Quotes and Testimonials

I made sure to take as many prereqs as I could for the planning program and the Wagner core, and looked at what was offered in the spring versus the fall. I consulted my advisors and other professors for advice about classes to take that would match my areas of interest.

My summer internship in Kabul has given me a lot of insight into development work. My internship is unpaid, and I was apprehensive about that at first, but I figured it would pay off in the long run. There are tons of ex-pats here are and jobs are literally falling into my lap. It has shown me that it is pretty difficult to try to land an international job while sitting in your apartment in New York.

We should all be very conscious that we are building new networks right now. Active involvement with student groups and activities or engaged discussions with peers outside of the classroom is personally just as important to me, if not more, than my classes.

OCS was amazing at helping me to enhance and emphasize organization specific experiences on my resume and cover letter.

My goals have remained pretty much consistent since I started at Wagner, but I think they have been shaped and fine-tuned, in a good way, since I've been here due to my work with OCS staff and my work and internship experiences.

OCS has given me concrete tools to help me with my career. As an international student, I have taken advantage of all types of OCS services: walk-in hours; resume, cover letter and interviewing workshops; career panels; employer information sessions; Alumni Career Advisement Program; and career fairs. All of this led to my finding four internships in my first year at school.

OCS was the guidance counselor I never had. The staff is supportive, motivational, and most importantly, accessible. My advisement sessions were always constructive and energetic. Professional development can be incredibly stressful and it was so helpful to know that I had such a reliable resource supporting me.

I used assignments in class to find out more about education issues. For example, I wrote my policy memo in Intro to Public Policy on No Child Left Behind. I wrote my evaluation proposal for Program Evaluation on the NYC Leadership Academy (which trains prospective principals). I also used the Policy Memo in Policy Formation and Analysis to learn more about the Mayor's relations with the United Federation of Teachers. I was able to speak about these papers in cover letters and use them as writing samples for internship applications. To push myself with a challenging area - statistics and education funding - I signed up for the team to analyze the article related to education funding in Stats II.

Most of the networking I have done has been through other students. A fellow Wagner student landed me my internship since she is on the board of the organization who does the program. She has given me several contacts.

If you want to develop leadership skills… join a student group! Student groups are the most interesting venue as they unite busy students in a volunteer experience, motivate them to put events together, and foster relationships amongst board members. I cherish my experience and am grateful for the way it challenges me to become a better leader.

I have been in the work world for awhile, but I realize when you’re job hunting and interviewing, you can never know too much about leaving a favorable impression with a prospective employer.

What I value most about my time at Wagner has been the opportunity to balance both reflection and action in managing my career. As a planner by nature and profession, I tend to gravitate in theory towards straightforward approaches: set a goal and then figure out how to accomplish it. However, I realize that in practice, I don’t even know the meaning of linear. The Composing Your Career approach gave me the opportunity to be thoughtful in my decision-making and yet still be open to new, expansive opportunities that came my way.

I think there are two important points about academics to concentrate on: use class assignments to help you do more at your organization (or one you want to go to) and really take classes that you see helping you down the road.

I'm very focused on my career goals, so with every class and work assignment, I feel like I'm constantly honing my interests to find out exactly what I want to do. So far, I think that I've reaffirmed that I want to be in the public sector working at the city level, but I'm still working out what role I want to have. Administration (the field that I initially thought that I would be in), still interests me, but so do planning/economic development and finance, so I'm hoping to explore those fields more over the coming year.

I've definitely learned the value of networking while at Wagner. I attended a networking workshop, and I put the tools to practice while attending Wagner's Alumni/Student Networking events, and then following up with contacts I made. I've also conducted several informational interviews where I got great career advice and developed relationships with experienced professionals in my field.

My membership in the American Public Health Association (APHA) has given me opportunities to keep up with developments in my field, to expand content knowledge, and to network with leaders within the field of mental health services research. Not only have I attended conferences sponsored by APHA, but I have had the opportunity to present my research findings at a recent conference, allowing me to showcase what I can bring to the field.

My internships looked good on my resume, as they showed that I was eager to make a career change and that I wasn't wasting any time.

