Undergraduate Career Development Center’s Host a Hoya Program Has Record-Breaking Participation in its Third Year
The McDonough Undergraduate Career Development Center successfully completed its third year of Host a Hoya — with record-breaking participation of over 200 matches between alumni and students. Host a Hoya is a one-day job shadow experience where Georgetown McDonough undergraduate students can experience a day-in-the-life of alumni. This micro-mentoring opportunity is carried out during winter break and is available to all McDonough students as a way to learn more about a career that interests them.
In partnership with Georgetown McDonough’s Office of Alumni Relations, the Career Development Center meticulously studied each application to ensure the best matches and placed particular emphasis on the career development of each student. For instance, first-year students typically learned more general information about the field, while seniors received more hands-on feedback about how to differentiate themselves in their industry.
Entering into his second year at the McDonough School of Business, Luke Crowley (B’23) sought the opportunity to learn from an accomplished professional in his field of interest and discovered something new.
“Although I have always been interested in aviation, I had never really given thought to a career in it until my conversation with Adriana Penalba,” said Crowley. “A manager of fleet planning at American Airlines, she offered invaluable insight into the financial planning behind airlines and how America is weathering the coronavirus pandemic.”
Record participation this year was due to the program’s transition to the virtual environment. “While students are typically able to visit alumni directly at their workplace, it became a dynamic virtual meeting instead,” said Talia Schatz, director, Undergraduate Career Center. “This allowed students to interact with alumni all over the world and across the professional spectrum without any geographical restrictions.”
The scope of the program enables students to learn from Hoyas they would not have had the chance to interact with otherwise. Schatz highlighted that networking truly did span the globe, with students and alumni connecting from places like Boston, Denver, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Portland, Washington D.C., Hong Kong, London, and more.
The portfolio of companies represented by alumni were equally as diverse and included:
- Barclays plc
- Colgate-Palmolive Company
- Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.
- Google LLC
- Facebook, Inc.
- Major League Soccer
- The North Face
Schatz also described the benefit of Host a Hoya for undergraduate students, given its shared background with alumni.
“Host a Hoya connects students with successful alumni who can offer targeted, nuanced, and effective advice,” said Schatz. “Students receive invaluable, behind-the-scenes feedback about how to leverage their education as an undergraduate at McDonough — something that both the alum and student share.”