Advance, Cornell ILR School's publication for alumni and friends.
Issue link: https://advance.epubxp.com/i/132084
One Degree, Divergent Paths For New Graduates T he possibilities created by an ILR education are endless, and the postgraduation plans of Kevin Weber '13 and Whitney Holman '13 seem to prove it. In July, Weber begins his career in GE Capital's Financial Management Program. Every six months, he rotates to another company division. Sciences, where studying Chinese was a focus. She moved to ILR because of its strong international component and smaller school environment. "I'll be exposed to as many areas as possible — risk analysis, auditing, financial planning, forecasting." At Target, Holman worked in an HR rotation program. She interviewed job candidates, conducted performance reviews and helped coordinate team-building initiatives. Holman joins the Teach for America program this fall, after a summer of training. Her first assignment is in Texas, teaching math to middle school students. "Teach for America is a leadership program. Through this, I'll be able to help alleviate educational inequities, and it connects me to policy." Beyond these positions, they don't know what is ahead. Both are confident, though, that ILR has prepared them well to take on the future. "ILR has made me really adaptable. I can be put in any situation, apply the skills I learned, and turn that situation into a success story," Holman says. She did exactly that during her time at ILR. Holman came to the school after a year in the College of Arts & 2 During the past two summers, she gained practical experience as an intern working for Target and United Technologies Corporation. Holman was introduced as a team leader in a store managerial rotation. "I was completely terrified. I had never worked in a store before and was managing people older than me. I got a lot out of it, though. It taught me about persevering, about the importance of asking for help, and how to motivate people without being condescending." Her success, she says, can be attributed in part to what she learned about working in teams from her Organizational Behavior classes. She adds that the internships showed her the breadth of HR work in practice. Weber, who transferred from Rutgers University, says ILR ADVANCE