Career Insights: Nine Employers on What They Look for in Saint Mary’s Students
Takeaways from leaders and recruiters at the spring SMC Career Fair. Plus advice from Gaels in the workforce to those looking for a first job.
With commencement just around the corner, Saint Mary’s hosted the Spring Career and Hiring Fair earlier this month. The event brought 80 organizations to connect with more than 350 students, with opportunities for full-time and part-time positions in businesses and startups, education and government, nonprofit organizations and more—as well as internships and volunteer work.
On hand at the Soda Center on March 2 were recruiters from the likes of KCBS Radio and Genentech, the City of Berkeley and Bio-Rad Laboratories, as well as school districts and firms covering a range of needs in banking, insurance, and investment. Graduate programs may be the ideal next step for some, and representatives from a range of programs at Saint Mary’s were there to answer questions as well.
The career fair offers opportunities not only for graduating seniors but for recent alumni and other current students, including for summer work or internship opportunities. And more than a few of the employers come with a first-hand understanding of what Gaels bring to an organization: Nearly four dozen of the employers recruiting have Saint Mary’s alumni on their teams.
So what is an employer looking for when they talk to Saint Mary’s students? And why do they value the skills, attitude, and abilities that they find with Gael alumni? We spoke with some to find out. Here are a few key takeaways—with a focus on insights and advice, whether we’re talking undergraduates completing a bachelor’s or graduate students looking to kickstart a career.
Standish Management | A desire to explore
Jesse Molina ’16 is an engagement manager with Standish Management, a specialized fund administration services for managers and general partners of venture capital and private equity funds. Molina already has more than six years’ experience with the firm; they’re on the lookout for interns and associates. So what are they looking for in candidates?
Max Sugarman MS ’22, a fund associate, says Saint Mary’s students have a reputation for striving to grow. “Saint Mary’s students are typically asking questions and have a desire to continue to learn and get deeper into the field,” Sugarman says. “Good candidates are always trying to learn more.”
Sugarman himself earned a bachelor’s at Oberlin College in 2013. A desire to make a career move brought him to Saint Mary’s for a master’s in Accounting. Among SMC faculty who defined his experience, he’s quick to single out Professor Sankaran Venkateswar—aka Dr. V. “He just makes you learn,” Sugarman says. “You don’t have a choice!”
Julia Del Prete ’16 is also an engagement manager with Standish Management. She has come to recognize the value of her experience at Saint Mary’s—including Collegiate Seminar, building strong communication skills, and organizational chops. “The education is great, it gives you incredible diversity, and you get as much out of it as you put in.” Along with that, she says, at SMC, “It's like one big family, and everyone looks out for each other. So that's huge. You have that for life.”
Peace Corps | “That exchange of knowledge.”
Kerry Carmichael is the senior recruiter for the Peace Corps based in the Bay Area. The emphasis on service as part of a Saint Mary’s education makes the Peace Corps a natural fit; last year volunteers returned to service overseas in dozens of countries, after being brought home because of COVID-19 in 2020. The first volunteers ever have also begun serving in Vietnam. “Working with youth and speaking in front of a group—it’s all about exchange of knowledge, no matter what sector you're in,” Carmichael says. “Those are examples of the kind of experience we're looking for. Someone who's eager to make a difference, learn a new culture and language, and be challenged.” Carmichael himself served as a volunteer in Ecuador in the 1990s and later returned there as associate Peace Corps director for the country. He’s also eager to talk to Gaels interested in serving as a volunteer and can be reached at (510) 309-8398.
Wells Fargo | “It’s all about how you learn."
Andrew Tammen ’22 is a commercial banking analyst at Wells Fargo. Adaptability is key, he says. “There are a lot of success stories out in Charlotte, for example, of people who had really never seen a balance sheet before. But they took it on and knew what to do with it, within three weeks…It takes understanding you won't know everything almost anywhere you go. It's all about how you learn.”
Tammen also applauds Saint Mary’s for providing opportunities for students from the moment they arrive on campus. He encourages undergraduates to make the effort to try new things and push themselves outside of their comfort zone in terms of how they learn. “One important thing I wish I knew when I was starting out as a freshman is to take advantage of all the resources that the College offers,” he says.
Stefan Foushee completed his MBA at Saint Mary’s while working with Comyns, Smith, McClearly & Deaver, where he’s now a partner. He credits the College for enabling students to achieve success by working with and seeing them as individuals.
Comyns, Smith, McCleary & Deaver | The value of teamwork
Stefan Foushee ’04, MBA ’12 is a partner with accounting firm Comyns, Smith, McClearly & Deaver. He completed his MBA at Saint Mary’s several years after beginning work with the firm. He credits the College for enabling students to achieve success by working with and seeing them as individuals. “Saint Mary's offers a family feel with a personal touch,” Foushee says. “If you go to a larger school, you don't really feel like a person that's of high demand, or like you are just another number. That feeling is so important.” Comyns, Smith, McClearly & Deaver is a small firm—employing around 30 people—so understanding the importance and value in personal connections is crucial to working with a team.
