Not many people can say that they love their jobs. However, Marianna Savoca, director of the Career Center at Stony Brook begs to differ. She not only loves her job; she takes pride in helping SBU students find jobs and internships that they love, too.
The path to director of the Career Center has been an interesting one for Savoca. She was a work study student at Binghamton University and worked at the Student Career Developmental Center during her undergraduate years. She said laughing, ‘It happened to be the coolest thing around.’ It was then that Savoca realized her passion for helping others. She wanted to help students create their future. She said, ‘Whenever a student walks through that door, we do our 200% best to address their needs. That’s why we are here.’
Many students are unaware of the value of the Career Center until their senior year. Savoca realizes the tough task of getting students through the door earlier in their college career. She says, ‘We understand that thinking about life after college is intimidating. Most students aren’t ready to think about it, but we are here when you need us.’
The Career Center offers many benefits for students throughout the school year. With their friendly, smiling, welcoming faces, the employees of the Career Center, including Savoca, are all about helping. Savoca added, ‘Our philosophy is pro-student. Our hope is for students to make connections with professionals to obtain internships and jobs.’
Some of the services that the Career Center offers include the Career Contact Network, a database of 500+ SBU alumni and friends that want to help current SBU students. ‘Students should be taking advantage of this’ Savoca said. Past events have included Job Shadowing that took place this past January, where students followed a professional around and got a chance to step into different work environments. The sold-out Etiquette Dinner was held this past week with 272 people in attendance. These attendees included students, faculty, mentors, alumni and even the Provost himself. Savoca believes that these types of events teach students how to be successful in a business/professional environment.
Upcoming events include the kick-off of Internship Week this week, where certain workshops have been set up for students. Each day this week, these workshops will provide information on how to obtain internships in many different fields, including government and public service, writing and media, health-care, and corporate industry. Internship Week culminates on Friday with Mock Interview Day with about 150 students. Savoca explained, ‘It’s sort of like a speed dating format.’ Round tables will be set up with each table seating 5 students and 1 adult corporate representative. Savoca added, ‘In this way students get practice interviewing and getting feedback immediately. It helps students learn from each other.’ The goal for Internship Week, according to Savoca, is to give students access to as many opportunities as possible.
Marianna Savoca herself has a wish for SBU students who are just getting started in thinking about their future. ‘My wish is that students would do something. Do anything. Get some experience.’ She believes this is the first step students should take in making themselves more attractive to companies. She added, ‘In the end, all we want for the students here at Stony Brook is to graduate, be employable and be happy. That’s all that matters.’
