Weekly Report 6: Finally Some Interviews…and a Mentor!

This past week, I finally had my first two interviews of this school year. It feels odd to be starting the whole interview process again and I do feel like I got lucky with very responsive and kind professionals last year. Both of the professionals I met with thus far have been incredibly insightful. The first professional interview I had was with McKenna Schultz, an associate at Altair Global who I met at the Professional Symposium a few weeks ago. She was able to tell me a lot about her work in relocation services and the soft skills that come with it. Interestingly, she shared that she intentionally chose this company over the faster paced consulting jobs since she wanted a better work-life balance. This is something important for me to periodically review myself as I work towards entering the job market in a few years. My other interview was with Hubert Zydorek, a Global Business professor at UTD. It was fascinating to hear about his consulting experience in Asia and his work mentoring college students. They both encouraged me to stay up to date with current events, including tariffs, immigration, and AI, instead of only focusing on my little bubble of school and clubs. I hope to reconnect with both of these individuals for a second interview going forward.

On a separate note, Señor Vargas has been approved as my mentor, so I am really excited to start working with him, and hopefully other Spanish students, to help them learn the language while improving my knowledge simultaneously. I am looking to also get a business mentor so I have one for both aspects of international business, but I am still working on contacting more business or consulting professionals. Overall, I am happy that things have really started picking up and I can’t wait to see how my original work turns out at the end of this semester.