OCS has been a tremendous help to me in terms of helping me edit my resume, proof read a cover letter, or be a sounding board at times when I have been unsure about my path. I eventually want to work in hospital administration or in healthcare consulting. By showing me how to market myself to an employer, Sharon's guidance provided me with the know-how to create a cover letter that got me the interview for my current job ­as a Project Manager in the Revenue Management division of a hospital corporation despite the fact that I DO NOT have a financial background and have never worked in a hospital.

I have attended Alumni/Student networking events, where I have made effective contacts which have already begun to guide me in interesting directions—not to mention making friends.

Being a member of the UPSA board was an amazing opportunity to meet friends and network. I made more contacts by organizing events than by attending them.

I have used class assignments to find out more about issues on several occasions. I wrote a paper on small business assistance that prompted a research center to apply for a grant to study the same issue -- they received the grant, and I ended up with a full-time, summer research position and the opportunity to co-author the study.

My very first experience in the mental health services field was as a volunteer intern at a community mental health center. Experiencing the service delivery issues from within the system first hand has definitely been instrumental in helping to form my career goals.

I came to Wagner pretty much knowing that I wanted to work in environmental and open space planning. Since many of the internships in this field are unpaid, I took the ‘survival job’ path: throughout my Wagner career, I had part-time survival jobs which were not in my field of choice but allowed me to accept very exciting unpaid internships specific to my area of study.

I have an interest in youth development, so I seized the opportunity to mentor court involved males ages 14-19 with the Looking Ahead Mentoring Program sponsored by the Center for Alternative Sentencing and Employment Services.

The alumni that I met with gave generously of their time and made very specific suggestions that assisted me with my job search.

It was crucial for me to get an internship my first year because I had zero public sector experience. I worked very hard to get an internship at NYC Office of Management and Budget, and partly got it because I was willing to work unpaid. I then worked at CHPSR my second year in a research function, which was huge for me.

OCS’s career panels, networking events and professional development workshops have given me exposure to ideas, people and internship opportunities I needed to build my skill-set and become a more effective policy analyst.

The 'How to...' tools on-line are fantastic; specifically, the resume and cover letter writing guide and the interviewing and negotiating offers guide. I have used them to prepare my resume and cover letters, paying close attention to the job description and how to adjust my resume to fit what the employer is seeking. I have forwarded them to friends outside of Wagner and they have found them very useful as well.

One important part of school is interacting with people, learning more about issues and topics you wouldn't seek out on your own. I am much more interested in the technical aspects of research than I realized, and as a result I am considering pursuing a research focused degree after Wagner.

I hate networking – that’s why I usually don’t do it. Instead, I just look for events that attract people that have common interests and talk to them about these interests – oh, wait, that IS networking!

Getting work experience has been central for me at my time at Wagner. I worked at a private planning firm last fall, since I had never worked in planning, and wanted to understand the field. I felt like I got a lot of basic, core knowledge from that job. When I was looking for my next internship/job, I decided to go to the opposite extreme - to look only in the public sector, and to look for a position in administration rather than planning (these are two of the roles that I'm considering in my future job search). That is how I ended up working for the Division of Citywide Administrative Services for the City of New York. I feel like through only 2 internships (so far), I've gotten a tremendous breadth of knowledge.

I stay involved with professional associations. They are a great place to network, and they often have job postings and offer volunteer opportunities. I always send thank you notes and do what I can to help these people out. It is all about building relationships, and remembering that NYC is actually not such a big place. There will always come a day when you need help from someone.

Attending the American Planning Association and National Brownfield Association conferences were great opportunities for networking and connecting with others in the planning field. The forums were also excellent venues for exploring my career interests in more detail.

I worked with OCS to refine my resume and learn how to tailor it to each job I applied for. I realized that there were common threads between what seemed like loosely related activities I had done prior to Wagner, and with OCS’ advice, I was able to weave them into a cohesive story.

Once I knew I had been accepted to Wagner I began to craft a plan to take my prerequisites first. Declaring my specialization as policy also set the direction for the courses I scheduled. I planned my courses according to their availability (Fall, Spring) and also made sure to enroll in the required specialization courses ASAP so that I could begin taking elective courses for my specialization.

