It’s sometimes rare to find college and high school students who use their time away from academics to professionally network and conduct self-assessment.
However, that is exactly what happened at WashingtonExec’s latest career night, hosted at Attain in Tysons Corner. Over 25 executives attended with their high school and college-age children. Keynote speakers were Nina Marks, Jason Levin and Dave West.
“The WashingtonExec Leadership Committee continues to be a high-value meetup,” Grant Sullivan said. “As a high schooler, the business networking portion of the program uniquely challenges me to develop skills that will serve me for years to come.”
Levin, founder of Ready, Set, Launch, a career management and outplacement consultancy, was welcomed back as keynote speaker to help elevate the college student’s mindset from internship acquisition to career trajectory. Titled “Interviewing: What they don’t tell you at the college career center,” the session required audience participation and long to-do lists for the program’s young participants.
West, vice president of Wolf Den Associates, spoke to WashingtonExec’s long-standing Rising Stars of GovCon Group about market predictions for the new year, as well as how billable employees can enhance their overall business acumen while on the job.
“The energy and thoughtful questions of the Rising Stars group mirrored the positive environment of federal sector right now —diverse, growing, large and in need of leaders with both expertise and durable networks and relationships able to create winning teams,” West said. “Thank you for hosting me.”
The Rising Stars of GovCon Committee is an exclusive group of young professionals aged 22-37. This invite-only group targets those who work in the government or govcon industry in the Washington, D.C., area and who have one or both parents also in the business.
“The WashingtonExec information session regarding help with interviews allowed me to improve my methods of approaching questions, as well as what I should do in order to better prepare myself not only for interviews, but for the corporate community,” said Jordan Majoros, a freshman at Indiana University majoring in statistics.
Kali Majoros, a sophomore at the University of Florida majoring in finance in the Warrington School of Business, said: “The WashingtonExec interview session opened my eyes to the amount of preparation and behind-the-scenes research one must do before an interview. As a college student interviewing for internships, this was an invaluable experience.”
WashingtonExec will host the next career night in May 2018. Previous topics for the group have included personal branding, internships, resume building, college recruiting tips, the security clearance process and how to construct a proper elevator pitch. The group meets three times a year, in May, June and December.