"Resist the idea to manage your career alone," says Steven Haverlock, a senior studying Human Resource Management and Women’s and Gender Studies, who recently secured a full-time post-graduation offer with Goldman Sachs as an Analyst in their Human Capital Management division.
"There is no pride in being self-made, only loneliness and missed opportunities. It truly takes a village for individuals to get both the big and small wins, both professionally and personally. Asking for help doesn’t mean that you don’t work hard, it means that you understand when someone might have more expertise than you do or a new perspective that can help you to flourish."
Steven Haverlock, former Honors College ambassador, resident assistant, First-year Interest Group Seminars (FIGS) peer instructor, and 2017 Chancellor's Student Leadership Gala Champion of Diversity and Inclusion award recipient has explored a multitude of opportunities here at Rutgers. His involvement on campus has enabled Steven to develop his skills and gain access to real-work internship experiences, where he spent the summers of 2017 and 2018 as a Summer Analyst at Goldman Sachs, focusing on Diversity Recruiting and Talent Assessment.
When asked what contributed to his success, Steven stated, "participating in internships was completely instrumental to my post-graduation success. Interning not only built up my skill set but taught me how to go about acquiring new skills and areas of expertise.”
For Steven, items like internships and his campus involvement opened up new doors for him and new opportunities to showcase and develop his work. In 2017, Steven landed the opportunity to teach an ‘Exploring Diversity & Social Justice’ section through University Career Services as a Peer Instructor for the First-year Interest Group Seminars (FIGS). FIGS are one-credit courses offered to first-years during their fall semester taught by upper-class students like Steven and are designed to educate first-year students on the resources available to them at Rutgers through the lens of a career interest.
“I always joke with my friends that once you teach a FIGS, nothing can scare you anymore,” said Steven, “the FIGS program had a huge impact on my confidence and belief in my leadership skills. After teaching, I felt empowered to put myself out there and expose myself to new opportunities and public scrutiny. This level of confidence led to my giving a Ted-Talk style talk at an LGBT Business Conference last September and joining a diversity-recruiting startup."
Steven’s experience with the FIGS program distinguished him from his peers both on and off-campus, enabling him to enhance his event planning, project management, and organizational skills. While spending time with full-time professionals from all walks of life, it helped him articulate skill sets and his professional career aspirations.
Steven also served as an Honors College ambassador for two and a half years, where he had the opportunity to become a builder. “Programs, traditions, positions, workflows - I got to witness and participate in the establishment of a community from the ground up.” Steven assisted in developing a recruiting process and a training program for their ambassador population and felt, “it was empowering to have my skills recognized and to be able to apply what I learned both inside and outside of the classroom to benefit my community and future Honors College students.”
Currently, Steven is working for the Campus Recruiting Team at Jopwell on strategy, user acquisition, data analysis, and content development, where his inherited skill sets and knowledge from his student experience, generated a significant impact. “At Jopwell, we started working on developing a two-day student conference focused on professional development and cultural authenticity. No one knew where to start, so I took the lead and pulled out my lesson planning and workshop templates [from FIGS] to explain the level of detail needed. I even got them to start rebuilding the schedule for the conference according to principles set out by the Primacy/Recency Effect that we learned in our training.”
When asked to define success, Steven voiced that, “reaching a position where one is relatively happy, improving the world around them, and growing into a better human.” Despite the diversity of experiences Steven has encountered, he has leveraged his skills to pursue his goals, by embracing new opportunities, building community, and fostering relationships to yield success.
FULL SOURCE: Rutgers Career Exploration and Success | My Career Journey - Steven Haverlock