Employers want more than excitement and enthusiasm—they want and need skills. When I first came to NYU Wagner I consulted the OCS job binders and web listings, not for job openings, but to learn what skills I needed to develop in order to attain the positions I wanted when I graduated.

With OCS’s help, I have been able to direct my studies, internships, and extracurricular activities in ways that allow me to explore different career options and build my network of professional contacts.

During the Intro to Policy class we were given an assignment to draft a strategy memo for a policy advocacy campaign. The assignment was given with considerable flexibility, in particular, with regards to the selection of the policy issue. I fell upon a topic within the issue of juvenile justice that really caught my attention. I immersed myself in the project and felt that I had found an issue that I wanted to explore further. This assignment prompted me to attend a career panel on working within the justice system, which then led me to get a summer internship with the Vera Institute of Justice.

Through my internship, I was able to attend a conference which taught me a whole host of other issues related to domestic violence and during which I met various practitioners working with the issue on different levels, like social service delivery, legal issues, and activism.

Use OCS Walk-In Hours to their fullest. I have had my resume revised and revised and revised – they’re great at helping you hone your message.

I have been in the work world for awhile, but I realize when you're job hunting and interviewing, you can never know too much about leaving a favorable impression with a prospective employer.

Doing informational interviews, looking for internships, applying for scholarships, peer advising and selecting classes have all given me pause to think about my goals. This summer, I received a job offer from a previous employer that really forced me to reassess where I am going. I have moved away from some of the areas of interest I had when I started at Wagner and developed new interests that I had not expected. The experience of considering a really good job offer helped me confirm my interest in working in government and in local economic development.

Serving on the WSA executive board has provided an invaluable learning opportunity with regard to understanding how high-functioning groups operate, how to be a leader and a follower, and how to translate student complaints into concrete suggestions for enhancing the Wagner program.

Wagner prides itself on teaching students how to practice what they learn. OCS was the backbone that connected my in-class academics to my professional advancement and made Wagner’s promise a reality.

Knowing yourself is key. By asking difficult questions about your career goals and proactively trying to get those answers, you will get a more meaningful and enriching experience at Wagner. The Office of Career Services and the Composing Your Career framework is a natural place to start.

Having been in the work environment for a few years prior to entering Wagner, I really wanted to seize the opportunity to learn new skills and to challenge myself intellectually. Working closely with the staff at OCS, several of us were able to devise a cross-school initiative that not only supports the United Nations International Year of Microcredit, but also provides a platform for students to explore the field of international economic development. Taking an idea and turning it into a reality is certainly a learning experience.

The mix of full-time faculty, adjuncts, and working students at Wagner provides students with ample opportunity to network with professionals who are out working in the field. I obtained some of my favorite internships by striking up conversations with professors and fellow classmates.

The feedback I received from OCS regarding revamping my resume was invaluable. Resumes are very personal documents, and their unbiased feedback helped me focus my resume more appropriately.

Reading daily, weekly, monthly publications/ newspapers/ journals is extremely important in my field. I have to stay current on what are the important topics that are affecting the mental health research field in order to inform my own research.

Because of my interest in NYC issues, I read the Gotham Gazette almost every day. It provides a good summary of city issues and politics. It has led to useful academic sources of information and has also proved useful in interviews.

During the Spring of my first year at Wagner, I began having advising sessions with OCS staff, and as a result, have been engaging in comprehensive assignments to make me thoughtful and proactive about building the career path of my choice. I am so grateful to OCS. They have been especially helpful this year as I narrow my focus, prepare for and succeed during interviews, and accept or decline offers.

I find working full-time while going to school part-time creates a good system of checks and balances in terms of how things work in the 'real' world, and it provides an opportunity to bring new skills from the classroom to my job.

Since I'm exploring career options in another city, I used an assignment in Intro to Public Policy to learn more about the economic and political situation in that area. I researched an economic development initiative in St. Louis that helped me become more aware of the challenges facing the city and who is addressing them. This helped me during informational interviews by demonstrating my interest and helping me contextualize some of what I learned during the interviews.

