. It helped me see the application of my skills and studies.
On campus, I was involved in Minnesota Public Interest Research Group (MPIRG), many committees as a Resident Assistant, the Environmental Studies Club, the Hamline Winds and Orchestra, the Osnes-Brooks leadership honor society, and went to many events held by the student organizations. The Career Development Center was extremely helpful as I began my job search. They helped me craft an effective resume and cover letters that highlight my skills and experience. I strongly recommend everyone utilize the Career Development Center all their years at Hamline. My favorite classes that were not part of my major were Introduction to Anthropology and General Psychology. It was very interesting to get a taste of different fields and develop the breadth of my knowledge.
I recently got a job at the Environmental Health Sciences Center at the University of Southern California. I am a coordinator in the Community Outreach and Education Program, working with community groups to educate the public on air pollution and influence policy. | back to top>John, 2005 Hamline Graduate, Management and Political Science
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Attending Hamline in the fall of 2001 I knew that I had an interest in politics. Hamline’s political science program is strong and one of the reasons I came. At the same time, I knew that an economics or management degree would be good for a wide variety of jobs. Starting out my first year, my First-Year Seminar became an important class because I was taught the basics of the Hamline community, but it also served as my first group of close friends on campus. I never did an internship because I was so busy with on-campus activities and working in the Bush Library. I think that my internship experience was being a student leader involved in student congress, serving as president of the Hamline Inter-Residence Council, and working for Residential Life. I started to get serious about my life after Hamline when some of my close friends graduated in 2004; seeing them enter the job market made me realize how important it is to have some direction during your senior year.
I started to pay more attention to the Career Development Center’s email announcements and took part in their resume workshops. In the fall of my senior year I attended a presentation on campus by General Mills and submitted my resume. I soon had multiple interviews for a few positions and was offered a job in November of my senior year as a Trade Payment Specialist. The faculty in the management and economics department were very supportive and were great resources in preparing me for the interviews.
Looking back, an internship was something that would have been beneficial for me, but I would have had to sacrifice some of my favorite activities and doing things that I loved. I believe that my involvement in a wide variety of activities showed that I was well rounded, and that is an important feature for employers. One of my loves is politics, and even though I am not currently active in that area, the business world is all about politics. My advice to current students is to become involved in student groups at Hamline, it’s a great way to build lasting friendships and see your hard work be enjoyed by other students. Before your senior year, get serious about looking at employment and figuring out what you would be happy doing! | back to top>Juanita, 2005 Hamline Graduate, Criminal Justice and Sociology
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Hello my name is Juanita and I graduated from Hamline University Magna Cum Laude with a double major in Criminal Justice and Sociology. I am continuing my education at William Mitchell College of Law in the fall 2005. During my time at Hamline University I was involved in many student activities and organizations. I played varsity women’s basketball, was the President and Treasurer of PRIDE Black Student Alliance, the Black history month Coordinator, a member of HUSC, I worked closely with the MISA office, I was a founding member of the Brooks Osnes Leadership Honorary Society, a member of Alpha Kappa Delta, Pi Gamma Mu, Phi Beta Kappa, the liaison to the Black Grad Student Alliance and more. Being involved in student organizations is a rewarding experience that teaches you a lot about time management, working with others, and about the world in general. I interned at Hennepin Powderhorn Partners Juvenile Probation for a year and the relationships that I was able to gain have really helped me as I continue to plan my future.
When I entered college I researched many careers and the one career that I felt fit most with who I am as a person, my future goals and how I could be most influential in this world was law. I read books, magazines, articles, and any literature I could get my hands on to find out more about what path I needed to take to achieve my goals. I began networking in all different aspects of my life, including at my employment, at church and volunteer sites and of course here at Hamline.
The one thing that I feel really prepared me the most for my career choice is all the meetings and interaction I had with professionals whom had traveled down similar paths. I had numerous lunch meetings and conferences just talking with lawyers and judges about the positives and negative of entering the legal profession. I also sought assistance from the career development center for practice interviews and resume building workshops. The Career Development Center (CDC) staff was very helpful and always willing to assist me whenever I had a stumbling block. Along with the CDC, faculty and staff on the Hamline University campus were very helpful.
The advice that I would give students beginning their career search is to keep an open mind, exhaust all your resources, meet as many people in various disciplines as you can, begin a business card collection through networking, volunteer, stay active on campus and in the community and most importantly follow your heart. | back to top>
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