On July 13, we hosted a Virtual College and Career Panel with BlackRock. As the start to a meaningful series of college-readiness events with the financial institution, SSP high school upperclassmen and college students heard from employees about their experiences and learned about internship and job opportunities.
Panelists emphasized the diversity of disciplines and opportunities within the firm, and shared their passions in high school and experiences with mentorship and how that impacted their career trajectories.
Terence Velez, OCIO Analyst, discussed his path to choosing a career in finance. He shared his experience of attending a career fair and meeting employees of BlackRock for the first time. These employees encouraged him to make a shift from psychology to finance, and Terence credits their support to the start of this life-transition, stressing the importance of mentors who provide guidance.
“It’s the values and the principles of this firm that brought me here, not so much finance,” said Christina McDonald, Human Resources Rotational Analyst. She attended a career talk which opened her up to careers in human resources. Her ability to learn the practices of this field inspired her to seek similar roles, highlighting how vital events like this are to developing an understanding of career avenues.
Souleymane, SSP alumnus and senior at Stony Brook University, wrote to our team after the event. He said, “It was very informative and helpful to see the perspective from current employees. I feel that I had so much in common with each person who shared their stories, whether it was being an athlete, not having a strong financial background, and not really have a straight career path.”
We look forward to offering additional opportunities like this to our students and alumni through the incredible partnership with BlackRock.
