DDC College Aide Brenna Hemmings and STEAM Staff Present the Resume Building/College Preparedness Workshop

August 7th, 2019

 

On Wednesday, August 7th, 2019 the NYC Department of Design and Construction High School interns participated in an all-day Resume Drafting/College Preparedness Workshop organized by DDC College Aide Brenna Hemmings. This workshop had three sessions: Resume Building, College Preparedness Panel, and Mock Interviews. The all-day workshop consisted of three sessions and guest speakers, who worked both inside and outside of NYC DDC.
 
The Resume Building session featured guest speakers Nicholas MacDonald, Communications Manager from Humanities New York, Nathanael Rotsko, Urban Planner at Philip Habib & Associates, and Midori Tanabe, Project Manager in DDC’s Public Buildings division) who participated in a brief presentation on resume formatting and tips from Hemmings. After the presentation, presenters met individually with interns and reviewed each intern’s resume and provided them with constructive feedback. They also spoke with interns about their career trajectories. Throughout their session, the presenters emphasized memorable experiences, the importance of using positive action words, and creating a personal brand.
 
The College Preparedness Panel followed the Resume Building workshop. Fellow high school intern Karen Wu moderated panelists STEAM College Interns Kermit Sahney, Queens College, Marissa Gonzalez, Queens College, Amanda Cheng, Cooper Union, and Nathan Bergelson, freelancer and SUNY New Paltz alumnus. They spoke about four main areas relating to college preparedness: the school selection process, financial aid, standing out in a good way, and the first-year experience. They each emphasized the importance of time management, maintaining a healthy balance between school and personal obligations, and becoming responsible adults.
 
The mock interview session featured Jeffrey Reuben, AICP, Senior Urban Planner at Philip Habib & Associates and Alanna Soszynski-Lauter, Project Manager in DDC’s Front-End Planning unit. They discussed interview preparation, spoke about their experiences from both sides of interviews and also advised the interns to research the organization, attend job fairs, and the informal ways that candidates can also attain interviews. With their resumes handy, the interns approached these mock interviews from the fields of construction management, architecture, and engineering to understand the experience and qualifications that would be expected of them in the future. Student were interviewed; they peer-evaluated each other and watched the interviews of fellow interns. Speaking with these professionals and participating in the mock interviews allowed the interns to gain extensive knowledge about the preparation that should take place on both sides of an interview.