Carlos Mansilla MS ’13 is an audit manager with Comyns, Smith, McClearly & Deaver. For him, the personal dimension matters; so does the fact that the master’s program in Accounting enabled him to make the career shift that he was looking for. “I was doing something else completely different that I didn’t want to do anymore,” Mansilla says. “I needed something that was technical and appealed to my analytical nature. I also wanted to transition into my new field quickly, and that I could do while I was working.” While studying in the program, he was recruited by his current firm—so the career change happened within a year of him deciding to make the move.
HiPER Solutions | Working on complex problems—and colleagues with different perspectives
Alex Holden ’19 is Salesforce Administrator for HiPER Solutions, a tech-hybrid consulting firm. Saint Mary’s Collegiate Seminar—a set of discussion-based classes all undergraduates are required to take—is one of the key experiences he still incorporates into his work today. “Students in Seminar classes deal with other individuals who have differing opinions, different perspectives, or backgrounds and that give them a different point of view,” Holding says. “I find that those skills I gained at Saint Mary's have directly translated to HiPER Solutions, and have allowed me to work better internally on complex problems or externally with some of our clients, who all have different end goals in mind.”
Caitlyn Nurnberg ’17 is Operations Manager at HiPER Solutions. “We're looking for open-minded individuals who want to be leaders,” Nurnberg says, which is why they’re recruiting at SMC. “We want people who want to take charge, and don't necessarily want to just sit back…In the work that we do with our clients, we need the kind of individual who can take charge.”
American Automobile Association | Chase experiences—not titles
Lori Lane ’94, Connor Pedan ’15, and Dustin Cramer ’06 represent three decades of Gaels at insurance company American Automobile Association. Cramer is deputy chief financial officer, and he says that Saint Mary’s is a community that never really leaves you. “I gravitated towards a college that I could build relationships with,” he says. “And those relationships have really lasted.” As for work goals for soon-to-be grads, he offers advice that draws on what he’s done over the past 15 years plus: “I don't chase a title and I don't chase money, I chase experiences,” he says. That has enabled him to take on roles from accounting to finance to serving as CFO to a security company that AAA acquired.
Pedan is a financial planning and analysis manager. He encourages new graduates to try new things and experiment with what might interest them. “One thing that I say to a senior coming out of college is that it's okay to spend time, especially in that period of your life, learning and growing and trying new things,” Pedan says. “This is the time you're meant to be reaching for new opportunities.”
Lane serves as senior director of Real Estate Transactions at AAA. She underscores how the Saint Mary’s community links generations—and not only at AAA. While attending a recent SMC basketball game, Lane was walking to the game and found herself alongside another group she didn’t know, headed toward the UCU Pavilion. “The guy I was walking with asked me, ‘Do you think it was as special a place as I thought it was?’ And I said, ‘Oh, absolutely.’”
Mount Diablo Unified School District | “Saint Mary’s teaches counseling skills in a way that not all programs do.”
Carrie Buchek MFT ’17 is a behavioral health specialist with Mount Diablo Unified School District and currently serves as a psychotherapist at Olympic Continuation High School. She has come back to campus to recruit at the career fair because she recognizes the way students who have come through the program understand how to navigate difficult situations. “I came to Saint Mary's because I had colleagues I worked alongside who were from here. And their skills with kids were highly pronounced—and different than many of my other colleagues,” Buchek says. “Saint Mary’s teaches counseling skills in a way that not all programs do. Mental health jobs in school settings is a difficult field.” That said, Buchek recommends that as long as students are interested, they should push themselves to try it. And, she says, “We encourage more of those interested in pairing therapy with education to get their Pupil Personnel Services (PPS) credential for advancing their career options.” A large portion of the time, Buchek emphasizes, you don’t know whether you’re good at something or whether you like it until you really give it a go.
Travelers Insurance | “Creating relationships with people.”
Daniel Hernandez ’19 is a construction underwriter working at Travelers Insurance. Being able to communicate is crucial to building trust with clients, he says. And that’s a skill he recognizes that his own education provided—in terms of knowledge and building confidence. “We want people who can go out there and create relationships with people,” Hernandez says. “And that entails a lot of great listening, a lot of critical thinking, being comfortable talking to people.”
Sienna Ranch | A chance to gain leadership skills
Julie Sanders serves as business director for Sienna Ranch, a family-owned organization focused on outdoor education—which is just up the road from Saint Mary’s. That’s one reason Sienna Ranch has drawn SMC students over the years for summer counselor positions. “We're happy to have sophomores, juniors, seniors…maybe this isn't their career choice long term, maybe it's just a short-term thing that they want to do for a summer, to gain some leadership skills,” Sanders says. “We like to say that you come to work. And then when you're ready, you go and do something bigger and better. We're happy to foster that learning and growth and then set you off into a better environment.” Writer Katie Doarn MFA ’22 is also part of the team; she serves as a Nature Program instructor. Student Emma Martin ’24, currently attending SMC, also works with the team as a part-time equestrian instructor.
LEARN MORE about the services the Career Center offers at Saint Mary’s.
Sam Nobile ’25 is studying English at Saint Mary’s and serves as a student writer with the Office of Marketing and Communications. Steven Boyd Saum serves as Executive Director for Strategic Communications and Content and Saint Mary’s. He also served with the Peace Corps in Ukraine. Write them.