While some students will be catching up on sleep or visiting friends at home during winter break, a group of AU students will be meeting professionals in marketing and communication and may even be securing internships or jobs during the New York City Site Visit Trip this January.
The AU-sponsored trip, which will take place from Jan. 5 to 7, will be an opportunity for AU students to network with AU alumni. They will also go on site visits for companies such as the Associated Press, Fox News, Sirius XM Radio and Estee Lauder, according to the Career Center Web site. Students can choose to visit up to six of these companies.
Spots for the trip filled up more quickly this year than last year, according to Bridget O’Connell, the director of Outreach and Marketing for the Career Center. O’Connell said the trip’s original quota of 75 people had to be expanded to 90 to accommodate the many people on the waitlist, and the list may have to expand even further in the near future to take on more students.
While the New York City Site Visit Trip is primarily aimed toward juniors, seniors and recent graduates from the Kogod School of Business and the School of Communication, students participating in the trip this year include some sophomores and three students each from the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Public Affairs and the School of International Service. O’Connell noted that the sophomores are coming along to attend site visits and to see what the job and internship market is like rather than to actually secure a job or internship.
Though the primary objective for this trip is for students to establish contacts, some students eventually secured jobs from companies they met on the New York City Site Visit Trip, O’Connell said.
“Though most AU students don’t get jobs on the spot when they participate in the New York City trip, many students keep ongoing communications with companies that they meet on the trip, like the MWW Group, a public relations firm in New York,” she said. “Today there are a few AU alums working for the MWW Group that originally met representatives from the MWW Group through the New York City trip.”
Despite the recession, the Career Center has not had to modify the New York City Site Visit Trip in any way, she said. A majority of the companies participating in the site visits and networking events have stayed on, and O’Connell said she expects at least 25 companies to offer site visits to AU students.
Meghan Hayde, the associate director for Corporate Relations for the Kogod Center for Career Development, has been collaborating with O’Connell and other trip planners to get Kogod students on the trip. Hayde will be making sure that students are adequately prepared for the trip with activities like an upcoming orientation session.
Hayde said she saw more Kogod students interested in the trip this year than last year, and she saw the spots fill up more quickly than she anticipated.
Hayde said she hopes all of the students participating in this trip will be able to gain valuable experiences from their time in New York City with potential employers.
“This trip will give them exposure to marketing opportunities at places like advertising agencies,” Hayde said. “It will give students the chance to make connections and see how their degree can be applied to the real world.”
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