Before entering Wagner, I spent hours on the course website, identifying any course I found remotely interesting, reading course syllabi and mapping out a sequence.

Being Co-Chair of Wagner Environmental Policy & Action (WEPA) was really a great experience to work with other students, faculty and experts who were passionate about similar issues. I not only felt like my efforts were worthwhile in bringing important issues to light for students at Wagner, but also provided a great personal learning experience.

Holding an internship and part-time job during my time at Wagner really helped me link theory to practice.

I usually "check-in" with myself after each semester as a way to strategically plan my future. I process what I've learned in the classroom or at an internship, and assess how what I've learned will strengthen my skills. I also evaluate what I liked/did not like about a particular job/organization and apply that to my goals for the future and as direction for pursuing other internships. This process has showed me that it is okay to be interested in many different things (i.e., management, policy, public health) and that it is possible to find a career that encompasses all of those interests. I have also realized that the field of health is much broader than I ever thought, and there are many possibilities out there to pursue.

I have been volunteering to do taxes for low-income people for a few years, before I developed an interest in finance. That work helped demonstrate my ability to work with numbers. The Earned Income Tax Credit is popular right now, and I have applied for some advocacy positions or city positions dealing with tax policy, so the volunteer work has been helpful.

I thought I had a good resume until I went to OCS and they helped me make it 1000 times better. Now it is tailored to what it is exactly that I am looking form whether an internship or a job, international or domestic.

I have found attending outside events to be particularly helpful. At some events, I have been one of the only students in a room full of successful people working in my field. While it can be scary to talk with people in that situation, often people talk to me if they see Wagner on my nametag or because they are interested in talking to young people or new people attending the event.

I worked with OCS to refine my resume and learn how to tailor it to each job I applied for. I realized that there were common threads between what seemed like loosely related activities I had done prior to Wagner, and with OCS' advice, I was able to weave them into a cohesive story.

“I made a two year plan with every class I would take until graduation. I stuck to the first year without any changes so that I would do all of the core courses and prerequisites first. The second year I left open to change and actually changed it a little based on what I had heard from other students and which professors I particularly liked, and issues that I had taken more interest in.

I use academic assignments to explore areas of professional interest. While researching a paper for my Intro to Policy course, I made contact with several international organizations. Each conversation provided new insight into my field of interest, and a couple of contacts encouraged me to stay in touch. Taking this approach grounds my experience in current practice and provides great opportunities to refine my career path and build important contacts in the field.

I found informational interviews very helpful. The alumni I met with gave generously of their time and made very specific suggestions that assisted me with my job search. In fact, I believe one of the reasons I have my current position is because of the contacts I made through informational interviews.

My goals have become more clear and tangible. I have done a lot of self discovery of my talents and limitations.

Class projects provided a means for me to find out more about issues I was passionate about. The connections I made with faculty were invaluable in directing my research, studies and contact to practitioners in the field.

I attended a number of OCS career information sessions. They helped me learn more about different opportunities and meet alumni and other professionals in those fields. One of those information sessions led to my internship with the NYC OMB.

Working on events with WEPSA (Wagner Education Policy Studies Association) allowed me to develop relationships with others interested in education and gave me a reason to reach out to and develop a network within the broader education network in NYC.

There are constantly forums and speakers being held at NYU that are open to both students and local urban planning professionals. The exciting thing about these events is that they provide an opportunity to be exposed to new research or ideas while also seeing how the professional sphere reacts to the same concepts. Thus you could see a piece of research in a totally different light than if you had only read/discussed it in class.

If you keep seeing job postings in your field asking for skills you don't have, it means it's time to assess yourself and see what you can do to improve.

Wagner alums are everywhere! I feel like I run into them constantly, especially in my current job. I found my job last year through a current student, my supervisor now is an alum, and I plan to talk to other alums before seeking future internships.

Wagner’s location provides unrivaled access to organizations and individuals in the field. While I served as co-chair of the Nonprofit Network, we were able to tap into this community to organize events and provide Wagner students with a forum to meet leaders, create networks, and share ideas about the direction nonprofits are taking, nationally and internationally.